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3.05 AVERAGE
3.05 AVERAGE
"No, whether a woman is a concubine to fuck or a damsel to redeem, she's always just some passive object to fulfill a man's purpose."
When a book is called Snuff you don't exactly expect it to be classy or refined. What I have come to expect, as somebody who has been reading Chuck Palahniuk for almost a decade, is clever and concise prose with a slightly outlandish premise but some very human characters. Snuff, unfortunately, is almost like a satire of Palahniuk novel. Palahniuk has made the habit of releasing a book on a near yearly basis (this was the 2008 offering) but Snuff is an example of a time when maybe he should have taken the year off to give his creative juices (an unfortunate wording when reviewing this book I realize) a chance to rejuvenate.
Snuff has the characteristic Palahniuk "did you know?" facts, mainly focusing on the porn industry and what various celebrities do to be beautiful. What the story of Cassie Wright, a porn star who is intending to end her career by breaking the world record by having sex with six hundred men on camera, lacks is not only meaningful characters but a plot that the reader can care about at all. The whole premise of the book is that having this much sex may kill Cassie, and so what they are actually making could be a snuff film (hence why the men are shot out of order, so that it looks like she's alive the whole film through).
All the men waiting for their turn with icon are numbered and Snuff is written from the perspectives of Mr. 72, Mr. 137, Mr. 600 and Cassie's assistant Sheila. However not only did I not care if Cassie died, I really didn't care about any of these individuals relationships to her or their perspectives on things either. I even found the book was lacking in clever one lines- usually a guaranteed staple of Palahniuk's work, even the ones I'm not a huge fan of like Choke and Lullaby.
Pygmy, Palahniuk's 2009 book, hasn't exactly received rave reviews either and after finishing up Snuff I can't exactly say I'm looking forward to it. If you do own a copy of Snuff, I'd definitely give it back burner status- with so much good literature out there to read (see A Single Man) Snuff, despite Palahniuk's cult following, is definitely not worth your time. Maybe the book has some greater message Palahniuk ("Do you restrict a person's ability to earn income and exercise personal power?" he asks early on) was trying to get across- but for me it was lost in an orgy of poor writing, shock imagery and characters I just didn't care about.
*
When a book is called Snuff you don't exactly expect it to be classy or refined. What I have come to expect, as somebody who has been reading Chuck Palahniuk for almost a decade, is clever and concise prose with a slightly outlandish premise but some very human characters. Snuff, unfortunately, is almost like a satire of Palahniuk novel. Palahniuk has made the habit of releasing a book on a near yearly basis (this was the 2008 offering) but Snuff is an example of a time when maybe he should have taken the year off to give his creative juices (an unfortunate wording when reviewing this book I realize) a chance to rejuvenate.
Snuff has the characteristic Palahniuk "did you know?" facts, mainly focusing on the porn industry and what various celebrities do to be beautiful. What the story of Cassie Wright, a porn star who is intending to end her career by breaking the world record by having sex with six hundred men on camera, lacks is not only meaningful characters but a plot that the reader can care about at all. The whole premise of the book is that having this much sex may kill Cassie, and so what they are actually making could be a snuff film (hence why the men are shot out of order, so that it looks like she's alive the whole film through).
All the men waiting for their turn with icon are numbered and Snuff is written from the perspectives of Mr. 72, Mr. 137, Mr. 600 and Cassie's assistant Sheila. However not only did I not care if Cassie died, I really didn't care about any of these individuals relationships to her or their perspectives on things either. I even found the book was lacking in clever one lines- usually a guaranteed staple of Palahniuk's work, even the ones I'm not a huge fan of like Choke and Lullaby.
Pygmy, Palahniuk's 2009 book, hasn't exactly received rave reviews either and after finishing up Snuff I can't exactly say I'm looking forward to it. If you do own a copy of Snuff, I'd definitely give it back burner status- with so much good literature out there to read (see A Single Man) Snuff, despite Palahniuk's cult following, is definitely not worth your time. Maybe the book has some greater message Palahniuk ("Do you restrict a person's ability to earn income and exercise personal power?" he asks early on) was trying to get across- but for me it was lost in an orgy of poor writing, shock imagery and characters I just didn't care about.
*
A very quick read. Done in a day to return it post-haste to the library in order to fulfil a request. Such a refreshing change from my last read, Desai.
I enjoyed this. At first it seemed more gentle than some of his other work, and I was surprised how quickly the 'back story' emerged. Of course, I should have realised that we were being led down a blind alley.The ending was true to Palahniuk form and left me rereading the last few pages to work out what had happened.
Got me worried about vaginal embolisms, though!
I enjoyed this. At first it seemed more gentle than some of his other work, and I was surprised how quickly the 'back story' emerged. Of course, I should have realised that we were being led down a blind alley.The ending was true to Palahniuk form and left me rereading the last few pages to work out what had happened.
Got me worried about vaginal embolisms, though!
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
slow-paced
I didn't understand anything happening in this book
I'll admit: I learned a lot from this book. I learned about all sorts of actors. I learned a little bit about the making of porns (apparently I know more about that than I thought). I even bookmarked page 85 to see just how much research Mr. Palahniuk did on vaginal embolism [turns out both citations are real, though, after spending time with Scholar.Google, I think he should have chosen another article to cite].
All that said, I just can't bring myself to love this book. Or even like it after the fact. Enjoyable read, informative (as always, he throws in a hearty collection of curatives/treatments/things made using household items), and yet... just not that great.
He's clearly a master of well-researched entertaining reads, but the shock value is lost by now. He has a formula now and he sticks to it.
All that said, I just can't bring myself to love this book. Or even like it after the fact. Enjoyable read, informative (as always, he throws in a hearty collection of curatives/treatments/things made using household items), and yet... just not that great.
He's clearly a master of well-researched entertaining reads, but the shock value is lost by now. He has a formula now and he sticks to it.
I love Palahniuk but I kind of felt like this one was all about the gross out factor and didn't really have the plot to real me in.
I might come back to this but right now, I just don't have any interest in listening to a book regarding a woman getting killed via sex with 600 men.
challenging
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Parts of it make for an interesting story, but feels more like Palahniuk wrote it for the shock value of the concept than anything else. If it were any longer, I'd feel like it was a waste of my time and might not have finished it, but it is mercifully short.