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richaudayana's review
2.0
The best thing – usually – about reading Chuck Palahniuk is that brief insight he offers you into his chaotic, hyper-imaginative brain. Survivor, Fight Club, Choke and Lullaby, among others, felt like good books because I was a little altered by the time I finished reading them. Of course, this is the selfish reader in me talking. I might be able to appreciate the literary tone, etc, of a book as an entirely separate manner; I just don’t know what to do after I’ve finished reading a well-written volume that just doesn’t... do anything for me.
(Sort of what Audrey Niffeneger’s ‘Her fearful symmetry’ does to you after you consume it greedily in the hopes of finding something as beautiful as ‘The time-traveller’s wife’)
‘Damned’ starts off disappointingly.
The protagonist, Madison, all of 13 years of age, feels unreal, plastic, too-verbose-to-be-true (even in a first-person account book, yes). Right at the beginning, she finds herself in hell. And it’s an interesting hell, incorporative of many historical civilisations’ demons and mythologies. And so we run along with Japanese demons of storms, Macedonian demons, Egyptian ones, and so forth.
Maddy, as we’ll call her, begins each chapter with a little note to Satan, seeking him out, before launching into her enterprising adventures in hell and giving us a brief look into her disgustingly affluent and disturbing brief life as a living girl.
Palahniuk stays true to form throughout: mocking and dismissive of material wealth, challenging sexual boundaries and interestingly, weaving in a certain amount of metaphor into the book. Even if he doesn’t, the patterns are amusing as towards the end, hell emerges as a long-ignored, man-made catastrophe-struck landscape – an almost-futuristic world drowning in discarded semen, sweat and tears, candy, mucosa, nail clippings and aborted, half-formed foetuses.
A good part of the book is dedicated to creating this parallel and he builds it with descriptions of men and women reduced to shadows of themselves, in despair because of where they are, of the stink and presence of human excreta every which way, of bureaucracy and red-tapism even in the corridors of power in hell. He derides ‘environmentalists’ and do-gooders, he mocks the people one would ordinarily adulate, celebrities and God, and he does this in crisp, beautiful writing.
But that’s where the good things end.
The story does improve slightly before the mid-way mark with what I’ll call classic Palahniuk-isms – a daemon goddess orgasming in the middle of chomping off a teen’s head (not due to the chomping, I should add. But no more spoilers), the re-death (?) of Hitler and several other tyrants across history who have been languishing in hell so far, and a rather fine collection of scatological incidents. Maddy’s character makes several attempts at being richer, deeper and more interesting. And fails.
Predictably, ‘Damned’ ends with a whimper and promise which made me sadder than having read it: to be continued.
PS. I think the sequel is called Doomed. I’m not sure how I feel about that just yet.
(Sort of what Audrey Niffeneger’s ‘Her fearful symmetry’ does to you after you consume it greedily in the hopes of finding something as beautiful as ‘The time-traveller’s wife’)
‘Damned’ starts off disappointingly.
The protagonist, Madison, all of 13 years of age, feels unreal, plastic, too-verbose-to-be-true (even in a first-person account book, yes). Right at the beginning, she finds herself in hell. And it’s an interesting hell, incorporative of many historical civilisations’ demons and mythologies. And so we run along with Japanese demons of storms, Macedonian demons, Egyptian ones, and so forth.
Maddy, as we’ll call her, begins each chapter with a little note to Satan, seeking him out, before launching into her enterprising adventures in hell and giving us a brief look into her disgustingly affluent and disturbing brief life as a living girl.
Palahniuk stays true to form throughout: mocking and dismissive of material wealth, challenging sexual boundaries and interestingly, weaving in a certain amount of metaphor into the book. Even if he doesn’t, the patterns are amusing as towards the end, hell emerges as a long-ignored, man-made catastrophe-struck landscape – an almost-futuristic world drowning in discarded semen, sweat and tears, candy, mucosa, nail clippings and aborted, half-formed foetuses.
A good part of the book is dedicated to creating this parallel and he builds it with descriptions of men and women reduced to shadows of themselves, in despair because of where they are, of the stink and presence of human excreta every which way, of bureaucracy and red-tapism even in the corridors of power in hell. He derides ‘environmentalists’ and do-gooders, he mocks the people one would ordinarily adulate, celebrities and God, and he does this in crisp, beautiful writing.
But that’s where the good things end.
The story does improve slightly before the mid-way mark with what I’ll call classic Palahniuk-isms – a daemon goddess orgasming in the middle of chomping off a teen’s head (not due to the chomping, I should add. But no more spoilers), the re-death (?) of Hitler and several other tyrants across history who have been languishing in hell so far, and a rather fine collection of scatological incidents. Maddy’s character makes several attempts at being richer, deeper and more interesting. And fails.
Predictably, ‘Damned’ ends with a whimper and promise which made me sadder than having read it: to be continued.
PS. I think the sequel is called Doomed. I’m not sure how I feel about that just yet.
deanashuman's review
OH, goodness. This was like the conversation you have with a really smart, really drunk dude in a bar when you've been there WAAAY too long and he won't stop talking about his crazy ideas about life and the afterlife and his myriad conspiracy theories. This was super dumb, but I stuck with it because I've never read Chuck Palahniuk and I'll try anything once!! Also I listened to the audiobook and the narrator made an annoying number of pronunciation errors. Super annoying experience all around, but hey I've finally experienced Chuck Palahniuk I guess?
melissam_1008's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
laurolly's review against another edition
3.0
3 Stars. This was gritty and crass at times, the way our main character viewed the world was dark and sad. The descriptions of hell certainly felt like that of a 13 year old, which was enthralling at times (like needing to watch a pimple popping video) and disconnecting at others. I thought the forth wall break was actually done very well and was effective at making the reader question what they knew and understood of the story. I liked the first half a lot better, and think that the cast of characters in hell could have been kept in later parts of the book, since many seemed to completely drop out after their initial introduction. I thought that the flashbacks were well integrated into the story, providing the reader with tidbits of information which piqued my interest in the story. Overall, it was okay, certainly a different story idea which was mostly well done.
littleraincloud's review
dark
funny
fast-paced
3.75
after really making peace with the fact that the main character is a 13 year old the book becomes more fun i really enjoyed the dark humor of it
jess_mango's review
3.0
"Breakfast Club" meets [b:Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret|37732|Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret|Judy Blume|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388356524l/37732._SY75_.jpg|4121] in hell. Madison is/was the 13 year old daughter of a famous Hollywood couple when she died of mysterious circumstances. Madison initially thinks she died of a marijuana overdose but slowly her memories become clearer. Meanwhile she is in a "Breakfast Club"-esque hell with a jock, princess, etc. She works as a telemarketer calling living people during dinnertime with annoying consumer polls about toothpicks and whatnot.
Not my favorite Palahniuk novel. There were some clever bits that made me chuckle.
What to listen to while reading...
Don't You (Forget About Me) by Simple Minds
Ashes to Ashes by David Bowie
all the good girls go to hell by Billie Eilish
Satan Said Dance by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Past Lives by Local Natives
Not my favorite Palahniuk novel. There were some clever bits that made me chuckle.
What to listen to while reading...
Don't You (Forget About Me) by Simple Minds
Ashes to Ashes by David Bowie
all the good girls go to hell by Billie Eilish
Satan Said Dance by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Past Lives by Local Natives
jmcook's review against another edition
dark
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
courtney_anne's review against another edition
2.0
Not bad, but not good. I had expected a lot more from this book after hearing many good things about it but I found it to be dull and unimaginative. It basically stole half it's work from The Breakfast Club ... and admitted to doing so. I would not recommend this to anyone.