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3.23 AVERAGE
3.23 AVERAGE
Oddly, this is my first Palahniuk (other than the book about Portland). The voice of the main character feels a bit forced sometimes(especially in the beginning for the book), but I certainly liked the story.
adventurous
dark
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Palahniuk has such a unique and off kilter writing style. I found I had to take a break from his books after this one. I can’t handle more than one of those at a time.
Quality is up and down it’s about a 3.5 star book for me. Some really fun parts in this but others, not so great. I feel it would have been up-leveled as a graphic novel. Madison’s adventures in Hell!
I wasn’t blown away by this one like I was with Fight Club or Invisible Monsters. Still, it was good.
When I read the description and it said Madison died of a marijuana overdose, you better believe I almost didn’t read it because I don’t think that’s a real thing.
But it’s Chuck Palahniuk, there was a significance to Madison thinking that’s how she died… and there was.
This read was interesting, if Hell is real I wouldn’t mind spending eternity there. Candy is a currency? You can punch Hitler and rip off his mustache? Sign me up.
It was fun to learn about Madison, her life on Earth before her demise and arriving in Hell. It was also fun how she transformed herself with the help of one her new found compadres, Archer.
Also, that revelation by Satan at the end. Like Madison, I don’t know if he’s serious
When I read the description and it said Madison died of a marijuana overdose, you better believe I almost didn’t read it because I don’t think that’s a real thing.
But it’s Chuck Palahniuk, there was a significance to Madison thinking that’s how she died… and there was.
This read was interesting, if Hell is real I wouldn’t mind spending eternity there. Candy is a currency? You can punch Hitler and rip off his mustache? Sign me up.
It was fun to learn about Madison, her life on Earth before her demise and arriving in Hell. It was also fun how she transformed herself with the help of one her new found compadres, Archer.
Also, that revelation by Satan at the end. Like Madison, I don’t know if he’s serious
I really need to stop reading Palahniuk. I always expect so much more from him. But really, he is a juvenile in a big person's body. Damned is about a 13 year old girl who goes to hell. Palahniuk throws in some pop culture references, but for the most part the book is a 11 or 12 year old boy's giggly vision of hell (swamps of bile and abortions, desserts of dandruff, and if you read between the lines, you can hear little Chuck and his childhood pals tittering as the words are written).
The storyline is weak and the characters are bland. Damned is just not worth the time to read.
The storyline is weak and the characters are bland. Damned is just not worth the time to read.
So bored. Didn't even finish it. Kept checking the page number to see how close I was to the end. Even the parts clearly meant to be "shocking" we're just so damn predictable. Bored bored bored.
...
Okay fine. I skimmed the last few chapters to get the plot "twist". Meh.
...
Okay fine. I skimmed the last few chapters to get the plot "twist". Meh.
This book was super hard to finish. You hate the main character. The storyline is really weird and there's a point where you just want to give up, because Palahniuk took the easy way out. Until the very end when you realize the whole point. It wasn't my favorite book by him, but I liked it.
I haven't read any Palahniuk books before, and am only peripherally familiar with Fight Club. But the premise of Judy Blume meets Breakfast Club in Hell sounded intriguing, and it was a lot better than listening to the radio during election season.
The book has a 13-year old protagonist, the daughter of a Brad-and-Angelina couple. So many elements of this book seemed be sort of "I read this in People magazine. I'll put that in my book!" Shallow instead of thoughtful, crass instead of ironic.
The book is too adult for teens and too juvenile for adults. The endless soliloquies by the main character do not ring true as thoughts from a 13-year old, and the whole mess sounds like something a middle-aged man would dream up to try to fit a genre he probably shouldn't be tackling.
The whole book had glimpses of goodness and readability in it, like the ideas were there, but there was a rush to finish the book before a deadline and the story lines were not teased out fully.
In the end, I couldn't tell if this was supposed to be a satire on young-adult fiction, a satire on Dante and Hell, or whatever else it the author may have wanted to do. While it sounds like the first in a series, I don't feel any need to follow up on subsequent books.
The book has a 13-year old protagonist, the daughter of a Brad-and-Angelina couple. So many elements of this book seemed be sort of "I read this in People magazine. I'll put that in my book!" Shallow instead of thoughtful, crass instead of ironic.
The book is too adult for teens and too juvenile for adults. The endless soliloquies by the main character do not ring true as thoughts from a 13-year old, and the whole mess sounds like something a middle-aged man would dream up to try to fit a genre he probably shouldn't be tackling.
The whole book had glimpses of goodness and readability in it, like the ideas were there, but there was a rush to finish the book before a deadline and the story lines were not teased out fully.
In the end, I couldn't tell if this was supposed to be a satire on young-adult fiction, a satire on Dante and Hell, or whatever else it the author may have wanted to do. While it sounds like the first in a series, I don't feel any need to follow up on subsequent books.