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trin's review against another edition
2.0
Yeah, I just read a Chuck Palahniuk book; I feel like I’m back in high school and should begin loudly listening to Garbage CDs and writing “I <3 Spike” all over my notebook any second now. In fairness, Palahniuk does finally seem to be breaking out of his mold at least a little; I skipped reading [b: Haunted|22288|Haunted|Chuck Palahniuk|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1391152326s/22288.jpg|1602272] because I wasn’t in the mood to be squicked, but what had been irritating me about all his previous books was that they all seemed the same. They all utilized a near-identical style of narration, just with different “choruses” thrown in. And I say this as someone who was totally obsessed with [b: Fight Club|36236124|Fight Club|Chuck Palahniuk|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1523531525s/36236124.jpg|68729] (though more the film than the book) and still gets gleeful amusement out of her memories of [b: Invisible Monsters|36236125|Invisible Monsters|Chuck Palahniuk|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1508534066s/36236125.jpg|849507]. (Which was also the book that introduced me to the concept of “felching”! Chuck, you and [a: Lauren Groff|690619|Lauren Groff|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1330389831p2/690619.jpg] need to have a word.)
Rant, presented in the style of an oral history, is not only quite different in its telling from Palahniuk’s previous books, it’s different from anything I’ve read in a long while. The myriad POVs are cool in that I always like to see characters through a variety of different perspectives. However, the character of Buster Casey, a.k.a. Rant, remains frustratingly obtuse. Palahniuk spends quite some time on his childhood, in which we are treated to lengthy descriptions of menstrual blood stains (mental category: did not need), and strangely less on his adulthood, though we do get lengthy descriptions of his ability to tell what his girlfriend last ate by licking her pussy (mental category: REALLY DID NOT NEED). Palahniuk certainly never runs out of new ways to shock and horrify. Unfortunately, that kind of thing was rather more tantalizing to me when I was in high school.
However, like I said, I really did feel like Palahniuk was stretching himself a bit here; he’s got a sort of interesting time travel plot going on, and I actually really liked the characters of Shot and Echo, and the idea of the dystopian Daytimer/Nighttimer future society. So I guess where I think this book really suffers is in the simple fact that there’s just too much going on. I mean, just on the most basic level there’s: 1) Rant’s fucked up childhood, 2) rabies outbreak, 3) party crashing, 4) future dystopia, and 5) time travel—and these never stop being rather disparate things. Worse, as I mentioned before, Rant remains a total cypher. I think this book would have worked a thousand times better if he’d felt like a real, vibrant anti-hero. Instead, we get pages and pages of Rant the cunning linguist. (Seriously, WTF? Was that supposed to be sexy? Echo seemed to think it was sexy, and otherwise, she seemed almost sensible. I have some weird kinks myself, but OMG NO.) I loved the idea Palahniuk almost seemed to be reaching for toward the end, about the ways Echo and Shot and the other party crashers would remake the world, but it’s surrounded by so much muddle. Ultimately, this felt like the first draft of what could have been a legitimately incredible novel; as-is, it’s just kind of…confusing.
Rant, presented in the style of an oral history, is not only quite different in its telling from Palahniuk’s previous books, it’s different from anything I’ve read in a long while. The myriad POVs are cool in that I always like to see characters through a variety of different perspectives. However, the character of Buster Casey, a.k.a. Rant, remains frustratingly obtuse. Palahniuk spends quite some time on his childhood, in which we are treated to lengthy descriptions of menstrual blood stains (mental category: did not need), and strangely less on his adulthood, though we do get lengthy descriptions of his ability to tell what his girlfriend last ate by licking her pussy (mental category: REALLY DID NOT NEED). Palahniuk certainly never runs out of new ways to shock and horrify. Unfortunately, that kind of thing was rather more tantalizing to me when I was in high school.
However, like I said, I really did feel like Palahniuk was stretching himself a bit here; he’s got a sort of interesting time travel plot going on, and I actually really liked the characters of Shot and Echo, and the idea of the dystopian Daytimer/Nighttimer future society. So I guess where I think this book really suffers is in the simple fact that there’s just too much going on. I mean, just on the most basic level there’s: 1) Rant’s fucked up childhood, 2) rabies outbreak, 3) party crashing, 4) future dystopia, and 5) time travel—and these never stop being rather disparate things. Worse, as I mentioned before, Rant remains a total cypher. I think this book would have worked a thousand times better if he’d felt like a real, vibrant anti-hero. Instead, we get pages and pages of Rant the cunning linguist. (Seriously, WTF? Was that supposed to be sexy? Echo seemed to think it was sexy, and otherwise, she seemed almost sensible. I have some weird kinks myself, but OMG NO.) I loved the idea Palahniuk almost seemed to be reaching for toward the end, about the ways Echo and Shot and the other party crashers would remake the world, but it’s surrounded by so much muddle. Ultimately, this felt like the first draft of what could have been a legitimately incredible novel; as-is, it’s just kind of…confusing.
frogggyyyyy's review against another edition
5.0
favorite of the authors so far. just as weird as the rest but not quite as gross (still somewhat). the audio really helps enjoyment as it has a full cast
nietlauramaarmaura's review against another edition
5.0
I missed two full days of my life because of this book. Incredibly clever, like I already had expected from Chuck Palahniuk. He played me like a puppet all the way through.
agentbookly's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
frasersimons's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
By far and away the best work I’ve read from Chuck, so far. There are some staples of his I typically am not impressed with: a fantastical element that tends to feel like it facilitates deus ex machina moments, a penchant for shock factors (particularly when it comes to gore and sex), and interesting themes that take a back seat to the shocking and large twist.
This, though, actually complete worked for me, despite it having all of those features. In a near(ish) future, we hear from day timers and night timers and other weird self ascribed, seemingly, titles—the life of Rant is described. His intersections of a life hit on so many organic and important themes for today. Post-Covid, their post-outbreak world makes more sense, as does the radicalization and distillation of children birthed post catastrophe. The rural poor and home life, as well as his bypassing of social norms. All of it is interesting and convincing.
But where it actually goes to feels as organic as the Fight Club movie, and even more: it’s really, really fun. The world building is wild and drives the plot beats. The timeline is so complex, important plot beats tend to be reiterated, which is slightly annoying, but also a necessity. It’s my only quibble. It’s hard to talk about more of it without it being massively spoiled, and not knowing anything really fuelled my enjoyment of this.
This, though, actually complete worked for me, despite it having all of those features. In a near(ish) future, we hear from day timers and night timers and other weird self ascribed, seemingly, titles—the life of Rant is described. His intersections of a life hit on so many organic and important themes for today. Post-Covid, their post-outbreak world makes more sense, as does the radicalization and distillation of children birthed post catastrophe. The rural poor and home life, as well as his bypassing of social norms. All of it is interesting and convincing.
But where it actually goes to feels as organic as the Fight Club movie, and even more: it’s really, really fun. The world building is wild and drives the plot beats. The timeline is so complex, important plot beats tend to be reiterated, which is slightly annoying, but also a necessity. It’s my only quibble. It’s hard to talk about more of it without it being massively spoiled, and not knowing anything really fuelled my enjoyment of this.
enneppi's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape and Child abuse
aharke's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
solaireastora's review against another edition
5.0
This odd book is written as an oral biography of a fictional man named Rant Casey. It is composed of short paragraphs from a multitude of people who knew Rant. The book takes place in a future America divided into mirror ‘Daytime’ and ‘Nighttime’ societies. He has a traumatic childhood in the county and eventually moves away to the city, where he joins a demolition derby called ‘Party Crashing’. By this point he has discovered that he is immune to the harmful effects of rabies, but also carries it. An epidemic of nationwide proportions begins when Rant begins infecting his friends in the city.
‘Rant’ is very hard to put down, gross in parts, funny in others, and has a mind-bending ending that left me in a mild state of shock for several hours afterward.
‘Rant’ is very hard to put down, gross in parts, funny in others, and has a mind-bending ending that left me in a mild state of shock for several hours afterward.