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3.4 AVERAGE
3.4 AVERAGE
dark
funny
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I almost feel guilty for saying this, but I was pretty indifferent to this book. I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it. It was an interesting concept, but it didn't give me chills, it didn't suck me in and it didn't irritate to the point where I wanted to throw it. I wanted to be enthralled, but I wasn't. Yet it wasn't a lamentable waste of time, either. I wouldn't heartily recommend it, nor would I discourage anyone from reading it. Parts were just "meh," and parts went a little too far for my personal tastes. I wish I could say more one way or the other. Ambivalence in books doesn't settle well with me.
dark
reflective
sad
medium-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
It would be naive to say that the graphic nature of this novel isn't one of its major draws, and that upsets a lot of people, understandably. Not everyone is into the weird, gross, and macabre. If you can handle it however, or are even-*gasp*-intrigued by the darker recesses of humanity, Haunted is a wonderful novel.
The framing story is enough to pique interest if you've not already heard of the novel for its short stories. A group of people, all different, most never identified by their real names, answer an ad for a writer's retreat out away from their lives and the rest of civilization for three months so they can focus their entire energy on producing their life's work.
Things, of course, aren't all they're cracked up to be, and the writers soon figure this out. Minor spoiler: Instead of banding together to formulate a plan to escape, they engage in self-sabotage, finding ways to make their already bad situation even worse, in the hopes that they will be rescued by some unknown entity, and their made-up story on how they were kidnapped, starved, and mutilated will generate enough buzz to make them all famous and soon production studios will be lining up to purchase the film rights.
While the writers don't ever do much writing during the framing chapters, each give way to a poem about a certain character and a short story by them. It's usually never clear when the story was written, and some are even just recited by the character telling it, but by that time you'll have realized that the actual writing process of these characters isn't the point, and never was.
None of the characters sound too different from each other in the way Chuck writes their stories, so some may understandably have an issue with that, but if you latch onto the increasingly sick and depraved stories these characters tell, you won't mind. You'll be wondering what awful story someone will tell next. It's more morbid satisfaction to me than meaningful literature, but I'm perfectly okay with that. They're all well-written, interesting, and so certifiably Chuck Palahniuk that I enjoyed this novel immensely.
My favorite of the short stories include the infamous Guts, that will make you pucker right up, Mrs. Clark's trilogy of stories surrounding The Nightmare Box, the horrifying and oddly sweet Exodus, the absurd Civil Twilight, and the graphic Hot Potting.
Don't miss this if you're an envelope-pushing Palahniuk fan, a fan of horror, or the absurd. Those aren't the only qualities this book has to offer, but don't kid yourself if they don't make it a little more morbidly exciting.
The framing story is enough to pique interest if you've not already heard of the novel for its short stories. A group of people, all different, most never identified by their real names, answer an ad for a writer's retreat out away from their lives and the rest of civilization for three months so they can focus their entire energy on producing their life's work.
Things, of course, aren't all they're cracked up to be, and the writers soon figure this out. Minor spoiler: Instead of banding together to formulate a plan to escape, they engage in self-sabotage, finding ways to make their already bad situation even worse, in the hopes that they will be rescued by some unknown entity, and their made-up story on how they were kidnapped, starved, and mutilated will generate enough buzz to make them all famous and soon production studios will be lining up to purchase the film rights.
While the writers don't ever do much writing during the framing chapters, each give way to a poem about a certain character and a short story by them. It's usually never clear when the story was written, and some are even just recited by the character telling it, but by that time you'll have realized that the actual writing process of these characters isn't the point, and never was.
None of the characters sound too different from each other in the way Chuck writes their stories, so some may understandably have an issue with that, but if you latch onto the increasingly sick and depraved stories these characters tell, you won't mind. You'll be wondering what awful story someone will tell next. It's more morbid satisfaction to me than meaningful literature, but I'm perfectly okay with that. They're all well-written, interesting, and so certifiably Chuck Palahniuk that I enjoyed this novel immensely.
My favorite of the short stories include the infamous Guts, that will make you pucker right up, Mrs. Clark's trilogy of stories surrounding The Nightmare Box, the horrifying and oddly sweet Exodus, the absurd Civil Twilight, and the graphic Hot Potting.
Don't miss this if you're an envelope-pushing Palahniuk fan, a fan of horror, or the absurd. Those aren't the only qualities this book has to offer, but don't kid yourself if they don't make it a little more morbidly exciting.
To date, my least favorite of his books. I enjoyed all of the stories individually, but found the connecting narrative less appealing. The idea had so much potential, but I was a little disappointed. As a collection of short stories, I'd give it 3.5 or 4 stars, but as one big story that's supposed to have continuity, I'm not so sure...
This book gets two stars. One for being a book. And one for disgusting me. I don't regret reading it but if I did it over I wouldn't read it again.
I kept trying...three-quarters of the way through...hours I'll never get back. A complete waste of time. This author (whose work I've never read before but came highly recommended) tried too hard to be gross, weird, funny, and philosophical but failed on every account. If I missed out on the most brilliant final quarter of a book, my loss; I'm finished.
My personal review ratings are based upon the following:
1 Star, “I did not like it or couldn’t finish it”;
2 Stars, “I think it is just Ok, but I’ll never think about it again”;
3 Stars, “I think it is an entertaining, enjoyable book, and I’ll think about it again”;
4 Stars, “I really love this book, and I may read it again”;
5 Stars, “I think this book is excellent, I will read it again, and it will likely stand the test of time.”
My personal review ratings are based upon the following:
1 Star, “I did not like it or couldn’t finish it”;
2 Stars, “I think it is just Ok, but I’ll never think about it again”;
3 Stars, “I think it is an entertaining, enjoyable book, and I’ll think about it again”;
4 Stars, “I really love this book, and I may read it again”;
5 Stars, “I think this book is excellent, I will read it again, and it will likely stand the test of time.”
An interesting concept—writers at a retreat gone wrong using short stories as an allegory for what might be happening, as they sabotage the group in a social experiment, ostensibly. That’s really reductive, but more approaches spoiler territory, I think, since I think what is happening at the meta level is necessarily more interesting than the stories.
It’s a weird experience because I didn’t find myself interested in the stories, other than to figure out what was being communicated about the situation with the writers. The premise hobbles the stories immediately, even if it is interesting to put stories in the position of communicating truth about “the world”. Yet, that removal makes every story impossible to suspend your disbelief for, too. Instead, they’re just simulacrums of the specific writer.
This makes everything compelling at a macro, meta level, and as a reflection of society and what happens when people go off script in society. However, I don’t think any of the stories will stick with me, nor were they particularly moving or effective. They all felt like white noise in this structure. Sure, it’s clever, as I haven’t read anything quite like it. But I’m not sure the message is new, and it undermines its own short stories. People devolve without society. With the internet we can see everyday just what anonymity does to some people. Not exactly revelatory. But I do think this book succeeds at what it was trying to do.
It’s a weird experience because I didn’t find myself interested in the stories, other than to figure out what was being communicated about the situation with the writers. The premise hobbles the stories immediately, even if it is interesting to put stories in the position of communicating truth about “the world”. Yet, that removal makes every story impossible to suspend your disbelief for, too. Instead, they’re just simulacrums of the specific writer.
This makes everything compelling at a macro, meta level, and as a reflection of society and what happens when people go off script in society. However, I don’t think any of the stories will stick with me, nor were they particularly moving or effective. They all felt like white noise in this structure. Sure, it’s clever, as I haven’t read anything quite like it. But I’m not sure the message is new, and it undermines its own short stories. People devolve without society. With the internet we can see everyday just what anonymity does to some people. Not exactly revelatory. But I do think this book succeeds at what it was trying to do.
all these people are terrible and i dont care what happens to them. its easy to write something disturbing and disgusting and call it horror.