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3.4 AVERAGE
3.4 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
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
Let me preface this review by stating that I am the type of reader that will try to get in as much reading time as possible. This means closing the door to my office at lunch and reading, on the bus, subway, commuter train, before bed (staying up too late to read) and just about anywhere else I can read. Now I have read a few books where this doesn’t happen but I will still finish them.
This book, I couldn’t even finish reading it. Let me backtrack a moment… This book is written by Chuck Palahniuk which I guess wrote Fight Club which apparently I am the only person who didn’t know there was a book that spawned the popular movie (even my mom knew that). I don’t even recall how this book came across my radar but somehow it did and fortunately I checked it out from the library and didn’t pay anything for it.
Enough rambling! So the story opens with oddly named characters (Saint Gut Free, Missing Link, Mother Nature, etc…) being picked up to go to a writers retreat hosted by Mr. Whittier. Within this story is roughly 20 short stories that tells the background of each character. For example, Lady Baglady was a rich socialite who ran into an old friend who was ‘slumming’. The friend convinced her that slumming was the new rich thing to do. So Lady Baglady and her husband sleep on park benches, have sex outside and don’t shower. There is more to her story but I don’t want to spoil it for those who want to read this book. After each short-story, the book shifts back to the main plotline of these individuals at their writers retreat.
I think I made it about half way through and I just couldn’t take it anymore. There was a shock value in reading this but I am okay with that, I can handle it. However, I found everything to be pointless and boring. I wasn’t even excited to read it; it felt more like a chore.
If the short stories had been published on their own, I may have been more apt to continue reading the book but the premise of writers retreat was lame and not going anywhere in my opinion. I might go back and just finish reading the short stories but probably not any time soon as there are a ton of other books out there that I would rather spend my time with. In reading other people’s reviews on Barnes and Noble’s website, it appears to be a mixed vibe with most people either loving or hating it.
This book, I couldn’t even finish reading it. Let me backtrack a moment… This book is written by Chuck Palahniuk which I guess wrote Fight Club which apparently I am the only person who didn’t know there was a book that spawned the popular movie (even my mom knew that). I don’t even recall how this book came across my radar but somehow it did and fortunately I checked it out from the library and didn’t pay anything for it.
Enough rambling! So the story opens with oddly named characters (Saint Gut Free, Missing Link, Mother Nature, etc…) being picked up to go to a writers retreat hosted by Mr. Whittier. Within this story is roughly 20 short stories that tells the background of each character. For example, Lady Baglady was a rich socialite who ran into an old friend who was ‘slumming’. The friend convinced her that slumming was the new rich thing to do. So Lady Baglady and her husband sleep on park benches, have sex outside and don’t shower. There is more to her story but I don’t want to spoil it for those who want to read this book. After each short-story, the book shifts back to the main plotline of these individuals at their writers retreat.
I think I made it about half way through and I just couldn’t take it anymore. There was a shock value in reading this but I am okay with that, I can handle it. However, I found everything to be pointless and boring. I wasn’t even excited to read it; it felt more like a chore.
If the short stories had been published on their own, I may have been more apt to continue reading the book but the premise of writers retreat was lame and not going anywhere in my opinion. I might go back and just finish reading the short stories but probably not any time soon as there are a ton of other books out there that I would rather spend my time with. In reading other people’s reviews on Barnes and Noble’s website, it appears to be a mixed vibe with most people either loving or hating it.
This book is about a man who hosts a writer’s retreat, locks all of the attendees in a building, and the disturbing events that occur. This book is told in three ways: through the telling of the plot in traditional chapter format, through poems about the people at the retreat, and through short stories written by the retreat’s attendees. This book was kind of a slog for me to get through. I think Palahniuk’s writing style is just not fully for me. I was into some chapters and I liked a few of the short stories, but mostly I was unengaged, pushing myself to keep reading. This book is funny, it’s hard to describe, but there’s a lot of dark humor, kind of in a karmic “you’ll get what’s coming to you” way. This book wasn’t 100% for me, but maybe it is for you if you like the idea of a story told through poems and short stories, you like reading about body horror and exploring the dark side of people’s behavior, and most of all if you already know you like Palahniuk’s writing style. This book discusses lots of sensitive topics and includes violence/gore, so if you’re sensitive to anything, I’d recommend looking up the trigger warnings before reading.
Gosh... I love his writing style and the stories are so well-thought out, but it took me forever to finish this book and I don't know how I feel about it.
There are so many characters that I had trouble keeping track of them all and their personal stories and nicknames. I thought about keeping a note of them, but by then I was halfway through and didn't want to go back to re-read.
There was A LOT that happened in this book, and I kept waiting for the end, because I was sure that it had to be big and epic to keep up with the rest of the book, but I hate to say that I was pretty disappointed by the end. The last short story fucked the whole book up for me, and then I feel like the chapter afterwards was a little pointless, like it took some of the "oh shit this ending"-feeling away that I had just experienced.
Wouldn't read it again, but I'm not mad about the fact that I read it. Will definitely keep on reading Chuck's books, he is a master at what he does.
There are so many characters that I had trouble keeping track of them all and their personal stories and nicknames. I thought about keeping a note of them, but by then I was halfway through and didn't want to go back to re-read.
There was A LOT that happened in this book, and I kept waiting for the end, because I was sure that it had to be big and epic to keep up with the rest of the book, but I hate to say that I was pretty disappointed by the end. The last short story fucked the whole book up for me, and then I feel like the chapter afterwards was a little pointless, like it took some of the "oh shit this ending"-feeling away that I had just experienced.
Wouldn't read it again, but I'm not mad about the fact that I read it. Will definitely keep on reading Chuck's books, he is a master at what he does.
Gross. Made me lose my appetite for a long time. A good read if you're not wanting to eat anymore.
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This one didn't really do it for me, I have to say. There were a few stories that had me reading with my hand over my mouth in horror/disgust, which I kind of expect from Palahniuk. However, he made it very clear from the beginning who was really responsible for the characters' situation, and so the ending didn't come as much of a twist or surprise to me. It just felt like an exercise in how f*cked up people can be to themselves and each other, without anything to redeem them. Maybe that was the point, but it just fell a little flat for me, and didn't leave my head whirling like some of his other novels have. It just didn't have the same punch behind it.
Nobody can make me squirm like Chuck Palahniuk, and I love it.
Prior to reading Haunted, I had only ever finished Fight Club. There's an odd bluntness to Palahniuk's writing that both intrigues me and makes me want to shut his books and shelf them for eternity. Lucky for him, the curiosity wins out almost always and I go back for more.
I read Haunted on a challenge I presented to myself after a friend told me she had known people who couldn't finish this book. I would finish it. After all, the premise is extremely interesting, and, as a fan of survival stories, I was more than happy to confront what lay ahead.
Twenty pages in, I realized why people had a hard time with this book. In fact, if I hadn't sworn to finish it, I probably would have been done with it right there and then. The subject matter mixed with Palahniuk's bluntness is enough to--as the epilogue says--make people literally pass out when they hear it read aloud.
(Now, I'm not 100% convinced that this happens and people would actually faint, I have no trouble thinking that it's possible. I read the story lying down anyway.)
The format of the book is different. There are three separate things happening, and they rotate each chapter. The first is the story portrayed in the summary--a writer's retreat gone wrong. The second is a poem, at least one for each character in the book. The third are the works created and stories told by the authors during their stay at the retreat.
The best part about Haunted is definitely how the writers' refusal to write turns into a pursuit for the best story possible. They constantly compete to be the "star" of the show, and it shows the lengths people will go to for the chance to be remembered.
I felt in order to keep the shock value of the horrors being committed (and there were some strange, horrible things happening), I had to break up the book by reading three chapters at a time. Reading this book in one sitting, if you could manage it, would be a mistake. Even splitting it up, by the end of the book I felt there was nothing the characters could do that would surprise me anymore, but each short story as written by the characters are gems within the story. Any one of them, with a little tweaking, could be published on their own, which is amazing to me.
All in all, this book is an amazing, powerful work of art. I'm not a fan of looking for messages in books I read for pleasure, but you could definitely pry some good ones about humanity out of Haunted if you wanted to. I will probably never come back and read it as a whole again, but I give it two thumbs up and recommend it if you have the stomach to get through it.
Prior to reading Haunted, I had only ever finished Fight Club. There's an odd bluntness to Palahniuk's writing that both intrigues me and makes me want to shut his books and shelf them for eternity. Lucky for him, the curiosity wins out almost always and I go back for more.
I read Haunted on a challenge I presented to myself after a friend told me she had known people who couldn't finish this book. I would finish it. After all, the premise is extremely interesting, and, as a fan of survival stories, I was more than happy to confront what lay ahead.
Twenty pages in, I realized why people had a hard time with this book. In fact, if I hadn't sworn to finish it, I probably would have been done with it right there and then. The subject matter mixed with Palahniuk's bluntness is enough to--as the epilogue says--make people literally pass out when they hear it read aloud.
(Now, I'm not 100% convinced that this happens and people would actually faint, I have no trouble thinking that it's possible. I read the story lying down anyway.)
The format of the book is different. There are three separate things happening, and they rotate each chapter. The first is the story portrayed in the summary--a writer's retreat gone wrong. The second is a poem, at least one for each character in the book. The third are the works created and stories told by the authors during their stay at the retreat.
The best part about Haunted is definitely how the writers' refusal to write turns into a pursuit for the best story possible. They constantly compete to be the "star" of the show, and it shows the lengths people will go to for the chance to be remembered.
I felt in order to keep the shock value of the horrors being committed (and there were some strange, horrible things happening), I had to break up the book by reading three chapters at a time. Reading this book in one sitting, if you could manage it, would be a mistake. Even splitting it up, by the end of the book I felt there was nothing the characters could do that would surprise me anymore, but each short story as written by the characters are gems within the story. Any one of them, with a little tweaking, could be published on their own, which is amazing to me.
All in all, this book is an amazing, powerful work of art. I'm not a fan of looking for messages in books I read for pleasure, but you could definitely pry some good ones about humanity out of Haunted if you wanted to. I will probably never come back and read it as a whole again, but I give it two thumbs up and recommend it if you have the stomach to get through it.
Did not finish at 24%
I just really couldn't get into this. Some of the short stories were pretty good, but the overall concept and format just felt annoying and I lost interest.
I just really couldn't get into this. Some of the short stories were pretty good, but the overall concept and format just felt annoying and I lost interest.