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3.4 AVERAGE
3.4 AVERAGE
A group of writers go to a retreat where they are basically sequestered away for 3 months in the winter- to enhance their writing abilities. As they spend more time in the house, the host removes more and more from them (food, hot water, heating) and they fall deeper into madness.
One writer spoke about the need to slow down and focus and I really identified with that but this isn't the only way to do that...
For me, this book went from being boring to intriguing to disgusting- in a twisted cyclical dance.
**spoiler**
The funniest and grossest parts to me were-
1. When the writers were yelling but didn't want to be too loud so that passerby would rescue them- they do not want to be rescued. They want to fall deeper into their creativity in this unorthodox way.
2. When the writers decided to maim themselves so that they could spin the story of their willing captivity into being a kidnapping by their host- to make it a good story for the media.
3. The Guts, Swan Song, and Speaking Bitterness chapters. (grossest to me personally)
One writer spoke about the need to slow down and focus and I really identified with that but this isn't the only way to do that...
For me, this book went from being boring to intriguing to disgusting- in a twisted cyclical dance.
**spoiler**
The funniest and grossest parts to me were-
1. When the writers were yelling but didn't want to be too loud so that passerby would rescue them- they do not want to be rescued. They want to fall deeper into their creativity in this unorthodox way.
2. When the writers decided to maim themselves so that they could spin the story of their willing captivity into being a kidnapping by their host- to make it a good story for the media.
3. The Guts, Swan Song, and Speaking Bitterness chapters. (grossest to me personally)
This is chuck's worst work. It pains me to say that, but its just true. a group of would-be writers on a writer's retreat each is given the chance to tell a story. The stories are all basically gross for the sake of being gross with little to no redeeming value.
One infamous story involving a pool was so hard to get through I had to take 3 breaks. Its so descriptive and disgusting I had to take a breather for fear of vomiting (i am not alone in this, he read this particular story at signings and people would have to leave the room, some even threw up right there)
I guess if you judge a story's value by how much of a physical response it can incite, then this is Grade A material. Otherwise I would say to avoid this one until you have read a good amount of his earlier work so as not to taint your judgement.
One infamous story involving a pool was so hard to get through I had to take 3 breaks. Its so descriptive and disgusting I had to take a breather for fear of vomiting (i am not alone in this, he read this particular story at signings and people would have to leave the room, some even threw up right there)
I guess if you judge a story's value by how much of a physical response it can incite, then this is Grade A material. Otherwise I would say to avoid this one until you have read a good amount of his earlier work so as not to taint your judgement.
Beyond the first story the next like 3 or 4 while maintaining some interesting concepts were ultimately boring and did not inspire me to continue
DNF.
Überflogen. Die erste Geschichte hat noch mit einem Knall geendet, ich war angefixt. Die nächsten wurden immer langweiliger und ohne viel Spannung.
Überflogen. Die erste Geschichte hat noch mit einem Knall geendet, ich war angefixt. Die nächsten wurden immer langweiliger und ohne viel Spannung.
I can't even begin to explain how much I disliked this book, it was such a CHORE to read through, but I always feel compelled to finish a book once I start it just to fully give an opinion. This is the third Palahnuik book I've read, sort of, I read Lullaby 6 years ago, and I'm in the middle of Choke, but after finishing Haunted I'm officially abandoning Choke because I am sick of Palahnuik's writing.
Haunted is about these 24 writers (who are given god awful annoying nicknames) that go on a Writer's Retreat but end up trapped, and tell their stories - except Chuck can't even be bothered to change up his writing style in the least so all different "writer's" stories are all written in Chuck's monotonous voice. It's almost as if he had all these ideas for a story but didn't want to expand on them individually so he just shoved them in on book and occasionally added characters to fit each story.
Chuck actually would've been better off turning this into a book of ONLY short stories, rather than trying to incorporate these completely forgettable, unlikable characters into a story because their entrapment seemed so unbelievable to me. I get the message he was trying to portray, how we as a society are always trying to make our lives worse and our stories better because we thrive on suffering, but he went about it all wrong, it was all for shock value. Chopping off of their fingers, cannibalism...it was all just so "casual" and stupid.
"Guts" was easily his best, most memorable short story in the novel, but I'm torn between wondering if he was better off saving it until later on in the book because no other story was able to top it; or if he was smart for starting his book off that way, because it's the only good story he has in there and it certainly capture's readers attention. However after reading the author's note at the end of the book stating that 73 people had fainted when he read it in public, I was put off by him even more. It became clear to me that it was all for shock value and he was literally saying "Look at how ~edgy I am, my story made 73 people faint!" Just because the story got that kind of reaction doesn't necessarily mean it's good. I'm not put off by gore so I didn't faint or anything but some of these stories were clearly just overly gruesome just for the sake of shock value and did nothing for the story or plot, what little there was, which goes to prove he relies on gimmicks like this to tell his story, rather than actual plot or characters.
It was just a terrible book and I'm never reading another Palahnuik book ever again. His style is too bland and contrived.
Haunted is about these 24 writers (who are given god awful annoying nicknames) that go on a Writer's Retreat but end up trapped, and tell their stories - except Chuck can't even be bothered to change up his writing style in the least so all different "writer's" stories are all written in Chuck's monotonous voice. It's almost as if he had all these ideas for a story but didn't want to expand on them individually so he just shoved them in on book and occasionally added characters to fit each story.
Chuck actually would've been better off turning this into a book of ONLY short stories, rather than trying to incorporate these completely forgettable, unlikable characters into a story because their entrapment seemed so unbelievable to me. I get the message he was trying to portray, how we as a society are always trying to make our lives worse and our stories better because we thrive on suffering, but he went about it all wrong, it was all for shock value. Chopping off of their fingers, cannibalism...it was all just so "casual" and stupid.
"Guts" was easily his best, most memorable short story in the novel, but I'm torn between wondering if he was better off saving it until later on in the book because no other story was able to top it; or if he was smart for starting his book off that way, because it's the only good story he has in there and it certainly capture's readers attention. However after reading the author's note at the end of the book stating that 73 people had fainted when he read it in public, I was put off by him even more. It became clear to me that it was all for shock value and he was literally saying "Look at how ~edgy I am, my story made 73 people faint!" Just because the story got that kind of reaction doesn't necessarily mean it's good. I'm not put off by gore so I didn't faint or anything but some of these stories were clearly just overly gruesome just for the sake of shock value and did nothing for the story or plot, what little there was, which goes to prove he relies on gimmicks like this to tell his story, rather than actual plot or characters.
It was just a terrible book and I'm never reading another Palahnuik book ever again. His style is too bland and contrived.
May 2005 review:
OK-Read another one from my favorite author! It was called Haunted. The idea:
There was a retreat for writers that was 3 months long that the people were supposed to abandon their normal lives completely to write.
Alright-so, each chapter has 3 parts. One part, the progression of these writers from the time they hop on the bus to the retreat. Second part, a poem about one of the 23 writers there. 3rd part, a story written by the person that particular poem was about.
A lot of it was pretty unbelievable, but still *slightly* possible. And of course, it's fiction, so I won't do any put downs for that. It still all seemed pretty genius and entertaining to me. The only downside I would say for it is that there wasn't one character telling the story, or one character that you got overly attached to because most everyone got the same attention. So it lacked a *little* bit for me.
But once again, it has heaps of great quotes and ideas.
OK-Read another one from my favorite author! It was called Haunted. The idea:
There was a retreat for writers that was 3 months long that the people were supposed to abandon their normal lives completely to write.
Alright-so, each chapter has 3 parts. One part, the progression of these writers from the time they hop on the bus to the retreat. Second part, a poem about one of the 23 writers there. 3rd part, a story written by the person that particular poem was about.
A lot of it was pretty unbelievable, but still *slightly* possible. And of course, it's fiction, so I won't do any put downs for that. It still all seemed pretty genius and entertaining to me. The only downside I would say for it is that there wasn't one character telling the story, or one character that you got overly attached to because most everyone got the same attention. So it lacked a *little* bit for me.
But once again, it has heaps of great quotes and ideas.
2.5 stars
This is every bit as disturbing as everyone warns that it is, and includes pretty much every trigger warning you can think of.
I did like the main concept of having these artists agree to spend three months away from the world to create their masterpieces, only to realize once they agree to it that they're completely locked inside and can't leave. Even the idea that they would make things worse for themselves by purposefully destroying food and supplies to better torture themselves worked for me. My biggest issue with the main plot was that none of them actually want to make anything and are instead obsessed with what the movie version of this experience will be like. I get that this is Palahniuk and this is a commentary on modern society, but this gets so ridiculously unhinged that it gets repetitive and annoying to get through.
I went into this thinking that I would struggle to finish reading it because of how messed up and graphic it is, but the repetitive obsession with making a "based on a true story" movie was the bigger hurdle to get past.
The best, actually interesting and horrifying short stories were Swan Song, Ambition, The Nightmare Box, Civil Twilight, Product Placement, Evil Spirits, and Obsolete. All of these would have been fantastic stand-alone ideas to see made into longer books. The other sixteen stories were either uninteresting or extremely gross and graphic for the sake of it, though I do respect Guts for its infamous legacy of causing fainting at live readings. Exodus and Speaking Bitterness in particular were nauseating to get through and not something I want to read ever again.
The poems before each short story were also unnecessary and could have been cut.
Overall, I still really like Chuck Palahniuk, and I even like a lot of what he's saying about the world and individual cruelty in this, but he could have said it better. If someone just wants the best of this book, read the handful of stories I mentioned above and skip the rest.
This is every bit as disturbing as everyone warns that it is, and includes pretty much every trigger warning you can think of.
I did like the main concept of having these artists agree to spend three months away from the world to create their masterpieces, only to realize once they agree to it that they're completely locked inside and can't leave. Even the idea that they would make things worse for themselves by purposefully destroying food and supplies to better torture themselves worked for me. My biggest issue with the main plot was that none of them actually want to make anything and are instead obsessed with what the movie version of this experience will be like. I get that this is Palahniuk and this is a commentary on modern society, but this gets so ridiculously unhinged that it gets repetitive and annoying to get through.
I went into this thinking that I would struggle to finish reading it because of how messed up and graphic it is, but the repetitive obsession with making a "based on a true story" movie was the bigger hurdle to get past.
The best, actually interesting and horrifying short stories were Swan Song, Ambition, The Nightmare Box, Civil Twilight, Product Placement, Evil Spirits, and Obsolete. All of these would have been fantastic stand-alone ideas to see made into longer books. The other sixteen stories were either uninteresting or extremely gross and graphic for the sake of it, though I do respect Guts for its infamous legacy of causing fainting at live readings. Exodus and Speaking Bitterness in particular were nauseating to get through and not something I want to read ever again.
The poems before each short story were also unnecessary and could have been cut.
Overall, I still really like Chuck Palahniuk, and I even like a lot of what he's saying about the world and individual cruelty in this, but he could have said it better. If someone just wants the best of this book, read the handful of stories I mentioned above and skip the rest.
dark
funny
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
medium-paced
The first story "Guts" is the best short story and none of the rest seem to hold up to the level of the first one. The connecting story for all the short stories is meh, there are moments where it's great, and moments where I blacked it out and forgot what the hell I just read.