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3.4 AVERAGE
3.4 AVERAGE
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
“Some stories, you use up. Others use you up.”
Haunted tells us the story of different people who have all answered a weird enigmatic ad: "Artists Retreat: Abandon your life for three months". For personal reasons, they all need a break from their lives in order to focus on their art and their future, so they lock themselves in an old theater where lack of food (and freedom) quickly becomes a problem. In these desperate circumstances, they find themselves spilling their past and their darkest secrets in twenty-three horrifying, mind-blowing and superweird stories and tangle their deviated present in a dark disturbing novel.
Haunted is completely crazy. I know that Palahniuk often uses certain topics for his books, like sexual deviance, murder, mental health problems, diseases, existentialism... but damn this book has a lot of everything! There's not a single story in Haunted that didn't leave me either with my jaw on the floor or disgusted or shocked. Most of the times I looked like the lady on the cover of the book! Sometimes it was even a bit too much. I am a fan of Palahniuk, but this novel never gave me time to "recover" from one crazy story that a new one was starting! I guess I had to take breaks but... I didn't, and I felt some sort of hangover when I turned the last page.
Palahniuk's writing is incredible, as per usual. I literally couldn't put the book down even when I felt uncomfortable or disgusted and this, for me, means quality. He is simply a brilliant writer and it's truly a pleasure to read, even when you're holding a dark twisted book like Haunted.
It's not exactly a book I would recommend but if you enjoy feeling grossed out by a story, then this one is for you.
3 stars.
Haunted tells us the story of different people who have all answered a weird enigmatic ad: "Artists Retreat: Abandon your life for three months". For personal reasons, they all need a break from their lives in order to focus on their art and their future, so they lock themselves in an old theater where lack of food (and freedom) quickly becomes a problem. In these desperate circumstances, they find themselves spilling their past and their darkest secrets in twenty-three horrifying, mind-blowing and superweird stories and tangle their deviated present in a dark disturbing novel.
Haunted is completely crazy. I know that Palahniuk often uses certain topics for his books, like sexual deviance, murder, mental health problems, diseases, existentialism... but damn this book has a lot of everything! There's not a single story in Haunted that didn't leave me either with my jaw on the floor or disgusted or shocked. Most of the times I looked like the lady on the cover of the book! Sometimes it was even a bit too much. I am a fan of Palahniuk, but this novel never gave me time to "recover" from one crazy story that a new one was starting! I guess I had to take breaks but... I didn't, and I felt some sort of hangover when I turned the last page.
Palahniuk's writing is incredible, as per usual. I literally couldn't put the book down even when I felt uncomfortable or disgusted and this, for me, means quality. He is simply a brilliant writer and it's truly a pleasure to read, even when you're holding a dark twisted book like Haunted.
It's not exactly a book I would recommend but if you enjoy feeling grossed out by a story, then this one is for you.
3 stars.
dark
emotional
funny
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore
Reviewed first at Brunner's Bookshelf
I have never read anything by Chuck Palahniuk and I didn't care for the movie Fight Club. I figured it was mainly because I don't really like Brad Pitt but maybe it is Chuck Palahniuk. I love the R.I.P. challenge because it gets me out of my comfort zone and trying new books. I searched Goodreads, my library web site, and audible looking for bestsellers in horror and this book shows up in all of them. I read reviews and had an idea of what I was getting into before I started this. The reviews had one thing in common, people either loved this book or they hated it, there was very little in between.
You might be wondering where I am in this scale of love and hate, but I will get to that in a minute. Let me start with the description of the book. This is a collection of short stories that are part of a bigger overall story. The main plot is all about a group of writers. who agree to be sequestered in an unknown location for 3 months in order to write their masterpieces. Each writer then has a short story or poem pop up every now and then as we get more and more parts of what is going on with these writers. It sounded really interesting and I was intrigued as to how this was going to work. A short story collection that compliments a main plot is not something I see very often. This is a story of self destruction, man vs man, and a character's psyche based on this type of situation. It is a big undertaking.
Now, for my take on this. I am one who hated this book and I have no problem voicing that this is one of the worst books I have ever read. I made it half way through this and decided I am tried of wasting my time when there are so many great books out there waiting to be discovered. A lot of the reviews I have read warn against the graphic subject matter of the first short story Guts. I am not a squeamish person unless there is something being done to eyes, but this story made me sick to my stomach. Whenever I hear or read reviews about something being outrageous and over the top I want to know why. I have never had my stomach turned by a book before so congrats Palahniuk you made me sick and I have read Off Season by Jack Ketchum.
The other thing I just couldn't stand is that all of the stories up to the point I stopped reading this involved some sort of weird or disgusting sex act/situation. I'm no prude when it comes to freedom of expression in writing but this was ridiculous and just gross to be gross. I'm not a fan of romance novels but I don't mind a little sex in a story from time to time. Even Harry Dresden gets a little action from time to time and that't not a book you would see that in. This book however is just perverted in some of these situations.
Finally the other thing that just put me off this book is that the main story about what is going on with these writers was just dull. I started to lose interest and then just started to get mad at myself because I continued to torture myself with something I wasn't enjoying. I used to be one of those readers who would suffer through a book no matter what because when I start something I finish it. I have learned in my time of being a blogger that it is ok to not finish a book if I don't like it so I can move on to something I will enjoy. No point wasting my time anymore. Normally those books I don't finish I don't review but nothing has sparked this much of an emotional response in me so negatively in a long time. I just had to vent about this book, get it off my chest, and move on.
It should come as no surprise that I give this book 1 out of 5 stars. I am so disappointed in this book that I will not be including it in the R.I.P. challenge. I guess I should do everything I can to get this review out there to as many people as possible to hopfully stop someone else from wasting time on this book, but there are a lot of die hard fans of this out there and I just don't want to upset them. My opinions are my own and I needed to vent. Se in reality only a few will ever see this review.
I have never read anything by Chuck Palahniuk and I didn't care for the movie Fight Club. I figured it was mainly because I don't really like Brad Pitt but maybe it is Chuck Palahniuk. I love the R.I.P. challenge because it gets me out of my comfort zone and trying new books. I searched Goodreads, my library web site, and audible looking for bestsellers in horror and this book shows up in all of them. I read reviews and had an idea of what I was getting into before I started this. The reviews had one thing in common, people either loved this book or they hated it, there was very little in between.
You might be wondering where I am in this scale of love and hate, but I will get to that in a minute. Let me start with the description of the book. This is a collection of short stories that are part of a bigger overall story. The main plot is all about a group of writers. who agree to be sequestered in an unknown location for 3 months in order to write their masterpieces. Each writer then has a short story or poem pop up every now and then as we get more and more parts of what is going on with these writers. It sounded really interesting and I was intrigued as to how this was going to work. A short story collection that compliments a main plot is not something I see very often. This is a story of self destruction, man vs man, and a character's psyche based on this type of situation. It is a big undertaking.
Now, for my take on this. I am one who hated this book and I have no problem voicing that this is one of the worst books I have ever read. I made it half way through this and decided I am tried of wasting my time when there are so many great books out there waiting to be discovered. A lot of the reviews I have read warn against the graphic subject matter of the first short story Guts. I am not a squeamish person unless there is something being done to eyes, but this story made me sick to my stomach. Whenever I hear or read reviews about something being outrageous and over the top I want to know why. I have never had my stomach turned by a book before so congrats Palahniuk you made me sick and I have read Off Season by Jack Ketchum.
The other thing I just couldn't stand is that all of the stories up to the point I stopped reading this involved some sort of weird or disgusting sex act/situation. I'm no prude when it comes to freedom of expression in writing but this was ridiculous and just gross to be gross. I'm not a fan of romance novels but I don't mind a little sex in a story from time to time. Even Harry Dresden gets a little action from time to time and that't not a book you would see that in. This book however is just perverted in some of these situations.
Finally the other thing that just put me off this book is that the main story about what is going on with these writers was just dull. I started to lose interest and then just started to get mad at myself because I continued to torture myself with something I wasn't enjoying. I used to be one of those readers who would suffer through a book no matter what because when I start something I finish it. I have learned in my time of being a blogger that it is ok to not finish a book if I don't like it so I can move on to something I will enjoy. No point wasting my time anymore. Normally those books I don't finish I don't review but nothing has sparked this much of an emotional response in me so negatively in a long time. I just had to vent about this book, get it off my chest, and move on.
It should come as no surprise that I give this book 1 out of 5 stars. I am so disappointed in this book that I will not be including it in the R.I.P. challenge. I guess I should do everything I can to get this review out there to as many people as possible to hopfully stop someone else from wasting time on this book, but there are a lot of die hard fans of this out there and I just don't want to upset them. My opinions are my own and I needed to vent. Se in reality only a few will ever see this review.
challenging
dark
funny
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
I actually liked this book. Like most of Palahniuk's work, it highlighted the darker sided of humanity that lies inside of all of us (to some extent). While each of the characters went to extremes in each of their stories, it still shows what all of us are capable if we want something bad enough. We're all "haunted" by the ghosts of our past decisions.
True, all of the stories did have a similar voice, but I don't think that really detracted from the over all plot. I think he helps emphasis the point that the characters are all the same person (and any person) at the core.
True, all of the stories did have a similar voice, but I don't think that really detracted from the over all plot. I think he helps emphasis the point that the characters are all the same person (and any person) at the core.
If I could show how a whistle would feel and sound by writing, I would! I'd prepared myself for the "Guts" story, but the others were just as gruesome/hilarious/WTF as that one, though I think that may be the the most infamous of the bunch. All the characters are known by their 'book names', such as Mother Nature or St. Guts. Every couple chapters, we get the personal stories as if written by someone completely unrelated listening in. There's very little not touched upon in this particular book! If you can stomach the sometimes graphic descriptions, this is an awesome read!
Incredibly interesting. I've never read a book like this before. There's a lot of vulgar and gross stuff, but still a great book. Only a three star rating because the flow of the book isn't exactly how I like to read.