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3.4 AVERAGE
3.4 AVERAGE
I really thought I was onto a winner with this book! It sounded creepy, varied, and twisted and right up my street. But I had to give up on it about 2/3 of the way through.
The main plot of the book is a group of people attending a weird artist retreat that turns out to be held in an abandoned and soundproofed theatre. While they are there, they swap stories, which are all full of graphic detail and psychological horror.
Some of the stories were really interesting, such as the one about a married couple making a porn film or the journalist finding a childhood icon in a vet, and some were very graphic and gruesome, such as the first story about Saint Guts-Free. But many of the stories didn't seem to go anywhere or have any sort of point to them.
The unfortunate problem with this set up of alternating real life with stories each chapter is that the plot grinds to a halt. The people in the retreat are horrific people with very selfish motivations, and normally I can enjoy this sort of thing but I found them all to be so terrible that I really didn't care what they did or whether they got out. Some of the things they did to try and wring sympathy from a future audience were twisted and unbelievable but I stopped being interested in what they were doing after a while.
I read another book to have a break from this one, hoping that I would have the drive to return to this book and finish it. Unfortunately, I don't care about finishing this book. Such a shame as it had so much potential.
The main plot of the book is a group of people attending a weird artist retreat that turns out to be held in an abandoned and soundproofed theatre. While they are there, they swap stories, which are all full of graphic detail and psychological horror.
Some of the stories were really interesting, such as the one about a married couple making a porn film or the journalist finding a childhood icon in a vet, and some were very graphic and gruesome, such as the first story about Saint Guts-Free. But many of the stories didn't seem to go anywhere or have any sort of point to them.
The unfortunate problem with this set up of alternating real life with stories each chapter is that the plot grinds to a halt. The people in the retreat are horrific people with very selfish motivations, and normally I can enjoy this sort of thing but I found them all to be so terrible that I really didn't care what they did or whether they got out. Some of the things they did to try and wring sympathy from a future audience were twisted and unbelievable but I stopped being interested in what they were doing after a while.
I read another book to have a break from this one, hoping that I would have the drive to return to this book and finish it. Unfortunately, I don't care about finishing this book. Such a shame as it had so much potential.
dark
funny
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:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Cannibalism, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail
It's a collection of short stories that my husband's dad had referred to us. In particular Guts. Which was crazy from start to finish. Based on the prior reading though I don't really have an interest in continuing this book.
~*~It is so bad i want to give you a zero. But that’s not possible. So i give you…a one~*~ i was confused and uncomfortable the entire time i read this book but i guess that’s the point??
dark
funny
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is Palahniuk at his most disgusting. Intensely funny and strange. A very fun ride that ends on a button that works for me. Another banger.
Had to stop reading this book after about 200 pages not because it was too gross or disturbing but because it was just plain boring and I really didn't care at all about any of the characters, of which there are too many, in the wraparound story.
A better rating would be 3.5. Good book, just not my favorite of his.
I'm just not feeling it. For me the stories are boring and it's dragging on and on and on. Guts was the only interesting one to be honest
At the beginning I hated the characters, loved them, wanted to hug them, cry with them, kill them, sympathize with them, it was so confusing. I felt sorry they're haunted by their past, sins, hopes and delusions.
Halfway through the book I got bored and wanted it to end, it got disgusting and weird, but I kept reading because the ideas were peculiar and out of the ordinary, until the end which was irrational and disappointing.
Still, the stories and the book is going to haunt me for a while.
Halfway through the book I got bored and wanted it to end, it got disgusting and weird, but I kept reading because the ideas were peculiar and out of the ordinary, until the end which was irrational and disappointing.
Still, the stories and the book is going to haunt me for a while.