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2.78 AVERAGE
2.78 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
funny
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Blood, Excrement, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
challenging
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
(2.5 rounded up to a 3)
Not Forever, But For Now by Chuck Palahniuk is an absurdist horror satire. The audiobook is narrated by Raphael Corkhill.
Otto and Cecil are brothers who belong to a family of wealthy, but sociopathic murderers for hire. Their father is missing and their mother is struggling with an opioid addiction when she's not away on business. Grandfather recruits Otto as his latest apprentice, but can he live up to his family's legacy?
I've enjoyed Palahniuk in the past, but this was a big meh for me. The point of view character, Cecil, grew very tiring to me, though I typically enjoy an unreliable narrator. The book is told in five parts, and my favorite was the last; it solidly held my interest. This may have worked a lot better as a novella; it needed a bit more editing.
Of course, there's the typical Palahniuk repetition, but it's dialed up to eleven here. It felt like the phrase "having a go" and/or "having it off" was on nearly every single page, and the book is only ~250 pages. The chapters are particularly short as well, adding to the disjointed feeling of the book. There are some phrases in the book that are written in binary or decimal code in addition to Greek and (I think) Arabic, so there's some homework to do.
This is horror satire, but I wish there was a bit more of the horror part. As for the satire, we're examining masculinity (toxic or no), brotherhood/community, queer culture, and wealth/privilege.
The biggest thing that annoyed me, though, was the repetition about Richard Attenborough narrating nature documentaries, when that was his brother, David. Unless the error is supposed to be a joke?
CW: incest, violence, murder, gore, body horror, animal death, sexual depravity, parental death
I received a copy of this book to review. All opinions contained herein are my own.
If you want to see more from me, check out my blog, Bookstagram, TheStoryGraph, Bsky, or Twitter.
Not Forever, But For Now by Chuck Palahniuk is an absurdist horror satire. The audiobook is narrated by Raphael Corkhill.
Otto and Cecil are brothers who belong to a family of wealthy, but sociopathic murderers for hire. Their father is missing and their mother is struggling with an opioid addiction when she's not away on business. Grandfather recruits Otto as his latest apprentice, but can he live up to his family's legacy?
I've enjoyed Palahniuk in the past, but this was a big meh for me. The point of view character, Cecil, grew very tiring to me, though I typically enjoy an unreliable narrator. The book is told in five parts, and my favorite was the last; it solidly held my interest. This may have worked a lot better as a novella; it needed a bit more editing.
Of course, there's the typical Palahniuk repetition, but it's dialed up to eleven here. It felt like the phrase "having a go" and/or "having it off" was on nearly every single page, and the book is only ~250 pages. The chapters are particularly short as well, adding to the disjointed feeling of the book. There are some phrases in the book that are written in binary or decimal code in addition to Greek and (I think) Arabic, so there's some homework to do.
This is horror satire, but I wish there was a bit more of the horror part. As for the satire, we're examining masculinity (toxic or no), brotherhood/community, queer culture, and wealth/privilege.
The biggest thing that annoyed me, though, was the repetition about Richard Attenborough narrating nature documentaries, when that was his brother, David. Unless the error is supposed to be a joke?
CW: incest, violence, murder, gore, body horror, animal death, sexual depravity, parental death
I received a copy of this book to review. All opinions contained herein are my own.
If you want to see more from me, check out my blog, Bookstagram, TheStoryGraph, Bsky, or Twitter.
As usual I honestly have no idea what to think about this....
Others prioritized, loan expired, want to pick up another time
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
funny
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This has to be the weirdest sentence I will ever type, but I almost considered retracting a star because the characters did not rape that nazi fast enough. Another great, gory satire of masculinity from the masculinity satire guy!
The abuse between family members (even if it served some kind of satire) was too graphic for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Incest