Reviews

Damned by Chuck Palahniuk

Only show reviews with written explanations

olivia795's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

3.5 - it's funny and I really enjoyed some parts. Other parts I just had to get through.

agentbookly's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

ezrasupremacy's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

3.5 ⭐️ rounded up

i think out of all of palahniuk’s books that i’ve read this far (seven in total) this was my least favourite, but because it’s palahniuk even my least favourite is still one that i enjoyed greatly.

one thing that palahniuk does better than any other writer i’ve encountered is that he makes is characters feel real despite them being complete caricatures of “real humans”. that was definitely still true in this one, and i adored and despised each of the characters as i do in any of his books.

the one element that i missed here, which is what makes me say this was my least favourite this far, is palahniuk’s ability to come up with a completely ridiculous plot and then somehow make it feel like you’re reading the best plotted detective novel of your life. nothing is more satisfying to me than getting to the end of a palahniuk novel and seeing all the different insane plot pieces come together to form one cohesive picture, which i like to refer to as “puzzling” (verb, not adjective).

nonetheless i enjoyed this book tremendously and i’m excited for my copy of the second book to arrive so i can see how maddy’s store progresses.

shirp's review against another edition

Go to review page

2.0

It says a lot in my faith in Palahniuk's current direction that I only borrowed this one from the library. The premise had seemed interesting, but Damned feels incomplete, the characters are superficial and non-engaging, and his big "reveal" is just plain dumb. That said, the writing was good enough to keep reading and there were some good passages. I can't quite decide if Palahniuk has made a conscious decision to only come out with culty camp fiction from now on or what...but Damned just feels so repetitive, lacking consistency and a clear narrative, placing a lot of focus on a plot theme to barely address it and discard it later, and ultimately just tries too hard. All shock (or not, if you've become accustomed to Palahniuk) and no value.

hungrybrainz's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

It seems like everyone loves to sh*t all over Chuck for this version of his writing, but I actually really enjoyed it. I laughed a lot. I liked some of the weird demon-lore thrown in and the descriptions of everything. I liked that it was gross and vulgar, and yet it sounded like it came from the POV of a teenage girl. Some people say they found the main character annoying but I found her oddly charming. If you just put aside any expectations set up by Chuck's past work and consider this a weird YA novel, it is quite delightful.