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juperez's review
4.0
I’m pleased to report a few months ahead of the scheduled publication date that this is classic Chuck; back with enough here to shock, offend and make us laugh all the same. The book follows a plot to completely upend the U.S. government and re-invent the nation into some Libertarian fantasyland, creating separatist ethno-states and violently dispersing wealth and prestige to the most violent and dedicated followers of a radical, new edict.
From the far reaches of Caucasia, Blacktopia and Gaysia, the principal homelands within the formerly United States, we follow a mishmash of displaced persons and leaders with newfound power navigating their “adjusted” positions to disturbing, heroic and often hilarious ends.
Adjustment Day is a side-splitting satire that is ripe for this day and age. It holds up a mirror to our own societal decay, casting a spotlight on the faults and ironies of our broken political and ideological systems.
Absolutely perfect for Generation Click-Bait.
From the far reaches of Caucasia, Blacktopia and Gaysia, the principal homelands within the formerly United States, we follow a mishmash of displaced persons and leaders with newfound power navigating their “adjusted” positions to disturbing, heroic and often hilarious ends.
Adjustment Day is a side-splitting satire that is ripe for this day and age. It holds up a mirror to our own societal decay, casting a spotlight on the faults and ironies of our broken political and ideological systems.
Absolutely perfect for Generation Click-Bait.
sausome's review
1.0
Boring. Boring. Boring. I kept waiting for it to get interesting, in a way that actually made sense. But that did not occur. There are no chapters. There's no thread of a timeline AT ALL. There are barely any consistent characters, and I have thrown in the towel. Palahniuk's books have always been hit or miss for me, and I guess this one goes into the "miss" pile. Meh.
graceless's review
5.0
I really enjoyed Adjustment Day. Conceptually, it reminds me of something that could be a Black Mirror episode and is loaded with current reference that strongly establish it as the very near future.
I can sometimes find Palahnuik books require complete submission into the bizarre world of his characters, but not as much with Adjustment Day which probably amplified my enjoyment of the book.
I can definitely see this being made into a movie or TV series which I would 100% want to watch.
I can sometimes find Palahnuik books require complete submission into the bizarre world of his characters, but not as much with Adjustment Day which probably amplified my enjoyment of the book.
I can definitely see this being made into a movie or TV series which I would 100% want to watch.
helpfulsnowman's review
4.0
50 pages into this book, I was thinking, "Ah, Christ. So Mr. Palahniuk is weighing in on American politics too? Is fucking EVERYONE an expert now?"
But then I read some more, and what he's doing is way more interesting.
What I see happening on both sides of the real-world political fence is journalists, interviewers, reviewers and so on amping up the political side of every story. An artist releases a new album, and we're WAY more likely to hear about the artist's politics or projected viewpoint than we are to hear anything about the musical qualities of the album. A movie comes out, and we're pretty likely to hear where it falls on the pass/fail spectrum of the Bechdel Test, but less likely to hear about its qualities as a movie. A book comes out, and there's a lot of application of "so important in this fraught political moment."
This isn't a bad thing. Someone should always be looking at things that way, and someone always has been, but it's tipped towards that being the primary, if not only, method by which so many of us are evaluating art.
It feels like we're using everything as a segue to politics. All roads lead to politics. And while art can serve that purpose, it's being railroaded into serving only that purpose. Hence the common phrase: All art is political.
Adjustment Day calls bullshit. Instead of using art to talk about politics, Mr. Palahniuk uses politics to talk about art. Politics dominate the book up top, and the path they take leads away, back into art.
I love this book for doing that. I love that this book poses the idea that art is bigger than politics, that art doesn't serve politics.
I love the idea that art doesn't have to be yoked into service pulling the wagon of politics. Politics can take a turn pulling its own fucking wagon. I never thought I would consider that a radical statement, but here we are.
Mr. Palahniuk has done something really interesting here. Something really different. Of all his books, I'm most curious how this will age. I wonder if it will make sense to a generation who comes of age 25 years from now and doesn't really understand the current climate. It might not make sense. It might, like a lot of satire, do well. Jonathan Swift, Kurt Vonnegut, Joseph Heller, Ken Kesey, Miguel de Cervantes, Shakespeare, John Kennedy Toole, all writers who did very "of-the-time" satire that still works years and years later. Probably because satire sticks it to assholes, and it doesn't matter what time or country it is, we all love to see an asshole get what he deserves.
Either way. It's a book for fans of Chuck's work. Now, don't get me wrong. The writing style is different. It's calmer, less white-knuckle than his early books, and that's in the service of the story. The writing style presents things less as immediately engaging than it does really, really interesting. It's not a difficult, dense book. It's lulls you into going along with a very crazy story by presenting it in a very plain way.
What I mean is, if you like Chuck's work because he's always doing his own thing, writing books that nobody else is writing, then you'll appreciate this one as part of that career.
Wait, shit. Not "career."
You'll appreciate it as a limb on his body of art.
But then I read some more, and what he's doing is way more interesting.
What I see happening on both sides of the real-world political fence is journalists, interviewers, reviewers and so on amping up the political side of every story. An artist releases a new album, and we're WAY more likely to hear about the artist's politics or projected viewpoint than we are to hear anything about the musical qualities of the album. A movie comes out, and we're pretty likely to hear where it falls on the pass/fail spectrum of the Bechdel Test, but less likely to hear about its qualities as a movie. A book comes out, and there's a lot of application of "so important in this fraught political moment."
This isn't a bad thing. Someone should always be looking at things that way, and someone always has been, but it's tipped towards that being the primary, if not only, method by which so many of us are evaluating art.
It feels like we're using everything as a segue to politics. All roads lead to politics. And while art can serve that purpose, it's being railroaded into serving only that purpose. Hence the common phrase: All art is political.
Adjustment Day calls bullshit. Instead of using art to talk about politics, Mr. Palahniuk uses politics to talk about art. Politics dominate the book up top, and the path they take leads away, back into art.
I love this book for doing that. I love that this book poses the idea that art is bigger than politics, that art doesn't serve politics.
I love the idea that art doesn't have to be yoked into service pulling the wagon of politics. Politics can take a turn pulling its own fucking wagon. I never thought I would consider that a radical statement, but here we are.
Mr. Palahniuk has done something really interesting here. Something really different. Of all his books, I'm most curious how this will age. I wonder if it will make sense to a generation who comes of age 25 years from now and doesn't really understand the current climate. It might not make sense. It might, like a lot of satire, do well. Jonathan Swift, Kurt Vonnegut, Joseph Heller, Ken Kesey, Miguel de Cervantes, Shakespeare, John Kennedy Toole, all writers who did very "of-the-time" satire that still works years and years later. Probably because satire sticks it to assholes, and it doesn't matter what time or country it is, we all love to see an asshole get what he deserves.
Either way. It's a book for fans of Chuck's work. Now, don't get me wrong. The writing style is different. It's calmer, less white-knuckle than his early books, and that's in the service of the story. The writing style presents things less as immediately engaging than it does really, really interesting. It's not a difficult, dense book. It's lulls you into going along with a very crazy story by presenting it in a very plain way.
What I mean is, if you like Chuck's work because he's always doing his own thing, writing books that nobody else is writing, then you'll appreciate this one as part of that career.
Wait, shit. Not "career."
You'll appreciate it as a limb on his body of art.
dolcezzina21's review
4.0
This book was so unique, well written, terrifying, absurd, laughable at times (or not?) and dark. A story like this could only have come from the demented mind of Chuck Palahniuk. Despite its absurdities and laughable moments, this could be a world of our future which is a terrifying thought. I've written prior updates as to why this is a necessary read so get on it! 4.5 stars
salparadis3's review
1.0
Very disappointing. I usually really enjoy Chuck but this just wasn't good.
shay_talksbooks's review
DNF, just couldn't get into the writing or the characters
jseagle's review
1.0
I consider myself a Palahniuk fan, I consider several of his books among my favorites, and I was very excited for his first new book in a few years. I never stop reading a book early, but I was considering it about 1/4 the way through, and couldn't make it past half way. Extremely disappointing. It isn't funny, there is no interesting satire, characters are essentially nonexistent, and the plot (?) is incoherent rambling. I kept hoping it would start to go somewhere, but I lost patience. Maybe it comes together later, but I can't imagine the payoff is worth the slog.
quirkytambourine's review against another edition
challenging
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
malakhkelevra's review against another edition
3.0
Ho dovuto pensarci un bel po' prima di scrivere questa recensione.
"Il libro di Talbott" è un romanzo che richiede sicuramente tempo ed è, sotto molti aspetti, impegnativo.
È un libro pregno di satira sociale, un romanzo distopico, l'apparente rivincita degli oppressi, dei senza futuro e della carne da macello usata e sfruttata dalla classe politica americana. Ma in realtà non è solo questo. Il romanzo ha più livelli di lettura ha una forte componente critica che non perdona nessuno. Si, ma allora perché 3/5?
Ho trovato le prima metà del libro, sicuramente per colpa mia, troppo difficile\lenta. I personaggi, gli avvenimenti e le storie personali sono molteplici ed il libro è composto da tutte queste tessere del puzzle che saltano fuori all'improvviso senza darti tempo e modo di capire cosa e chi viene narrato in quel momento. Quando riuscivo a comprenderlo e ad entrare nel "ritmo" ecco che questo veniva spezzato per passare ad un'altra tessera. Quindi le prime 200 pagine le ho sudate.
Ma nonostante questo, anzi forse ancor di più per questo motivo, voglio rileggerlo nel giro di qualche anno per farlo di più mio.
Insomma, chiunque voglia leggere questo romanzo è avvertito. Credo ne valga la pena, ma siate pronti.
"Il libro di Talbott" è un romanzo che richiede sicuramente tempo ed è, sotto molti aspetti, impegnativo.
È un libro pregno di satira sociale, un romanzo distopico, l'apparente rivincita degli oppressi, dei senza futuro e della carne da macello usata e sfruttata dalla classe politica americana. Ma in realtà non è solo questo. Il romanzo ha più livelli di lettura ha una forte componente critica che non perdona nessuno. Si, ma allora perché 3/5?
Ho trovato le prima metà del libro, sicuramente per colpa mia, troppo difficile\lenta. I personaggi, gli avvenimenti e le storie personali sono molteplici ed il libro è composto da tutte queste tessere del puzzle che saltano fuori all'improvviso senza darti tempo e modo di capire cosa e chi viene narrato in quel momento. Quando riuscivo a comprenderlo e ad entrare nel "ritmo" ecco che questo veniva spezzato per passare ad un'altra tessera. Quindi le prime 200 pagine le ho sudate.
Ma nonostante questo, anzi forse ancor di più per questo motivo, voglio rileggerlo nel giro di qualche anno per farlo di più mio.
Insomma, chiunque voglia leggere questo romanzo è avvertito. Credo ne valga la pena, ma siate pronti.