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A review by rusereviews
Not Forever But For Now by Chuck Palahniuk
3.0
(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.