A review by vaunpilled
Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk

dark funny fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Gripping from start to finish. I feel like you'll know in the first page whether this book is for you. Gay people;You will love this. The non-linear storytelling is framed neatly in a nice little wrapping of photoshoots for a magazine. Since it's established from the very beginning, you carry that idea that this, the plot, each flick of the page is a spectacle to be marvelled at for the entirety of the book. That makes the reader the imaginary photographer commanding the 'appropriate' reaction from the protagonist. Give me something that matters.

Said protagonist is the worst. I love her. So narcissistic and deluded to think being disfigured is at all desirable. Then you start seeing it as a way to put your old life behind you and start again. Baptism of fire in all its pain and agony and surgeries and hospital visits. I loved the parallel between her physical attractiveness and the beauty (or lackthereof) in her soul. It all seems so vapid. The idea of self mutilation as a means of rebirth to liberate yourself from the confines of your past really stuck with me.