Book Insta-rec: "Invisible Monsters" by Chuck Palahniuk

[out_there]

I don't recommend books often, mainly because I don't read that much, but this book took my breath away. Palahniuk also wrote "Fight Club" so right there, that gives you an idea of the type of twists and the style of exploring normal-damaged people.

This novel was...

Think of those post-apocalypse SV fics of a few years back. Of Jenn's "Handful of Dust", of Te's "Past Grief". This novel has that same sense of fascinating horror, that terribly voyueristic feeling of watching the most monstrous sides of people, of feeling them come apart at the seams.

It also has a wonderful non-chronological style that works. That builds a great atmosphere, that lets the plot twists be genuinely surprising. (Surprising in the way that I got an inkling a paragraph before the book revealed it, nto three chapters earlier.)

It was breathtaking and compelling and... And these days? I'm not used to finding that level of connection in anything printed professionally. So I'm pointing it out, and then I'm going to try more of this guy's stuff.

Comments

[snarkist.livejournal.com]

I love that book! Chuck Palahniuk has written many awesome things, but that's up there with the best. You should read Lullabye (http://www.amazon.com/Lullaby-Chuck-Palahniuk/dp/0099437961/sr=8-10/qid=1171513210/ref=pd_bbs_sr_10/002-1180112-9400007?ie=UTF8&s=books) next. That's my personal favorite by him. Awesome book.

[out-there.livejournal.com]

It's sitting in the back of my car!

Seriously, when I picked up one at the library, I saw that he'd written that and decided to borrow both of them on the off-chance that the novel of Fight Club was anywhere near as good as the film.

Ooooh. Now I'm really looking forward to starting it.

[minaloush.livejournal.com]

you must read survivor soon. that's my favorite.

[shehasathree]

oh, i read that last year and found it very interesting and the style just so compelling.

[eschaton-redux.livejournal.com]

"Survivor" is very good, but I feel "Haunted," one of his latest bits, is really just kind of pandering to gross-out... Which isn't to say it's not well-written. Some parts of it were actually physically horrifying. "Diary" and "Lullaby" are excellent, and he has a nonfic book "Stranger than Fiction" which is an interesting series of essays (I read them like a comfort book XD).

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[(Anonymous)]

Hello friends! i new on your forum!
see ya:))