Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk (CBR-IV #18)

Cannonball Read IV: Book #18/52
Published: 1999
Pages: 289
Genre: Fiction


Chuck Palahniuk books are kind of hard to review. They are the closest thing I can imagine to being inside the mind of a crazy person. They always start out disjointed and then once you start piecing things together, they start to make a little more sense. But still -- mind of a crazy person. Survivor is more of the same formula. 

Basically, you're inside the mind of a crazy guy who used to be in a religious cult where most of the members killed themselves. He survived, but now he's hijacking a plane to commit suicide. Then the story goes backwards and tells us what happened between the cult and the hijacking. From there it's a just a scrambled mess of craziness.

I wanted to like this book. Kind of like I've wanted to like every Palahniuk book I've picked up since Fight Club. But I couldn't have cared less what happened to the guy in this book (I can't even remember his name for the life of me!). For such a short book, it shouldn't have been such a chore to read. It wasn't BAD -- Palahniuk is a very gifted writer -- but I wish he'd find a new schtick, because this one is getting kind of old. And it really pains me to say that.

Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk (CBR-III #37)

Cannonball Read III: Book #37/52
Published: 1999
Pages: 304 (15,329 total pages so far)
Genre: Fiction

Invisible Monsters is narrated by a nameless, faceless (literally) ex-model who lost most of her face in a freak accident. She's telling us the story of her friend Brandy Alexander and how their lives became intertwined. You can't really give much plot without ruining the story since you gradually start understanding more and more with each chapter. The whole story comes together like a puzzle at the end.

I was kind of annoyed at times because most of the time you have no idea what's going on until it is explained later on. It jumps back and forth through time and can get really confusing. Thankfully, it's a short novel with very few characters, so it's fairly easy to piece together the story by the end. The end is worth it though when you finally realize how everything fits together.

I love Palahniuk and will definitely be reading and reviewing some of his other books in the future.

I love Palahniuk and will definitely be reading and reviewing some of his other books in the future.