Chuck Palahnuik

[mindless1]

Has anyone read books by Chuck, such as 'Fight Club' or 'Guts'? I'm thinking about reading some of his books.

[Alarica]

I just read 'Haunted'. I actually really enjoyed it, and have heard it is being made into a film too. I keep meaning to buy the rest, but haven't had the time or cash to go in the book shops. I would say go for it. If you like it you will read more of his books. If you dont, you will never know either way.

[Pineapple_Juice]

I've read all of them. I liked Invisible Monsters best, and Lullaby second.


Edit: Still haven't read *s.nuff yet.


Edit #2: Guts is in the book Haunted. Which I still insist sucked balls.

[Cicero]

Invisible Monsters is one of my favourite books. The others I've read by Palahniuk have been pretty good, too.

[Godslayer Jillian]

GM doesn't like him, so I trust his criterion.

[Albert Mond]

Originally Posted by Godslayer Jillian

GM doesn't like him, so I trust his criterion.

Tee hee hee.

[Vyvian Blackthorne]

Chuck Palahnuik is one of my favorites, Invisible Monsters, Fight Club, and Haunted being up there. He makes me giggle.
He's a pretty original writer, though I'm really tired of the whole "FIGHT CLUB THE MOVIE IS BETTER THAN THE BOOK" bullshit that still goes around.

[Pineapple_Juice]

That's funny, 'cause I've always heard the exact opposite about Fight Club. Huh.

[mindless1]

Hah OK well I bought an HP Lovecraft book instead but I will probably buy Fight Club, though I know I'll most likely like Fight Club. No, I probably will like his books. I really like out there rebellious writing, esp. what I've read about Fight Club the book and movie, seems interesting.

[Underwater Ophelia]

Originally Posted by mindless1

Hah OK well I bought an HP Lovecraft book instead but I will probably buy Fight Club, though I know I'll most likely like Fight Club. No, I probably will like his books. I really like out there rebellious writing, esp. what I've read about Fight Club the book and movie, seems interesting.

Lovecraft>Palahnuik.

[Mealla]

I enjoyed the Fight Club movie, but haven't gotten around to reading the books. Lovecraft is excellent, so I'd be inclined to say Lovecraft > Palahnuik, but seeing as I haven't read Palahnuik as of yet, I can't really make a fair observation. If the movie is anything to go on, the movie was entertaining, but Lovecraft's literary work is still superior. Most movies based on Lovecraft are shitty, however. Movie producers seem to think they can slap Lovecraft's name on any movie about fish-people and/or tentacle monster demons from the abyss.

[(heartofflames)]

I spazzed when I saw Palaniuk. Besides watching fight club, I read Diary, which is pretty much one of the most bizarre books I have ever read. It was pretty hard to follow at first, but as it went on, I had a lot of A-HA moments. Read part of Invisible Monster, but never had time to finish it..... I need to read more Lovecraft.

[jack_the_knife]

I really enjoyed "Choke", "Fight Club" too, but for some reason "Haunted" is my personal favorite.

[Alarica]

Haunted left me wanting more, because I thought it was a bit jumpy and I want the missing bits filled in. Thats why I can't wait for the film to be made, plus I want to see if the gruesome bits are as good visually as they are in my mind.

[Pineapple_Juice]

Why am I the only one who hated that fucking book?

[gothicusmaximus]

I thought I was going to have to post to this thread stating my dislike for Chuck Palahniuk, but was pleasantly surprised to discover that Jillian had done so for me. Being revered is great.

[isobel black]

Originally Posted by Pineapple_Juice

Why am I the only one who hated that fucking book?

You most certainly aren't.

I picked up Haunted a couple of years ago, when it just came out I guess. As I wasn't familiar with Palahniuk I only realized later that this guy was the author of Fight Club.

I had pretty high expectations because the blurb likened it to The Canterbury Tales, The Decameron and the ghost stories started at the Villa Diodati.

I never finished it because I just couldn't get into it, and it's pretty rare for me to not finish a book. Something about the writing style and characters irked me, and it's pretty much put me off his other work.

[Apathy's_Child]

Originally Posted by Vyvian Blackthorne

Chuck Palahnuik is one of my favorites, Invisible Monsters, Fight Club, and Haunted being up there. He makes me giggle.
He's a pretty original writer, though I'm really tired of the whole "FIGHT CLUB THE MOVIE IS BETTER THAN THE BOOK" bullshit that still goes around.

You're tired of hearing how Fincher took a crushingly mediocre book and turned it into a halfway decent movie. Yet you had the patience to make it through the Odyssey of tedium that is Palahniuk's work.

Does not compute.

[Fae-wolf]

Originally Posted by gothicusmaximus

I thought I was going to have to post to this thread stating my dislike for Chuck Palahniuk, but was pleasantly surprised to discover that Jillian had done so for me. Being revered is great.

You already did in the original Chuck P. thread!

[Drake Dun]

Woops, I'm coming to this thread a tad late, but...

I have read The Fight Club and Choke. And although someone already expressed their annoyance at this opinion, the movie The Fight Club, which was fucking brilliant, was better than the book, although the latter was also brilliant.

Palahniuk is the perfect American novelist. He's extremely clever. And for those of you who realized before reading this sentence that the previous two sentences were intended as dire insults, PM me sometime so we can hang out.

I'm sure I've said this before, but if I want unremitting bleakness, I'll pick up a damn newspaper or walk out my front door. If there is any point at all to literature, it should be to reach for something better than what we're used to getting out of reality, rather than to remind us of how much reality sucks. Even if that something better is out of reach, even if we can only reach it in our dreams, whatever. Try, hope, reach... if you can't manage that, at least give us some euphoric escapism, for crying out loud.

Sorry, but no level of witticism and no depth of incisive commentary is going to get me to forgive an artist for wallowing. They should put it on the blackboard in huge chalky letters on day one of art school: THOU SHALT NOT WALLOW. It drives me crazy to see talent like Palahniuk's wasted on pointing out how crappy life is. I am a better novelist than Chuck Palahniuk, because I never write anything and nobody reads the things I don't write.

For all that, though, I think I can see something glorious trying to break free in Chucky P's work. I've always had the same feeling about Trent Reznor in the area of music. It's that difference between agonized black or strangled blue on the one hand and plain old numb-dumb grey on the other. An example of the latter would be the work of a guy like Faulkner, who was grey and grey through and through.

You can kind of see Chuck's better side at the end of Choke. The characters are all a bunch of fuck-ups with no prospects, but the attitude is kind of like, well... here we all are. They're shit poor, all of them have serious issues, etc., but the future is open, and they're free. You feel like things could happen, and even if they won't there's a kind of sad beauty there.

And now I have triggered myself to go off on an aside about Faulkner. I can remember a time when I was in college. Let's see, that would be 2 or 3 million years ago. I remember I was such a kid that I thought that in spite of all the holy dread of some people and the cheesy plots of certain films, it was absurd to imagine any such thing as a thought, or text which could irrevocably damage a person's heart or soul. Then I read Faulkner, and that bastard fucking damaged me. I've never been the same since, and I deeply envy people who read him and can't figure out what he's on about. As I Lay Dying is the real life equivalent of the play The King in Yellow, for those familiar with Robert Chambers (what the hell... Lovecraft came up in this thread, right?).

Uh. That had nothing to do with anything in particular. Anyway, this has been a spontaneous and poorly thought out expression of one man's baseless opinions. If you do not agree, you are politely advised to go fuck yo.

[gothicusmaximus]

Originally Posted by Drake Dun

Palahniuk is the perfect American novelist. He's extremely clever. And for those of you who realized before reading this sentence that the previous two sentences were intended as dire insults, PM me sometime so we can hang out.

I sensed that you couldn't actually enjoy what he churns out, though I didn't think you'd execute the turnaround so soon. Does that get me anything?

[blackwater1110]

Originally Posted by Drake Dun

Woops, I'm coming to this thread a tad late, but...

I have read The Fight Club and Choke. And although someone already expressed their annoyance at this opinion, the movie The Fight Club, which was fucking brilliant, was better than the book, although the latter was also brilliant.

Palahniuk is the perfect American novelist. He's extremely clever. And for those of you who realized before reading this sentence that the previous two sentences were intended as dire insults, PM me sometime so we can hang out.

I'm sure I've said this before, but if I want unremitting bleakness, I'll pick up a damn newspaper or walk out my front door. If there is any point at all to literature, it should be to reach for something better than what we're used to getting out of reality, rather than to remind us of how much reality sucks. Even if that something better is out of reach, even if we can only reach it in our dreams, whatever. Try, hope, reach... if you can't manage that, at least give us some euphoric escapism, for crying out loud.

Sorry, but no level of witticism and no depth of incisive commentary is going to get me to forgive an artist for wallowing. They should put it on the blackboard in huge chalky letters on day one of art school: THOU SHALT NOT WALLOW. It drives me crazy to see talent like Palahniuk's wasted on pointing out how crappy life is. I am a better novelist than Chuck Palahniuk, because I never write anything and nobody reads the things I don't write.

For all that, though, I think I can see something glorious trying to break free in Chucky P's work. I've always had the same feeling about Trent Reznor in the area of music. It's that difference between agonized black or strangled blue on the one hand and plain old numb-dumb grey on the other. An example of the latter would be the work of a guy like Faulkner, who was grey and grey through and through.

You can kind of see Chuck's better side at the end of Choke. The characters are all a bunch of fuck-ups with no prospects, but the attitude is kind of like, well... here we all are. They're shit poor, all of them have serious issues, etc., but the future is open, and they're free. You feel like things could happen, and even if they won't there's a kind of sad beauty there.

And now I have triggered myself to go off on an aside about Faulkner. I can remember a time when I was in college. Let's see, that would be 2 or 3 million years ago. I remember I was such a kid that I thought that in spite of all the holy dread of some people and the cheesy plots of certain films, it was absurd to imagine any such thing as a thought, or text which could irrevocably damage a person's heart or soul. Then I read Faulkner, and that bastard fucking damaged me. I've never been the same since, and I deeply envy people who read him and can't figure out what he's on about. As I Lay Dying is the real life equivalent of the play The King in Yellow, for those familiar with Robert Chambers (what the hell... Lovecraft came up in this thread, right?).

Uh. That had nothing to do with anything in particular. Anyway, this has been a spontaneous and poorly thought out expression of one man's baseless opinions. If you do not agree, you are politely advised to go fuck yo.

Wow, if Pahlaniuk's ability to be bleak and miserable is nothing compared to the soul-crushing greyness of Faulkner, then I may soon have to change my favorite author!!!!1!11!

While Pahlaniuk's plots are horridly contrived and otherworldly, and his writing style is often frustrating, I must admit I still managed to like Choke, particularly the ending, which I have heard they removed from the movie version. Fuckers.

For what Pahlaniuk's novels are--shock fiction with a smattering of superficial social commentary and a healthy dose of alt-rock angst--they succeed. They're like the diet Dr. Pepper of literature.

[Fae-wolf]

Originally Posted by blackwater1110

Wow, if Pahlaniuk's ability to be bleak and miserable is nothing compared to the soul-crushing greyness of Faulkner, then I may soon have to change my favorite author!!!!1!11!

While Pahlaniuk's plots are horridly contrived and otherworldly, and his writing style is often frustrating, I must admit I still managed to like Choke, particularly the ending, which I have heard they removed from the movie version. Fuckers.

For what Pahlaniuk's novels are--shock fiction with a smattering of superficial social commentary and a healthy dose of alt-rock angst--they succeed. They're like the diet Dr. Pepper of literature.

That's not bad. Diet dr. Pepper taste similar to regular Dr. Pepper unlike other sodas

[Drake Dun]

Originally Posted by gothicusmaximus

I sensed that you couldn't actually enjoy what he churns out, though I didn't think you'd execute the turnaround so soon. Does that get me anything?

Only the same cool points I have already assigned to you.

[Apathy's_Child]

Originally Posted by Fae-wolf

That's not bad. Diet dr. Pepper taste similar to regular Dr. Pepper unlike other sodas

Shit is shit, whether it's sugared or not.