Tender Branson is the sole surviving member of a religious cult whose doctrine commands you to commit suicide.
I would class this as black comedy. Palahniuk once again delivers an highly entertaining and original story. I stayed up all night just to see where this was going. Starting at the end of the story and finishing at the beginning , this book just keeps you guessing.
I would highly recommend this book if you are looking for a book with guts and a deep story.
Not for the easily offended or faint of heart.

Mr. Palahniuk has a style of writing that I would describe as a rollercoaster ride. While some of his stories are fast paced, exciting and fun; this ride left me drained and feeling queasy. When the narration was over, I was happy to lift the safety bar and leave. Your experience may be different though.

Enjoyable? There are some quirky, insightful points of view in the story. However, I don't see how this book could ever come off as an enjoyable read.

Paul Garcia, is a great narrator with a wide range of voices. He is good. His narration was what got me through to the end. I will search for other performances/narrations by him.

Sadly, yes. There is a character in this book called the Agent. I can see a Hollywood "Agent" type turning this book into some superficial CGI. There would be some irony there.

I hope this review is helpful. I admit that I am not an English Lit major and don't know much about tropes or styles of writing. I’ve listened to the finish and this review is really, just one guy's opinion. Read all the reviews and decide if you want to jump in the pool. What the heck, go ahead and listen to it. Then, figure out if you went into the deep end or the shallow end of the pool. You might like it. - I dare you.

Not your usual from Chuck but it is a book that I could not stop listening to. I have listened to it more than once since then & while it is a very strange concept, it works & is believable (well most of it anyway).

an excellent book. the characters are interesting and funny in a dark kind of way.

I didn't see that coming.

This is the 1st novel of Chuck Palahniuk's that I have read/heard. Very unique style and it took me most of the book to figure out how the beginning ties into the rest of the story.

It kept pulling me along for the ride. I would recommend it if you like strange stories that keep you thinking about how things fit together.

If you just on the edge of deciding if you are going to kill yourself or not, listen to the first 20 pages and your next trip is off the bridge.

No hint of hope in those first 20 pages.

The narrator did a good job. My negative view is directed at the author.

The POV, first person character.

I just couldn't go on after listening to the first 20 pages. It was just too morbid; a real turn-off pager. There is no defense of this type of story line. Even starting with the plane and setting up the reader to find out about what happened to that character didn't work. After the first pages, you are hoping that the character does himself in even sooner and the hell with waiting for the plane. The writing itself was passable, but nothing to ever consider rising a purchase with this author again. Sorry, fella, but it was just too much of a turn-off.

At first, Fertility struck me as an odd name. Then, there was Gwen. Then Chuck gave us Tender Branson. Tender? It IS Palahniuk after all so in his second novel, why not. Often, I fall asleep to the "voice" of Tender Branson. A side affect of listening to every title (with the exception of two) is that not only is Palahniuk my favorite writer of fiction but it's just scary with the narrator of every title. Each narrator is JUST THAT GOOD. With Palahniuk, every narrator is perfect (I exclude Diary for reasons obvious if one would listen to the sample). As a result, Tender Branson has me imagining suicide. He is now perfectly etched into my brain by Paul Garcia as was Carl Streator courtesy of Richard Poe etc. I feel as if I am listening to the flight recorder of flight 2039 aka Tender Branson, my savior from very common living. Somehow I am sad. Not just a little but very deeply saddened and somehow feel so much like a fly on the wall of the Sherri's restaurant in Spokane. I'm the wedding coordinator providing the "other" type of sandwich during half-time in New Orleans. Hell, call me Trisha! This IS fiction but it feels so very real. Even laughing through some of the ridiculous home care antics of Tender it feels so real. For the record, I will NOT be killing myself anytime soon but this is how real the teleprompter at my appearance which allows me to write this review is that I would highly recommend this listen to any Palahniuk fan. Finally, it's so good I am afraid to even allow "Haunted" onto my iPod, ever. I would however like Audible to add Fight Club and the soon to come Snuff to the list for those of us on the hunt for all things Palahniuk.

I believe if you don't have anything good to say, you shouldn't say anything. But I must speak up here. In fact this is my first ever negative review. I really tried to like this book because I loved Fight Club, but this one crossed the line for me. the author tries to make fun of depression and tries to show the humour in someone who tries to convince others to commit suicide and after so much of it, it just wasn't funny. The narrator is completely monotone throughout and the story is very slow and quite depressing. I actually regret buying it.

I love horror, suspense and just weird stories, so I really wanted to like this, especially with all the good reviews. I just couldn't get into it though. It was just too weird. I might try it again in the future, but I just had a hard time following the story line. I am all for leaving the reader with questions, but it is a fine balance between hooking the reader and confusing the reader. I was confused. Maybe when I am feeling more patient, I will try it again.

I enjoy the cynical, humourous and nihilistic writings of Kurt Vonnegut and Cormack Mcarthy because they entertain, contain characters of interest, and have clever writing and even some good plots. None of these qualities are available with Palahniuk--just gobs of nihilistic sociopathy with no apparent redeeming value. I must admit that I stopped after 4 chapters--couldn't take any more. Since the story is a terrorist's story told on a black box tape, I thought early on that the terrorist's plot would be foiled if I just stopped listening. Obviously some people were able to stomach the whole enchilada--maybe there is redemption in there somewhere, but it was intolerable for me. Good luck if you take this ride.