Haunted

I used to think Stephen King wrote gross horror at times ("Misery"), but this author makes Stephen King look like Nancy Drew (sorry to compare an author with a fictional character, but hopefully you get my drift).

This is the kind of horror novel that's frightening in that it could (theoretically) happen. Although more surreal than real, nothing supernatural occurs; it's simply the horror that people can do to themselves and to one another.

Grotesque doesn't even begin to describe it. If you are the type of person who considered "Reservoir Dogs" part-comedy because of its over the top violence, you may feel similarly about this. If you've ever laughed at the type of cartoon violence like when the Coyote is flattened in his failed attempt to catch the Road Runner, then you might be okay with this book, so long as you can think of it in that context. If you drift away from that mindset, you may never sleep again. Seriously.

My greatest challenge was simply to finish it. It used to be that I was unable to even think about certain types of torture, death, and I wanted to stop listening at least a dozen times, but then I thought, "No, I'm not going to allow a group of common words that someone placed in a certain order get the better of me." And in that way, this book caused me to grow as a person.

Think of the sickest, most taboo thing anyone could ever do, then multiply it by ten and then you'll have this book. I'm not saying this so that your morbid curiousity may cause you to give this book a try, really.

WARNING: Due to the extreme and hideous nature of this novel, before you spend the money or use up a book credit, do yourself a favor and listen to the free excerpt from this book entitled "Exodus." It's 44 minutes long and is completely self-contained. If you can stomach that, then go ahead and listen to the rest of the book.

But don't say I didn't warn you.

This book is a wonderfully written satirical look at society, civility, and the ease with which these can be shed. It is a grand rendition of "Murder by Death" meeting "Lord of the Flies" with a little bit of "Alive" thrown in for reality's sake. Unfortunately, it is not for everyone; only those who can stomach hearing the unvarnished truth about society and the potential truth about themselves will be able to stomach this. It is raw, powerful, and at times disgusting. Which, when you get down to it, is a lot like life.

Well I've read/listened to Chuck's other books and I really like his gritty style. I'm not a prude nor do I have problems with his graphic content. All of the other reviews are correct when they warn you about the vileness and depravity of the characters and the over-the-top grossness in some of the stories. This doesn't bother me. That being said, I loved many of the short stories in the book, but there is an overlying story that tries to bundle it all together into a "novel" and not just a book of short stories. That part was tedious and so totally unbelievable as to be insulting. I was frustrated because of these stupid characters and probably won't recommend this book to anyone, even folks who have liked other Chuck Palahniuk novels. I can't say that I liked a single "person" in this book. There wasn't a single character that I felt anything but contempt for. If this were a book of just the short stories, I would have liked it much more and recommended it to others. The "writers retreat" portion made it hard to listen to and I almost didn't finish it on several occasions. I plowed through to the end to see if there was any reason to do so...there wasn't .

By the way--if you aren't familiar with this author, this is NOT the book to start on. Try a different one and see if you like his style, then you can try this book if you really want to.

The best review for this book is just reading all the other negative reviews talking about how offensive and tasteless Chuck Palahnuik is... the fact that he doesn't try to appeal to the lowest common denominator is so rare today. These stories are just fantastically wrong! Also, I can only think of a handfull of living authors that can write a novel with such poetically cadenced and inventive language. For anyone judging the taste level, don't forget that Jonathan Swift wrote about cannibalizing todlers for profit.

Warning: This book is not for most. It is not a horror story in the sense of good versus evil. It is instead about all that is evil, dark, corrupt, selfish, ugly, and self centered about ourselves. The only thing that makes it readable and good literature is that the author uses great language, he lays naked all we don't like about ourselves, and he is brutally honest about much of what we don't want to see. Its a ugly journey but one that some can come away from knowing more about themselves in order to become better people.

This book is so not for your average joe. Iron stomach is the base requirement and a terribly gore riddled imagination. That said this is one amazing book. My skin still crawls when I remember some of the stories but they all left a mark on me. Definitely a classic.

...this is Palahniuk at his best. Good to see him back in top form after a weaker novel or two, and finally he's trying something slightly new with the novel-in-stories format, allowing him to stretch his imagination a little more.

Also, this recording includes "Guts," which Palahniuk's been doing at readings for a year or two. It's worth the download just for that story, along with several other notables, such as "Exodus."

Everyone says "Shocked" or "disgusting" like this is a bad thing. When was the last time you were truly truly shocked by something? I don't mean the news, that is numbing. Palahniuk does shock like no one else. And not only that, he is a brilliant writer. If you don't finish it, you're missing out. There are some truly beautiful sequences in this book, it's not just "disgusting".

Although, the main story is over the top in it's believabilty, it puts the reality of the individual stories in a bright light of insight to everyday life to the reader(listener). I find myself looking for the beautiful play on words/suggested phrases that makes one question the "haunted" reality of everyday life. This is not for the prude or narrow-minded reader by any means, and therefore must be taken with a grain of salt to interpret the author's inferences. This book is a refreshment for those who look(listen) from outside the lines of "everyday" reading.

A warning should be posted with the book listing about the explicit, graphic violence and sex. Some people, including me, are not familiar with this author. The book is well written, but I was truly shocked and disgusted. I am halfway through, and I am torn between not wanting to hear anymore depravity and wanting to find out how it end and just how bad it gets before it is over.