SnuffChuck Palahniuk
WARNING: PROFANITY AHEAD
For some reason I keep giving this fucker a chance. And I know why, too: Fight Club.
Not Fight Club the book, mind you; Fight Club the movie -- which isn't even the same thing, I know. But a little nagging voice in the back of my head says that the mind who produced Tyler Durden must not be all that bad, so he's gotta produce something else good soon.
WELL I WAS FUCKING WRONG.
I was going to try to review Snuff, Palahniuk's latest abortion, objectively, or at least dispassionately, but it's not going to happen. The further and further I advanced into the book, the angrier I became that I bought this turd.
I HAVE TO START USING THE LIBRARY.
But really: joke's on me, you know? And boy, it's a good one.
Oh, wait: you want to hear a bit about the book, do you? Sure. Here you go: cunt, pussy, money shot, clit, dick, cum, whatever -- those "shocking" terms are pretty much as deep as Snuff gets. And I have no objection to such terms, or to books about the porn industry, or even the porn industry itself, so long as everyone's consenting and all that -- but I DO object to shitty writing, and Snuff's got that in spades.
What's worse, it coulda been so much better. The prose hardly varies from narrator to narrator (Snuff is narrated by four wonderful individuals -- three of whom are waiting in a line of 600 men to gang-bang porn star Cassie Wright), and the characters themselves have all the depth of a wet piece of toilet paper.
However, it matters little that the voice sounds the same regardless of which character is doing the narrating, because the chapter titles tell us which character has taken the helm. Whew! Thanks, Chuck! Otherwise, we'd never have known. Worse than the lack of individual voice, though, is the writing itself, which is just plain AWFUL. Grammar -- what's that? Why write sentences that make sense? Perhaps Palahniuk is simply pandering to the intellectual level of his fans (who must be boys under 16 years of age), and so figures that writing grammatically correct sentences isn't necessary.
In a nutshell: I gotta start selling some of this shit -- maybe I should finally join Bookmooch? I mean, I gotta do something. I'M TIRED OF BUYING TURDS, GODDAMMIT.
Well, now. THIS one put me in a bad mood, eh?
Bibliolatry Scale: 1 out of 6
For some reason I keep giving this fucker a chance. And I know why, too: Fight Club.
Not Fight Club the book, mind you; Fight Club the movie -- which isn't even the same thing, I know. But a little nagging voice in the back of my head says that the mind who produced Tyler Durden must not be all that bad, so he's gotta produce something else good soon.
WELL I WAS FUCKING WRONG.
I was going to try to review Snuff, Palahniuk's latest abortion, objectively, or at least dispassionately, but it's not going to happen. The further and further I advanced into the book, the angrier I became that I bought this turd.
I HAVE TO START USING THE LIBRARY.
But really: joke's on me, you know? And boy, it's a good one.
Oh, wait: you want to hear a bit about the book, do you? Sure. Here you go: cunt, pussy, money shot, clit, dick, cum, whatever -- those "shocking" terms are pretty much as deep as Snuff gets. And I have no objection to such terms, or to books about the porn industry, or even the porn industry itself, so long as everyone's consenting and all that -- but I DO object to shitty writing, and Snuff's got that in spades.
What's worse, it coulda been so much better. The prose hardly varies from narrator to narrator (Snuff is narrated by four wonderful individuals -- three of whom are waiting in a line of 600 men to gang-bang porn star Cassie Wright), and the characters themselves have all the depth of a wet piece of toilet paper.However, it matters little that the voice sounds the same regardless of which character is doing the narrating, because the chapter titles tell us which character has taken the helm. Whew! Thanks, Chuck! Otherwise, we'd never have known. Worse than the lack of individual voice, though, is the writing itself, which is just plain AWFUL. Grammar -- what's that? Why write sentences that make sense? Perhaps Palahniuk is simply pandering to the intellectual level of his fans (who must be boys under 16 years of age), and so figures that writing grammatically correct sentences isn't necessary.
In a nutshell: I gotta start selling some of this shit -- maybe I should finally join Bookmooch? I mean, I gotta do something. I'M TIRED OF BUYING TURDS, GODDAMMIT.
Well, now. THIS one put me in a bad mood, eh?
Bibliolatry Scale: 1 out of 6
7 comments:
I'm a big Fight Club fan too. Intrigued by it enough to read what else he had written, I read Lullaby when it came out and decided not to read any more of his books.
Sorry you wasted your money.
Thanks for the warning. It does sound pretty awful and, for the same reason both of you mentioned, I was on the verge of spending money on the thing.
It sounds pretty fucking bad! Thanks for the heads-up. Sorry about your money.
I joined bookmooch for the same reasons. I am trying to get rid of trash I keep buying and never read!
FWIW, 'Survivor' is pretty good. Better than 'Fight Club', I'd say. But otherwise I gave up on Palahniuk after 'Choke'. Shock does not equal quality or insight.
sorry it stunk for you.. he was just here in town and had a massive crowd one of friends did the on stage interview and another sponsored the event and hand held THE CHUCK. I think he is a really good marketer- have you seen the you tube ad he did for snuff? Also you have to know going in that it is experimental.. not great literature. I listened to him read CHOKE, and liked it- now there's a movie.. also, have you ever heard/read GUTS? OMG. one thing I'll say for him, is he can make you squirm.
Jen, I love Chuck Palahniuk, but his more recent stuff has vastly diminished in quality, at least IMHO. I first read Survivor, and went on to read Choke and Lullaby. I have to disagree with bibliophyllia, as Lullaby is my absolute favorite.
However, I knew better than to try Snuff, and after 12 pages of Pygmy I scrubbed my soul and sold it.
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