Haunted: A Novel by Chuck Palahniuk Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Haunted: A Novel
Book Review: "Haunted" left me a little spooked...
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a pretty solid read. It is chilling, gripping, thought provoking, and entertaining. A word of caution: this book may induce vomiting. Some of the situations are pretty graphic and Chuck describes them in gory (no pun intended) detail. I found myself having to take breaks here and there to allow my stomach to settle... ENJOY!
Book Review: Trying too hard
Summary: 2 Stars
Critiquing Chuck Palahniuk feels like sacrilege. He is without question one of the most gifted authors of his generation. Palahniuk is brimming with so much natural talent that he could probably turn the minutes of a knitting club meeting into a best-seller. I have previously read three of Palahniuk's novels, including Choke, Survivor and Fight Club and thoroughly enjoyed his writing, characterisation and insight.
Haunted, however, just doesn't measure up to his other work. Whilst I am sure many people will take issue with the disjointed book format, my beef is with the content itself. The problem isn't that Palahniuk explores the extreme boundaries of bad taste, it's that there is something inherently contrived in his attempts to do so. Whether it's the story of the cook who turns himself into a soup in a hot spring or the detailed description of the decomposition process of one character's daughter, one simply gets the feeling that shock take precedence over the more laudable aspects of Palahniuk's writing.
I never felt really shocked or disgusted anyway, just disappointed that the whole premise of the book had been overextended by such a brilliant author. Characters who will self-mutilate for fame by ripping off their own fingernails just aren't that believable. By exaggerating what people are capable of Palahniuk loses any sense of credible motivation in his characters - he crosses the line drawn by Rabelaisian satire and ventures into downright B-Grade schlock horror garbage.
Having said all that, anything written by Palahniuk is worth a read purely for his talents as a descriptive writer. However, with several other hilarious, thought provoking titles to his credit I believe my money would have been better spent on any other of his books.
Book Review: Tries Too Hard for "Shock Value"
Summary: 2 Stars
My first Palahniuk novel was "Diary," which I really enjoyed. Next, I read "Invisible Monsters," which I loved. Palahniuk has been my go-to author when I don't have anything else I want to read, and I thought I'd eventually read everything of his. I bought "Haunted" with "Choke," and I started with "Haunted." I wish I'd read "Choke" first, because now I'm Palahniuked out.
It seems to me that Palahniuk is trying too hard to shock the reader in this one, and that's confirmed by his afterword, which strikes me as nothing more than a gloating tally of all the people who've fainted during his readings of the short story "Guts." Yes, "Guts" is gross (while also being very entertaining; I'll give him credit where credit is due), but fainting? Come on. Palahniuk fans have a much stronger constitution than that.
I agree with other reviewers: This book would have worked much better as a collection of short stories. The narrative tying everything together is fairly dull and not at all compelling. I found myself not caring one bit about what happens next; I just wanted to get to the next story. And the poems were really just a waste of space. On top of everything else (and maybe this is just the professional copy editor in me), Palahniuk's signature sentence structure becomes extremely annoying here, especially since this novel is supposed to comprise stories written by different people. If you're going to attempt such an undertaking, at least make an effort to vary the voice and make each story sound like it was written by a different author.
On a positive note, I do appreciate the commentary on the lengths to which stupid people will go to be famous and the reality-TV culture that has inspired such a mind-set, and there are some funny moments. But this novel just left me with such a sour taste in my mouth, I'm going to have to read a few books by other authors before tackling "Choke," even knowing it's one of Palahniuk's best.
Book Review: A Tale of Too Many Cities
Summary: 2 Stars
While the editorials talk of a cohesive tale with narratives entwined, a book with 23 shorts in it, 23 poems, and something trying to draw them all together. At first this seemed great because the shorts were a tale within a tale and everything seemed to be going somewhere. The characters and their "titles" seemed to fit really well and some of the "quirks" established in them were interesting. The problem was that this quickly faded and the thing holding them together started to unravel.
Nothing happened.
Had the book been a collection of shorts, it would have been a lot better. Still, there was the issue of connection and the issue that a lot of time was spent on the subject. When this started to drone on in some character's personalized view of the world it took away from the tales scattered here and there, and when the page hit about 300 of the 400 I wanted to ask, "why?" That was what perplexed me; if it had been a book of short stories, would it have been viewed as "better?" One can find two gems in a book of nothing more and think they have jewelry, after all. Still, this was different.
I wanted to like this book and put off reviewing it for a long time to see if my perspective would shift. Sometimes that happens with books and, with Chuck P., I thought the benefit of the doubt would be worth giving. Time is sadly not the salve for all wounds and sometimes doesn't make you like something when you return, expecting better.
Maybe that's the saddest lesson I learn time and again from authors I really like.
Book Review: One of Palahniuk's Worst Books
Summary: 1 Stars
While I have enjoyed many of Chuck Palahniuk's books (particularly "Lullaby" and "Diary"), "Haunted" is just plain bad. The short stories almost labor to reach a conclusion, and the connecting narrative is ridiculous after the first few chapters.
Chuck Palahniuk is a very good writer, but this book is not up to standards. If you are looking for a Palahniuk book to read try Fight Club, or Survivor, or Lullaby, or Diary, but not Haunted.