When I was first introduced to Chuck Palahniuk's books I was a little skeptical. I read 'Fight Club' after seeing the movie so the twist in the book wasn't much of a twist to me. I picked up a few more of his books here and there and started to read them. 'Survivor' got me hooked on Palahniuk. Yes, his writing style is weird. Yes, his plots are twisted from time to time. Yes, I question whether or not I am ever going to read another one of his books. He has hits and misses, but doesn't every writer? The thing about his writing is he doesn't stick to one style. He changes his approach in each book and that is one thing I like about him. You never know how much different the next book is going to be. Is he ever going to win a Pulitzer Prize? Probably not. Would I read any of his books over, say, a James Patterson book? Absolutely.
'Damned' was a little more normal that I had anticipated, but still bordered on weird. After some of his other books that went way far out, it feels like he has dialed it back a little bit on the two books of his that I read this year. Just like 'Tell All' it took a while to get into the story because the main character didn't develop until a third of the way through the book.
I know that this book focused just mainly on the narrator, but what makes a book a good book or even a great book, is secondary characters. It's one thing to have a book mainly about one person, in the style of 'Old Man and the Sea', and have only a few minor characters that are around for just a few pages and it's another thing to introduce supporting characters, keep them around for the entire book, and not develop them. It's infuriating! But, it's what Chuck Palahniuk does. He writes whatever he wants to and probably tells his editor to get bent.
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human SocietiesTell AllDamnedA Little Matter of Genocide: Holocaust and Denial in the Americas from 1492 to Present- Suttree
Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation
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