I'm sure that name has jogged a few memories out there. If it doesn't, Chuck Palahniuk is the man who wrote the book Fight Club. Since the movie version of Fight Club is one of my favorite movies, I had to read the book. I did and thoroughly enjoyed it. So, out of curiousity, I decided to try out another book by Palahniuk.
I finally bought a copy of Survivor. I believe that this is his second novel. All I can really say is...wow.
The book gives its summary much better than I ever could:
"Tender Branson--last surviving member of the so-called Creedish Death Cult--is dictating his life story into the flight recorder of Flight 2039, cruising on autopilot at 39,000 feet somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. He is all alone in the airplane, which will crash shortly into the vast Australian outback. But before it does, he will unfold the tale of his journey from an obediant Creedish child and humble domestic servant to an ultra-buffed, steroid- and collagen-packed media messiah. He'll reveal the truth of his tortured romance with the elusive and prescient Fertility Hollis, share his insight that "the only difference between suicide and martyrdom is press coverage," and deny responisibility for the Tender Branson Sensitive Materials Sanitary Landfill, a 20,000-acre repository for the nation's outdated pornography--amoung other matters bizarre and trenchant."
Naturally, I would never recommend this book to everybody. The book has a bunch of very controversial things in it. "Assisted" suicides, cults, abuse, scams, various items of extreme sexual nature, and Bible verses are littered throughout the book. Fight Club is almost pure in comparison.
However, I believe that Survivor is a great deal better than Fight Club. The book is satiric from page 289 all the way to page 1. Yes, I did say that in the right order. The chapters count down to one as well. It's a wonderful technique that emphasizes you are reading someone's last words. I enjoyed the book and had a hard time putting it down. I will be extremely shocked if anyone ever tried to make a movie out of this novel. There are far too many sensitive areas to bring it to a visual format.
I would recommend this novel only to people who enjoy controversial books. If you are offended by casual dialogue about suicide, objects involved with pornography and sex, or satire concerning religion, stay away from this novel. It can be quite lewd in some areas. It is a very dark novel. If you enjoy Chuck Palahniuk's writing, you will probably love the book.
Personally, I can't wait to get my hands on another of his novels.
Posted by Randy at March 4, 2004 02:43 PM | TrackBack