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Chuck Palahniuk


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I first read Fight Club a few years ago and it definitely struck a chord with me.

I find myself continually going back to it, and I enjoy it each time and there are always new things that spring up at you that you might not have noticed previously.

 

I read Choke last year and that to is stunning piece of work. Even though I have only read those two books he is fast becoming one of my favourite authors. I was recommended Lullaby by one of the sales assistants at Waterstones when I bought Choke, he said that it is his favourite out of all Palahnuiks books so it will be joining my ever increasing wish list (the rest will probably be joining it!). :D

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  • 5 months later...

I'm a huge Chuck fan, as a new member here I was delighted to find this thread. I could chat about his work for hours.

 

He's never pulled his punches. Sometimes (mainly Haunted and Snuff) things get rather... depraved. Howver even at his darkest moment he's only a paragraph away from making readers laugh, an amazing skill in an author.

 

I'll go out on a limb and say he hasn't written a single 'bad' book. Many folks don't care for his last couple (Snuff, Pygmy, Tell-All) but to them I'd say show me a better pound for pound writer of this kind of fiction that produces such a prolific output.

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  • 6 months later...

I was hoping to find some Palahniuk fans out there, even if you've only read one or two.

 

I have read Fight Club and Choke and loved them a lot, I bought a few more: Rant, lullaby, survivor and pygmy. I tried reading pygmy but could not stand the style. It was interesting and unique but wasn't for me at all.

 

I know he has written quite a few more so I was wondering what others have read and enjoyed?

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@Arewenearlythere: That is a good one - Palahnuik is so quotable. For some reason "This is your life, and it's ending one minute at a time" always stuck with me.

Yeah, that quotation is so simple yet brilliant.

 

I've read only Fight Club by Palahniuk. That book, then, is actually one of my favourites. I don't know why I haven't looked up any of his other works! The local libraries don't seem to have many of them on shelf, or at least I haven't managed to spot them. Reading this topic reminded me why I should try to get my hands on them.

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Just finished reading survivor, my third Palahniuk book (Fight Club and Choke). I thought it was really good, seems to be very typical Palahniuk style. It was a very interesting format but didn't make me laugh as much as choke. I've got Lullaby and Invisible monsters which I will be reading soon, also want to get Snuff.

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A good friend of mine is a huge fan of Palahniuk! Every time he comes over (which is several times a week to be fair :P) he is shocked to find me reading a different book and is the only friend that really does take an interest in what I am reading. So last year he came over to see my boyfriend and had the copy of Haunted with him for me to borrow. He really did enjoy watching me trying to read 'Guts'! I kept putting the book down saying 'no more, please no more!' but carried on and found it to be a blooming good book! I really did enjoy it! It isn't the type of book that I would normally pick up. In fact when I first started reading it (sometimes even half way through the book to be honest) it felt kind of...wrong to be reading it. Some bits were quite disturbing and very difficult to read but I was determined to get to the end of it and was very glad I did. Now I'm bugging him to lend me Snuff!

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  • 9 months later...

So far I've read Choke, Lullaby and Fight Club (in that order).

Choke is the one I liked most, but it's also the first one I read. I think the problem is that FC and Choke have some similarities so FC reminded me of Choke and maybe seemed like a copy (even though that doesn't make sense because FC was written first) of the latter. Also, the main character in Choke is a (failed) med student, so I guess it played a role too :D

 

For some reason I'm amused with his characters who are depicted through their flaws, which I liked, I guess, because I tend to focus on my bad sides instead of the good, so I related :D They seem very human, too human. Like bitter, disapointed, self loathing humans. And yet, there's some humour involved as well :D

And his style is very sharp and simple, but most of all, direct which I like. I know that most people complain about his style (my friends did at least) but for me it's one of the main reasons I like his books. Well, at least these 3.

 

All in all, it seems to me like with each book my interest and amusement with Palahniuk is decreasing, but I feel it's because of the similarities (writing style, characters - it seemed like I was reading about the same person in different episodes, you know?) and getting used to the style, or pattern.

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