Love him or hate him, i'm talking about Chuck Palahniuk.

In my case, i have nothing but love for his work.

Probably America's most nihilistic writer, Chuck Palahniuk once again has tip toed in the world of madness, the grotesque, human sufferings all that plus salt sprayed with endless dark humor.

As one critic would put it "If you're looking for comparisons, I'd say Palahniuk is like a cross between Tim Powers on acid and Kurt Vonnegut gone postal."

Diary takes form as a journal written by Misty Wilmot, a former art student with a once promising future but now reduced to waiting tables at a seafront hotel in an island called Waytansea.

To rub salt to the wound, her husband Peter is in a state of a coma after a seemingly failed suicide attempt. Soon Misty finds herself besieged with phone calls from angry customers, regarding house renovation jobs that Peter did in the past, seems like Peter has a fondness for leaving vile and disturbing messages painted on each of the houses' walls and plastering off whole rooms.

After the intervention of her mother in law, Grace. Misty, in a sudden burst of creativity goes back to painting. After finishing about a hundred paintings, believing her daughter Tabbi is dead, befriending a "handwriting expert", a cop assigned to the nations 'hate crime division' showing up to ask some questions, harboring a connection to painters from the past Maura Kincaid and Constance Baron, Carl Jung theories, Jain Buddhists and a conspiracy that threatens the lives of hundreds, Misty's world is rapidly turned into one frenetic chase for sanity amidst all cynical and unusual twists that only Chuck Palahniuk can deliver.

*****
Most critics take against Chuck Palahniuk was that all of his characters are almost the same, shocking, mad, anger prone, a walking "fuck you" sign all that plus his sick humor.

Which i don't get, why take it against the man whose style is synonymous to spookily imaginative and superbly grim, well in this case in Diary, gone are the Tyler Durden charisma, but for the second time since "invisible monster" it takes form at a female point of view, a girly character although not the usual chick on the block.

Misty Wilmot is the closest you'll ever get to the Tyler Durden type bullshit-philosopher character, in "Diary" Chuck Palahniuk laid out an "in your face" narratives with cool repetition phrases such as "Just for the record, the weather today is calm and sunny, but the air is full of bullshit", "bermuda triangulated" when falling short of an explanation.

I can understand the short cuts that Palahniuk makes in his novel, in his own admission he is a minimalist, no need to go into the depths of a scenario, i mean who cares, as long as the character is, as i said before an "in your face" who don't give a fuck about his/her surroundings.

Bottomline: This novel is most of the times hilarious, expectedly disturbing, frightening and poignant at the same time ( thus the association with Douglas Coupland everytime i think Chuck Palahnik ) -- but it's always clever and well-written. Not a book to be missed.

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"Haunted" is a collection of 23 short stories in between the narratives about a group of writers who answered an ad that says "Artist''s retreat abandon your life for three months" in an isolated writer's colony run by an old dying man named Whittier.

None of the characters were named by their real name, they were refered to by various aliases like; Mother Nature, Earl of Slander, Duke of Vandals, the Missing Link, Lady Baglady to name a few.

The narratives about their ordeal in the writer's colony are intertwined with the different short stories that these characters have written (which are mostly about them ), the cover of the paperback version of this book has a line from observer that says "brutally graphic".

Which is expected of any Chuck Palahiuk book and with the first short story called "Guts" is of any indication, readers are in for a horrific ride.

As i have learned, "Guts" has been in circulation prior to the writing of this book, Chuck P. has made some news around America during a book reading tour, wherein while reading this short story, scores of listeners dropped unconsciously on the floor, mainly because of the graphic details of the story.

"Guts" was about a teenage masterbation gone wrong, if you are curious. And as i found myself, i cringe halfway through it, finished the story without passing out, but still, true to it, i found it brutal and darkly funny, the true Chuck P. style.

So as the days goes by on the "Artist's colony", with lack of food and stable living condition sets in, the mental state of the writers are greatly affected, the stories they write soon becomes darker, their relationships towards each other becomes spiteful, starvation eventually leads to a suicide and more contempt with each other to the amusement of the old man Whittier...yeah i guess i should stop right here hahaha...

Over all the novel is what every critics have said it is, "full of gore" to some they find it as "worthless piece of graphic literature" (probably the same critics who gave John Grisham's novels a 5 star ).

Reading a book is an intimate experience, its like consentual sex, you wont go on if it doesnt pleases you, and i find reading this book as one of my joyful exuberant moments in reading just about anything ( that includes porn ), if i may say, this one isn't for everybody.

This book aint for the sissy readers who thought "Da Vinci Code" is the greatest book on earth and are foolish enough to watch the film, if you're a Harry Potter junkie, i suggest keep up with your reading habbits, no need in making a grothesgue and sudden change in genre.

But if you are a Stephen King, Irvine Welsh, Alex Garland, The Canterbury Tales reader? then this one is for you.

It will delight you to no end, its brutal content will either leave you laughing your ass of or it might produce some nightmares in the coming night.

Which coincidentally i did, night after i got done reading with "Haunted", i had a nightmare, even though i dont remember the details, it was enough to wake me up in the middle of the night, leave me sweating and unable to sleep the rest of the way.

I can say "Haunted" has gotten under my skin....hahahaha....
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From the author of "fight club" comes another tale pf an exaggerated portrayal of a dark,grotesque character searching for his own meaning of existence.
  

Amidst the modern woes of everything around him Victor Mancini narrates his life through the present grips of a lame minimum wage job as a role playing 17th century character in a theme park, to the mad and exciting world of a "sexaholics" group therapy sessions.

In between visitation to an elderly hospital to see his Alzheimer disease stricken mother and flirting with the staff nurses, until an indecent proposal from a hot female doctor named Dr.Paige Marshall about a revolutionary genetic cure for Alzheimer's.

The narratives of the present is preceded in betweens of flashback of Victor Mancini as that "stupid little boy" and his Mother's exploits at mis adventures, with the court declaring her as an unfit parent, Victor ended up in foster homes often ended up being kidnapped by his mother aboard stolen cars and a school bus, teaching him about things he wouldn't learn at school but will definitely save his life

"in most hospitals Nurse Flamingo means a fire, Dr.Green a suicide...in a grocery store paging Mr.cash is a call for an armed security guard, Mr.Bernard Wellis, please meet your party at gate 16, means somebody is holding a knife to the throat of a hostage there"...

Footing the almost $3,000/month hospital bill for his mother, Victor devised a complicated scam of pretending to choke on a piece of food in a restaurant, waiting for someone to save him, thereby creating a feeling of being a hero for some total stranger, hoping that the old chinese saying of "once you save the life of a person, you feel responsible for them the rest of their life" will set in afterwards.

After a bit of sob stories about his mother being sick, multiply all of those choking incidents, restaurants and instant heroes willing to help more, cash donation will also come week in and week out...

Seems like everything are going smoothly for Victor, even though still struggling in the 4th step of his recovery from sex addiction, with lots of recreational sex .
see:tanya
see:nico
see:scores of women.

Until a diary of his mother written in Italian surfaced, promises to reveal the truth about Victor's real parentage , an incident that will turn Victor's world inside out, surrounded by a bunch of characters, the insane patients of St.Anthony hospital, a friend who collects rocks, Victor Mancini after all said and done, may be very well be the second coming of Jesus Christ?

What would Jesus Christ not do?...

*****************
Over-all although i find some parts of the book highly unbelievable, like Victor's scam on choking on a food, but hey "Fight Club" is highly unbelievable either But Chuck Palahniuk has written it well with crisp lines and twists it ends up highly entertaining...

I guess same goes with this book, Victor's mother is the maternal version of a Tyler Durden the savior of the rest of us, The bored and dazed, Victor as un unknowingly could be second coming of christ is as hateful and understandable, given his circumstances, one can relate to his thoughts...

The part about the 'sexaholics' therapy sessions are a bit short, i would love to read more of it ( haha pervert? ), but same in "FightClub" the narratives moves quickly from one setting, time frame to another, i cannot complain with that, it leaves less room for boredom.

Over-all, its not that perfect pitch of a book, but the humor, the rawness, the gravity is there, i had a blast reading this one, this goes straight to my book shelf, for me to enjoy reading again, probably a year from now...
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