Chuck Palahniuk will be the death of me. Every time I hear he has a new book out, I rush right out to buy it - or in this case - straight to the library. He has a unique writing style - all his characters speak the same way - yet, they're very real and always a little inappropriate. This time, Palahniuk takes the inappropriateness to the next level. In Snuff, porn-star Cassie Wright seeks to break the on-screen record for serial fornication. Six hundred men volunteer to be her partners, each with his assigned number written in marker on his arm - and visible for the camera. The chapters of the book are told from the perspective of several of the men, as well as Sheila, the producer behind the camera. Each man has his own reason for wanting to be part of history, and as one would expect, their stories by the end come together. Given the title of the book, I suspected that Cassie would die during the filming of the movie, but of course, not without classic Palahniuk confusions, twists, and turns. While this book had all of the trademark Palahniuk story-telling conventions that I love and that make him one of the best modern story-tellers, the subject matter was a bit too much, and ultimately, this one just didn't do it for me.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Snuff - Chuck Palahniuk
Chuck Palahniuk will be the death of me. Every time I hear he has a new book out, I rush right out to buy it - or in this case - straight to the library. He has a unique writing style - all his characters speak the same way - yet, they're very real and always a little inappropriate. This time, Palahniuk takes the inappropriateness to the next level. In Snuff, porn-star Cassie Wright seeks to break the on-screen record for serial fornication. Six hundred men volunteer to be her partners, each with his assigned number written in marker on his arm - and visible for the camera. The chapters of the book are told from the perspective of several of the men, as well as Sheila, the producer behind the camera. Each man has his own reason for wanting to be part of history, and as one would expect, their stories by the end come together. Given the title of the book, I suspected that Cassie would die during the filming of the movie, but of course, not without classic Palahniuk confusions, twists, and turns. While this book had all of the trademark Palahniuk story-telling conventions that I love and that make him one of the best modern story-tellers, the subject matter was a bit too much, and ultimately, this one just didn't do it for me.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment