<![CDATA[Lullaby]]>

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The consequences of media saturation are the basis for an urban nightmare in Lullaby, Chuck Palahniuk's darkly comic and often dazzling thriller. Assigned to write a series of feature articles investigating SIDS, troubled newspaper reporter Carl Streator begins to notice a pattern among the cases he encounters: each child was read the same poem prior to his or her death. His research and a tip from a necrophilic paramedic lead him to Helen Hoover Boyle, a real estate agent who sells "distressed" (demonized) homes, assured of their instant turnover. Boyle and Streator have both lost children to "crib death," and she confirms Streator's suspicions: the poem is an ancient lullaby or "culling song" that is lethal if spoken--or even thought--in a victim's direction. The misanthropic Streator, now armed with a deadly and uncontrollably catchy tune, goes on a minor killing spree until he recognizes his crimes and the song's devastating potential. Lullaby then turns into something of a road trip narrative, with Streator, Boyle, her empty-headed Wiccan secretary Mona, and Mona's vigilante boyfriend Oyster setting out across the U.S. to track down and destroy all copies of the poem. In his previous works, including the cult favorite Fight Club, Palahniuk has demonstrated a fondness for making statements about the condition of humanity, and he uses Lullaby like a blunt object to repeatedly overstate his generally dim view. Such dogmatic venom undermines the persuasiveness of his thesis about mass communication and free will, but thankfully, Palahniuk offers some respite here by allowing for sympathy and love, as well as through his razor-sharp humor, such as his mock listings for Helen's possessed properties: "six bedrooms, four baths, pine-paneled entryway, and blood running down the kitchen walls...." At such moments, Lullaby casts a powerful spell. --Ross Doll

1311854

2002

Lullaby

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2 23 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Thu Aug 02 21:07:20 -0700 2007 Sun Aug 05 20:48:57 -0700 2007 more...]]> 3 8 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Thu Apr 26 15:03:33 -0700 2007 Thu Aug 16 07:51:34 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 2 false false Tue Nov 11 12:23:00 -0800 2008 Thu Dec 04 11:42:59 -0800 2008
The book opens with a scene from a real estate office. Helen Hoover Boyle and h...more...]]> 5 2 false false Mon Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2003 Sun Mar 16 11:41:26 -0700 2008 Thu Mar 27 14:01:59 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 2 false false Wed Nov 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Fri Mar 16 07:33:25 -0700 2007 Fri Mar 16 07:33:58 -0700 2007
For anyone who’s read Palahniuk before, you probably already know what to expect from his wr...more...]]> 5 4 false false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun Jul 29 20:11:25 -0700 2007 Sun Jul 29 20:22:07 -0700 2007 more...]]> 1 2 false false Tue Nov 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Wed Sep 03 12:56:03 -0700 2008 Thu Sep 18 12:02:54 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Sun Aug 17 12:31:57 -0700 2008 Sun Aug 17 12:31:57 -0700 2008
Palahniuk wrote Fight Club which was made into a...more...]]> 3 1 false false Tue Jul 29 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Jul 19 18:30:59 -0700 2008 Sun Aug 10 19:04:14 -0700 2008 Attention Readers of Edgy Black Writings, of Chuck Palahniuk

If you've read Lullaby and have felt bored you are not alone.

OKay, so this is my fourth Palahniuk book and I enjoyed the first three so much (Survivor, Choke, & Invisible Monsters)and I was very excited to read this....more...]]> 4 1 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2004 Sat Jul 05 05:27:19 -0700 2008 Sat Jul 05 05:28:40 -0700 2008
Assigned to investigate Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, a reporter uncovers an ancient culling spell. When he learns the power of the spell, and the damage it can...more...]]> 4 1 false false Thu Apr 01 00:00:00 -0800 2004 Wed Sep 05 07:45:32 -0700 2007 Tue Dec 18 06:10:44 -0800 2007
Wow. I don't think I've read anything this powerful & bleak since the first time I read Cat's Cradle. Carl Streator is a reporter with a terrible past, investigating SIDS (sudden in...more...]]> 3 1 false false Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun Jul 08 15:02:19 -0700 2007 Sun Jul 08 15:58:25 -0700 2007 That Chuck Palahniuk hates humanity.
His outlook is bleak, basicly he's unimpressed.

Here we find all of chucks old tricks painted fresh and new. The tortured, faulted hero. The antagonistic love interest. The questing, the transformative car rides, gre...more...]]> 1 1 false false Thu Jul 03 08:57:30 -0700 2008 Tue Jun 24 13:58:31 -0700 2008 Thu Jul 03 08:57:30 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 1 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Jan 15 13:13:51 -0800 2008 Fri Jan 18 11:33:13 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 1 false false Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Feb 03 07:35:46 -0800 2008 Tue Feb 05 09:25:51 -0800 2008 more...]]> 0 1 false false Wed Dec 03 19:37:24 -0800 2008 Wed Dec 03 19:37:36 -0800 2008 5 0 false false Tue Feb 17 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Feb 16 12:11:36 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 17 02:12:50 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Jan 29 00:39:21 -0800 2009 Thu Jan 29 00:39:37 -0800 2009
After reading Galapagos, I set off to read some short stories. I read "Colony" by Philip K. Dick (awesome!) but then I had enough. If I am trying to read a load of books and write about them, reading short stories is antithetical.

On to a review: my...more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 02 13:22:32 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 02 13:31:49 -0700 2009 Well, after reading "Lullaby" in such a short period of time (picked it up late Monday ...more...]]> 2 0 false false Sat Aug 22 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 22 14:37:50 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 22 14:38:36 -0700 2009

"What I am talking about is free will. Do we have it or does God dictate and script everything we do and say and want? Do we have free will or do the mass media and our culture control us, our desires, our actions, from the moment we're bo...more...]]>