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Diary

3.54 of 5 stars 3.54 · rating details · 38,894 ratings · 1,535 reviews

Misty Wilmot has had it. Once a promising young artist, she’s now stuck on an island ruined by tourism, drinking too much and working as a waitress in a hotel. Her husband, a contractor, is in a coma after a suicide attempt, but that doesn’t stop his clients from threatening Misty with lawsuits over a series of vile messages they’ve found on the walls of houses he remodele...more

Paperback, 262 pages

Published September 14th 2004 by Anchor (first published August 26th 2003)

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Best Chuck Palahniuk Books

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Jan 22, 2010 Matthieu rated it 1 of 5 stars

Yes, and?

20 likes · like · see review

Aug 31, 2007 Dave rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Fans. . and fans alone.

Shelves: contempfiction

I’m starting to lose faith in this guy. . I mean. . Yeah. It just was not good. The best part about it is the way the guy writes. That and just the strange tid bits of random fucken trivia he throws at you in the middle of a chapter (but that is his shtick isn’t it?).

I've had a lot of time to read while deployed, and this dude is a favorite in the Army. He has a rugged approach to shit and I appreciate that. Now? He's just getting silly. After Choke, Survivor and Fight club, I thought I was goi...more

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Oct 07, 2012 MJ Nicholls rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: novels, merkins, nonreviews

The Correspondents #4

Dear MJ,

Received your letter via Patrick. There are several things a man can do to attract a woman. I present a series of options for perusal in the following numerically partitioned sentences. 1) Kidnap. All you need for this is a car and a popular secluded late-night environs. Prowl lanes and nooks for bait. Once you have kidnapped your selected woman she will hate and fear you: the best qualities for a woman to have in any relationship. 2) Wear Down. Works best with frien...more

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Dec 05, 2007 Heather rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: people who like fractured tales

there was very little i enjoyed about this book. palahniuk has a flair for quirky juxtaposition in his imagery, something i appreciate -- and probably the only thing i really appreciated in diary.

just for the record, the 'just for the record' repeating business was super annoying. i don't mind an occasional repeat - the cadence can be quite charming at times. but repetition of this and other phrases, plus the penchant for describing people's musculature in action, it all felt pretentious instea...more

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Jun 10, 2011 Lili rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Katia Zawacki, Michael Cooper

Shelves: audio-from-the-library

I last read this book some time between November 2005 and March 2006, but the audio recording was excellent. I thought knowing the plot - especially the conclusion - would diminish some of its power, but I was very happily surprised that it was even better than I remember. I had forgotten just how many details about art, physiology and other esoteric intelligent topics were woven into the tale, as well as how rhythmic it is in the telling. Still my second favorite of Palahniuk's writing (behind...more

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Dec 22, 2012 Charmie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: borrowed, suspense-thriller-horror

Some strange shit. Always the strange shit, Chuck.

This novel tackled art in a very weird way. How it was used to save a cheesy named Island. How an artist was brought to a master plan by a strange group of Island people, to do her art, convince her to do her art and fulfill the prophecy of saving the Island. Enriching it. Nurturing it.

Though some parts of the book were tough for me to handle, I consider this an easy read. Especially towards the ending. It felt like it was shortened and brought...more

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Jan 08, 2009 Caroline rated it 2 of 5 stars

I have read over 8 books by this author and the only reason i gave him two stars was because i love fight club so much. honestly, i thought the movie was better than the book, but ill give it to him anyway. in an effort to be edgy and controversial, chuck loses sight of important literary necessities like continuity, concept, intelligence, character development, and so on. his books sometimes feel like i'm in someone else's bad acid trip. but of course, this is all probably intentional because h...more

4 likes · like · see review

May 02, 2013 nik rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: re-read, real-horrowshow

Diary by Chuck Palahniuk. This. Fucking. Book. Is. Shit. I am having a hard time finding the fitting words to say about this. To write a something like "This is Fucking Great!" or "This book is GOOD!" or even "This book is perfect!" to do so is going to be a crime. Even giving five stars wouldn't be enough. I would even say that this is even better than Fight Club.

A dark gripping tale of an artist doomed because of her oozing lava of talents. Misty Kleinman Wilmot, you are cursed with that gift...more Diary by Chuck Palahniuk. This. Fucking. Book. Is. Shit. I am having a hard time finding the fitting words to say about this. To write a something like "This is Fucking Great!" or "This book is GOOD!" or even "This book is perfect!" to do so is going to be a crime. Even giving five stars wouldn't be enough. I would even say that this is even better than Fight Club.

A dark gripping tale of an artist doomed because of her oozing lava of talents. Misty Kleinman Wilmot, you are cursed with that gift that you have for—eternity. As a girl, being raised by a hippie mother, Misty never experienced what world is like outside the trailer park in Tecumseh Lake. That dream of being an artist is what Misty was living for. She weny to art school. In there, she met Peter Wilmot. The biggest mistake of all the mistakes she ever made in her life. Poor Misty. Gifted. Cursed. Inspiring.

Peter Wilmot was on a mission to find that woman cursed with talent that will provide salvation to Waytansea Island. Yes, he was successful. The name "Misty Kleinman" was hyphenated with Wilmot. He soon tried to get Misty to Waytansea Island—the island populated with lunatics. The island trapped with traditions. In order to get Misty to the Island, he impregnated her. Tabbi Wilmot was the result, and Misty staying in the island. I meant trapped. Better word—wrapped.

Being promised that her dreams of being an artist would be made into reality, she lived in that island as a waitress at a hotel the Wilmots owned. A mother. A queen of fucking slaves. For some reason, Peter attempted to kill himself. He failed. Peter had become a living dead in the hospital. A vegetable waiting to rot—was slow rotting. Then, together with Grace Wilmot, Misty raised Tabii.

Suffering. Suffering. Suffering. A daily overdose of it brings her talent back from the dead. The sleeping volcano exploded. She started to paint like a schizophrenic overdosed with talents. With her eyes closed and Tabbi as her inspiration, she painted masterpieces of art that were known to be impossible. Misty had lost everything. Now, Tabbi and that dream of being an artist were the only things left for her—what was left for her to do. And oblivious to almost everything, what awaited Misty was a conspiracy that happens every four generations that would kill hundreds of people. An event that would make the island filthy rich for generations at a price of hundreds of lives. Misty Kleinman Wilmot. A queen of fucking slaves. A hostage who was destined to save the island from running out of money for the next four generations. A tool to use. The island that trapped itself with its own cycle. Once you are born, you're already doomed to fulfill your fate. You're doomed at being you. How can not being you and being you be curse at the same time? ... Life perhaps is... A cursed gift.

A fucked-up life is the main reason why we great art ever existed. How stupid would be a painting of two unicorns kissing each other compared to a painting of a sky burning like hell with angels crying and screaming from wounds inflicted by demons, winged beings falling down from the great red sky. How stupid would that be if you call Justin Beiber's songs “Art.” Ok. Ok. I'll stop making fun of her.

Suffering ... is the key in creating exceptional art. What hurts us the most awakes the artist inside of us. Brings out the genius out of our brains, out of our souls. Scars and wounds are the best source inspiration. You art shows your wounds your scars your life—it shows everything about you. Art and Suffering—they're almost synonymous.

Do you know that the best artists are not the finest and perfect human beings?

Chuck Palahniuk's Angsty Nihilistic Existential Voice was never this loud. Cynical and in some sense, optimistic. The plot build-up flares with excitement and disgust. Not to mention that this book has the best plot twists ever. Whoever the narrator was (probably it's Misty), it still continues to be a puzzle. Which is one the things I liked best about this novel. One of the best reads I ever had. To not read this would be a crime against yourself. You don't know what you're missing. And just for the record, you've already missed enough things in your life. (less)

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Jun 09, 2011 Airiz C rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: dark-humor, my-favorites, chuck-your-brains-out

Liking Chuck Palahniuk's books must be akin to a Fear Factor challenge for most readers. And sometimes I can't help but wonder, what if THAT is what exactly Palahniuk wants the readers to feel about his works? Feel challenged by it, dislike it, feel disgusted or insulted by it--all of these by hurling the naked truths of human nature to the face of people in the harshest possible way?

My first Palahniuk book is Choke, and I was sort of culture shocked when I read it--a multitude of f-bombs being...more

16 likes · like · see review

Jan 06, 2009 Allison rated it 3 of 5 stars

Like all of Palahniuk’s other work, Diary is vivid, disturbing, grotesque, and a bit supernatural. If his descriptions don’t leave you feeling at least somewhat squeamish, then you must have no imagination whatsoever. He is like a painter who makes the simplest object look hideously grotesque, who can look at a common scene and envision it in the twisted way only a serial killer might. Only, the serial killers in his novels don’t kill for pleasure; they kill for reasons much more creative than t...more

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Jan 11, 2008 Ritz rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Ritz by: Israel Calzadilla

Shelves: autor_p_q, autores_preferidos, horror_suspenso_terror_thrillers

Diario: Una novela es la segunda novela que leí de Palahniuk y octava en ser escrita por él en 2003 que define como “una historia de horror sátira”.

Cuándo recién la leí no me pereció muy sátira que digamos, es que el humor de Diario es amargo; es como hacer y reír con chistes de inválidos, huérfanos etc… Y todos nos reímos que nadie me venga con una falsa doble moral a estas alturas, ¡y menos si es lector de Palahniuk! Pero al fin y al cabo Diario tiene su chiste ¿sabes como esas ironías de las...more Diario: Una novela es la segunda novela que leí de Palahniuk y octava en ser escrita por él en 2003 que define como “una historia de horror sátira”.

Cuándo recién la leí no me pereció muy sátira que digamos, es que el humor de Diario es amargo; es como hacer y reír con chistes de inválidos, huérfanos etc… Y todos nos reímos que nadie me venga con una falsa doble moral a estas alturas, ¡y menos si es lector de Palahniuk! Pero al fin y al cabo Diario tiene su chiste ¿sabes como esas ironías de las que uno se ríe luego de un post operatorio, que no te quieres reír porque te va a doler pero te ríes? Bueno así.

Diario al principio parece más normal y corriente que Nana, lo que hace a esta novela mucho más “impactante” porque no te lo ves venir – no lo verán venir-. Yo con Nana me divertí infinitamente, cerraba los ojos y me imagina “¿ … de quién me desharía primero?” pero con Diario no me divertí, me angustié. La faceta de horror Diario tarda algo en emerger pero cuando lo hace si que desespera.

Diario es protagonizado por una mujer, personaje al que llegué a amar y sigo queriendo. Una mujer que lleva una vida en un pueblo y con un trabajo “ordinario, común y corriente”. Una mujer terriblemente herida por la frustración y la impotencia ante los sueños rotos del pasado. Una mujer molesta, muy molesta, con su presente que empieza a escribir un diario con la intención de que su compañero luego se entere de la condena por la que ella atraviesa.

Así que Diario está narrado en primera persona (hasta ahora no leído que Palahniuk no narre así) La narración es lineal (esto si es una novedad en Palahniuk), uno como lector se entera de lo que se entera y cuando se entera la protagonista Misty Tracy Wilmot, hasta el punto en que uno empieza a sufrir con y por “la pobre Misty”.

Su historia comienza a nublarse hasta hacer desaparecer aquello de ordinario, común y corriente. Desaparecen habitaciones, aparecen amenazas, pululan complicados secretos de sociedades secretas, hay profecías y mártires, hay un destino y un sacrificio.

Como otras novelas del autor, Diario, está minada de sentencias curiosas y geniales que van develando la filosofía de vida de su personaje, con la que muchas veces me siento fascinada o identificada o admirada.

Diario trata básicamente de sobrevivencia. De cómo sobrevivir a la vida propia a través del autodescubrimiento, el arte, la fe y la fuerza.

Cuando comienzas a creer suceden dos cosas o quedas totalmente perdido o te salvas.(less)

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Nov 11, 2007 Emanuel rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: goodread

This is my first Palahniuk's book...
It's creatively written, I do quite enjoy the book as the writing style is very unique and easily get drowned to it, he (Palahniuk) could be a "Tarantino in literature" (hmmm... i might be wrong...). At first I annoyed with all the dates, but then, i ignored them, maybe that's another point which make this book unique, it's a diary anyway... playing with dates, days, and times... I have to re-read the beginning of the book for few times, when it's talking abo...more

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Oct 04, 2007 Amanda rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Palahniuk fans/people who like strange twists

I'm always struck by just how weird Palahniuk's novels are. In the case of this one, I really thought I had it figured out. Turns out, I didn't. I should probably just give up trying and enjoy the story. Which I usually do.

Misty lives on Waytansea Island with a husband in a coma and a mother in law who seems bent on pushing her to be the famous artist everyone seems to think she is. While Misty went to school for art, she takes it as an insult that everyone thinks she, a poor white trash girl,...more

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Jul 23, 2007 Shimelle rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: bookclub

This was my first selection to our book group -- and it definitely shook things up a bit.

I love Palahniuk, and this is actually my favourite of his. Fight Club comes second, so if you hate Fight Club, I can't think you'll like this. The style is still there -- short, choppy ideas repeated until you wonder why, a vocabulary that makes you double take from time to time. One of our book groupies actually read it with a dictionary to hand because she wanted to know what every word meant. Which, give...more

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Jun 29, 2007 Frank rated it 5 of 5 stars

Fight Club author Chuck Palahniuk delivers a nihilistic tale of an artist finding inspiration after the suicide of her husband. Along the way we learn that the idyllic island on which they live is involved in a conspiracy in which she is the key player. Even with this knowledge, the artist is powerless not to play into the dark purposes of her neighbors.

Along the way, Palahniuk reveals all to be diary. A painter may decide to paint Saint George and the Dragon, but the painting is still the art...more

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Jun 25, 2007 Karim Kassam rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was my first, and long overdue introduction into the dark and often schizophrenic world of Chuck Palahniuk. I read this in September of 2006, so you'll have to pardon the lack of specific details.

Palahniuk's success, or at least, my appreciation for this book, comes from his darkly paranoid writing style. In many cases, authors who write to imbue confusion in the reader do so at the expense of narrative cohesion. Diary's success lies in the fact that it disorients the reader, but can desc...more

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Aug 08, 2007 Smyth rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: folks who don't mind nightmares

I think this may be my favorite of his to date. It's twisted and spooky, and made me feel a little sick to my stomach on more than one occasion. Hmmm...that doesn't sound like a glowing review, but if you're into Palahniuk, you know what I mean. It reminded me of Dunn's _Geek Love_ a little, in that I felt both entranced and disgusted by the characters in the stories, and I just knew that the outcome wouldn't be good...had that nagging, sinking dread feeling while reading the entire thing; yet,...more

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Apr 09, 2007 Lindsay rated it 4 of 5 stars

I saw the movie, "Fight Club", years ago. I had what was probably a typical woman's reaction in that I couldn't get past the violence. It was difficult to evaluate the story because my attention was taken from it. At that time I didnt even make note of the author of the book.

Recently my 16 year old gave me a copy of "Diary" by Chuck Palahniuk. I loved it. While Diary does venture a little into the paranormal I was completely caught up in the mystery. The tension builds well and keeps the book a...more

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Mar 26, 2007 Tiffany rated it 5 of 5 stars

this is the story of a young woman who seemingly follows her dreams by marrying a man and moving to an island to join his family and clan-like community. however, she finds that not everything is quite like it seems as she finds messages from her now-comatose husband written in the walls of rooms he worked on as a carpenter.

i'm only going to say three things about this novel. 1) it's a quick and fun read--mysterious, strange, and filled with the dry, cynical attitude that pervades all of Palahi...more

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Apr 07, 2007 Louise rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favourites

With Chuck Palahniuk, it really depends in what order you read his books and how long it takes you to realise that all of his books are EXACTLY THE SAME. Well, it took me a while, and Diary was one that I read before I realised it. And don't get me wrong, I really do think it's a great book - but if I'd read it last then I'd probably think it as crap as Lullaby or Choke, the last books I read by him. I can't even remember what either of them are about.

I think Diary just struck a chord with me be...more

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Jan 08, 2013 Dave marked it as to-read

Shelves: calibre, fiction

Diary "CAN YOU FEEL THIS?" Diary takes the form of a "coma diary" kept by one Misty Tracy Wilmot as her husband lies senseless in a hospital after a suicide attempt. Once she was an art student dreaming of creativity and freedom; now, after marrying Peter at school and being brought back to once quaint, now tourist-overrun Waytansea Island, she's been reduced to the condition of a resort hotel maid. Peter, it turns out, has been hiding rooms in houses he's remodeled and scrawling vile messages a...more

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Mar 26, 2009 shana b rated it 1 of 5 stars

no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
NO. NO.

This book is ridiculous.
I've never found it exactly difficult to get through a Chuck Palahniuk book because he's one of the greatest, most complex writers I know of, but this book... it was such a drag. I prefferred babysitting over reading Diary.

I had to pull myself through it each and every day. I get anxious if I don't finish a book so I couldn't toss it aside. The only reason I completely forced myself through it in less than a month is because I was so exci...more

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Jan 09, 2009 Amber rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

My absolute favorite Chuck book so far. It spoke to me bring an artist wit the theme of artists suffering. Original storyline as usual, he does not disappoint... but rather brings it... fully (more so then any other book he has written, in my opinion).

Suffering = living. Suffering = true feeling. Suffering = emotions. Emotions = Open mind. Open mind = creativity. Creativity = Artistic excellence. (Or something along those lines).

This book made me realize why (as an artist) I go through dry spe...more My absolute favorite Chuck book so far. It spoke to me bring an artist wit the theme of artists suffering. Original storyline as usual, he does not disappoint... but rather brings it... fully (more so then any other book he has written, in my opinion).

Suffering = living. Suffering = true feeling. Suffering = emotions. Emotions = Open mind. Open mind = creativity. Creativity = Artistic excellence. (Or something along those lines).

This book made me realize why (as an artist) I go through dry spells of creativity and original thoughts/expressions. Sometimes I feel like things just click and sometimes I feel like I can't produce anything worth sharing (all the bullshit). It's absolutely true that when you are suffering... you think more, you brood more, you long for things to work out. BUT while things AREN'T working out... your mind is working in overtime. When things are going well in life, it's easy to go day to day, thinking about life and the deeper meaning of things less. When things aren't going well... you tend to open your mind a little, to try and figure out why... all those serious and depressing life questions come to the surface and those thoughts are what creates meaningful art. Any art with value has extreme emotions and deeper meanings to it... things that can't be reached unless you try real hard (which works better when your mind is open to the suffering). Think about it... at what time in your life do you ask yourself the deep questions regarding your life? Usually once something goes wrong. When things are going good, why think about things which could depress you? We all know that the meaning of life, in the overall scheme of things, is depressing as hell... and usually isn't brooded upon until we are in situations which put us there in the first place.

Okay, so overall... one of my favorite book and HIGHLY recommended to anyone who has a creative bone in their body. It will help you recognize creativity, where it stems from and the sad reality behind anything created with any value. Depressing book... yes. But it is Chuck and should be expected. By far my favorite Chuck Palahniuk book yet. (Even though I know Haunted was his baby and has been the book he has been wanting to write throughout his entire career... I still believe this is his best).(less)

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May 27, 2013 Beverly Fox rated it 4 of 5 stars

After the cinematic brilliance that is Fight Club came out, I borrowed my brother’s copy of the novel to read. After that I stole my brother’s copy of Survivor, loved it, and was forever more captivated. I can’t remember if Choke or Lullaby came next for me. Doesn’t really matter cause I loved them both. And now, true to form, I loved Diary. But before I get into that, a couple words on the author.

Chuck describes his writing as transgressive meaning that it focuses on characters who are outsider...more After the cinematic brilliance that is Fight Club came out, I borrowed my brother’s copy of the novel to read. After that I stole my brother’s copy of Survivor, loved it, and was forever more captivated. I can’t remember if Choke or Lullaby came next for me. Doesn’t really matter cause I loved them both. And now, true to form, I loved Diary. But before I get into that, a couple words on the author.

Chuck describes his writing as transgressive meaning that it focuses on characters who are outsiders, living on the fringes, and therefore usually rebel against cultural and societal norms in very controversial ways. For those of you interested in the philosophical debate on whether or not literature should be censored this is definitely the genre for you because these novels have been in the foreground of this debate for centuries. (Check it out if you’re interested.)

The history of the man himself, his involvement with rebellious actions and behaviors, and the personal events that (I assume) helped to shape why he writes what he writes is all fascinating and totally beyond the realm of this review. I definitely encourage to look into him, his work, and what’s so fascinating about him.

But it is the writing and not the man that makes me love these books. The characters he makes up all manage to walk the fine line between the unimaginably disturbing and the disturbingly familiar. It’s the age-old fascination with monsters and murders that requires the creator to both alienate and endear the characters to the reader. This is a balancing act that Palahniuk does very well. Every single character I’ve read has been both psychologically unsettling and personally familiar. I not only judge them as irreparably fucked up but also relate to them. This is terribly unsettling since it would be comforting to just dismiss the whole thing and console yourself that you have nothing in common with these characters and their psychotic existence. But you can’t because that thought or that emotion is too similar to something you’ve thought or felt and it draws you in and keeps you turning the page.

And the plots, of course, make the characters what they are. They’ve all been buried under an avalanche of crap before the first page and that’s part of why you relate. ‘How well would I cope,’ you think, ‘it that happened to me?’ The answer, always, is ‘not too well’. Cause that’s the thing about extraordinary circumstances- they push you past your limits and you do things you didn’t think you were capable of doing. Of course, Palahniuk’s worlds are always far more twisted than you can ever imagine they will be at the first page and the way that he gets down to the really messed up nature of the story is a thing to behold. It’s like peeling back an onion- layer by layer it’s hard to keep your eyes open but you can’t help but want to keep going.

Another thing that seems particular to Palahniuk is his flair for throwing all these strange little facts at you. His characters always know things that are… odd. Everything from graphology to the ins and outs of support groups to the age of the laugh tracks on sitcoms. Strange little factoids that clue you in to who a particular character is and add an unsettling layer to the content of the story. At first, these just seem like quirks but as the story evolves you see how they’re connected to themes of the greater story arc and the climax of the individual characters.

Add to all that the minimalistic style he’s so famous for and you’ve got yourself a Chuck Palahniuk novel. His writing is more like a series of interconnected poems than a typical novel. The short, choppy sentences. The repeating words and sounds. The way it prevents you from falling into any kind of natural flow as you’re reading by throwing in these short, truncated sentences just when you started to develop a rhythm. Almost as if he sensed you getting comfortable and purposefully disrupted the pattern just to mess with you. It gives you the feeling of being in a really precarious position: always just a little off center, a little unbalanced.

Diary has all of these tell-tale signs: the characters are irrevocably messed up and the circumstances they start out in are devastating. The main character herself is a case study in borderline madness and her questioning of reality is the key to the reader’s buy in. The more clues we get the more confused we become until the questions she’s asking and the things she’s perceiving cause us to wonder and question the same things.

The main thematic concept here is one that is near and dear to me: the line between creativity and madness and whether or not one can exist without the other. Under normal circumstances my opinions on this topic tend to be pretty reasonable but within the distorted reality of this story it’s hard not to fall into the theoretical quandary. Especially when her own creativity emerges only when she is pushed to the brink.

On a deeper level, the circumstances serve for a look at contemporary reality and the role that art plays in consumerism, financial status and what makes or breaks a community. There are questions about family, community, sacrifice, betrayal and inspiration that fold into the bigger mystery and leave you guessing about the end. And, just when you think it’s over, he throws in one last page that changes the whole context of the story. The critics all rave that this is as close to a mystery as he’s ever written and I would agree. But it’s got the familiar trademarks that make the rest of his library of work so fascinating.

I highly suggest that you check out any of Mr. Palahniuk’s books for any number of reasons, even just plain old curiosity. This book in particular is great as a stand alone since it’s self contained and doesn’t require any pre-existing knowledge base. But then again, all of his books are pretty much like that. It’s the most fascinating kind of madness and it keeps you coming back for more.(less)

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May 06, 2013 Delaney rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. The book I have read is Diary by Chuck Palahnuik. The publisher is A Division of Random House, Inc. This book is not part of a series but has that familiar Palahnuik twang that is in all of his works. I would consider the genre to be simply non-fiction because nothing is too far out of reality for it to be considered anything else.This book is written from a sort of interesting perspective. The woman writing this diary is Misty Wilmot. But she's not writing it from her perspective, but from the...more The book I have read is Diary by Chuck Palahnuik. The publisher is A Division of Random House, Inc. This book is not part of a series but has that familiar Palahnuik twang that is in all of his works. I would consider the genre to be simply non-fiction because nothing is too far out of reality for it to be considered anything else.This book is written from a sort of interesting perspective. The woman writing this diary is Misty Wilmot. But she's not writing it from her perspective, but from the perspective of her comatose-bound husband. This whole ordeal makes it a very interesting read because she's writing about herself, yet she's doing it in 3rd person and often refers to herself as 'your wife' and her daughter as 'your daughter'. It's such an enticing concept that maybe it's one of the reasons I couldn't put the book down. Anyway, Misty used to be a young artist with a lot of potential. She had an incredible gift and took that gift to art school. But after she got pregnant and married too young with Peter Wilmot, her life turned to shambles. Her art was abandoned and she eventually became an overweight waitress with a pesky drinking problem. This story follows Misty and her eventual forced return to her artistic talent by a crazy mother-in-law. But the story that unfolds is part of a much larger plot that includes island curses, missing rooms, and unlikely surprises.
One thing you have to know about Chuck Palahnuik's writing style is that he doesn't often go in a timely way, too. This book is about beginning, middle, and end but not necessarily in that order. Something might happen in the first chapter that realistically shouldn't be written about until the 3rd to last chapter (if, of course, he was going in order of events, like a normal author). Oh, but Chuck Palahnuik is no normal author. In fact I don't even think he's human. He's almost painfully creative and absolutely brilliant. He is a philosophical genius whom I highly admire.
This book was promising just based on previous books I've read of his, and after finishing it, I can honestly say I have not been disappointed yet. This tastefully put together novel is definitely one of my favorites. But I'm only giving it 4 stars simply because even though he does have a distinct writing style, this one was a bit hard to understand at times. But I'm sure if I read it again, I would give it 5 stars. I recommend Diary to anybody who is tired of your average science-fiction thriller or cheesy mystery. This book is original, fresh, and darkly hilarious. A great choice.(less)

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May 03, 2013 Shane Jeffery rated it 1 of 5 stars

So our quest into Chuck Palahniuk’s Bibliography continues, with 2003’s Diary. OK. Well, as you can see by the star rating, I did not like this book. Diary is like that movie you’ve been meaning to see for the last five years, and when you finally get round to it, it turns out to be a big waste of time.

What really stood out to me the whole way through, was that Diary had a way of making the reader believe there was something wrong with them, for not understanding the story. Quite often I may dri...more So our quest into Chuck Palahniuk’s Bibliography continues, with 2003’s Diary. OK. Well, as you can see by the star rating, I did not like this book. Diary is like that movie you’ve been meaning to see for the last five years, and when you finally get round to it, it turns out to be a big waste of time.

What really stood out to me the whole way through, was that Diary had a way of making the reader believe there was something wrong with them, for not understanding the story. Quite often I may drift off through reading something, and need to go back and reread certain paragraphs I may have missed. With Diary, I may just need to go back and reread the whole book.

But I won’t be doing that. If I had been reading for pleasure alone, I would have stopped after three or four chapters. Unlike Chuck’s previous books, Diary doesn’t start out with a bang. There is no hook at all to get the reader in. I found that the best parts of the book were individual chapters in the second half, maybe only two or three of them. These chapters dealt with the philosophy (or psychology) of everything about a person represents them, like an open book. The way you walk. Your hand writing. Your comments about suggested imagery. It seems a lot of Palahniuk’s books find a way of pushing these types of left wing, on edge thinking. But where Fight Club and Choke came at it from every direction, the good parts of Diary seem to spill out accidently as if someone bumped Palaniuk’s wine glass.

You might think that because it’s called ‘Diary’, it might read like a Diary. Which it is supposed to.
But even Chuck’s own random scatterings in Fugitives and Refugees hold more clarity and relevance. I mean, for most of the novel, the narrator doesn’t even refer to themselves in first person. What we get is this weird third person set up, in which everything happens out of order, at the same time. And it’s supposedly addressed to one character (who is incidentally in a coma and will never read it) whom the narrator hates, so whenever you’re being addressed as a reader, you feel like the writer is annoyed with you.

Way to alienate the readers. I mean, we’re hated so much the narrator won’t even tell us what’s going on.

So day to day entries are meaningless. It’s just as weird and choppy as Invisible Monsters, oh, and nothing much happens. By the end of it, every secondary character feels made up, pointless, and … Well, I’m just glad I didn’t have to read this for a subject in school.

Because if the teacher asked me to write a book report, I’d be just as well off if I hadn’t read it.(less)

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Nov 11, 2012 Kevin Rubin rated it 5 of 5 stars

"Diary" was certainly interesting, especially once I started to understand the flow and get into it.

The main character, Misty, has been told by her mother-in-law to maintain a daily diary that she can present to her husband once he recovers from his coma, the way old seafaring families did a couple of centuries ago. As a reader, you have to pretend you're her husband.

From childhood she's envisioned, drawn and painted her fantasy island of old, wealthy houses, all from her own imagination. Then i...more "Diary" was certainly interesting, especially once I started to understand the flow and get into it.

The main character, Misty, has been told by her mother-in-law to maintain a daily diary that she can present to her husband once he recovers from his coma, the way old seafaring families did a couple of centuries ago. As a reader, you have to pretend you're her husband.

From childhood she's envisioned, drawn and painted her fantasy island of old, wealthy houses, all from her own imagination. Then in art school she meets Peter, a young man from Waytansea Island, and it turns out her imagination was of a real island, who is determined to marry her and have children.

Waytansea Island is full of old homes and old, decadent families that grow rich and poor over the course of many generations, or as they say "from shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves," but after twice being saved from poverty by an artist, now actively searches for her when the money runs low again.

During this story they're at one of their poor generations, with all the residents leasing their homes to what they call "summer people" and their island is full of tourists, the ferry running six or more times a day, corporate advertising all over and litter on the beaches from all the tourists.

Everyone in the old families on the island tell Misty to quit waiting tables at the Waytansea Hotel and get back into artwork, because it's up to her to save them all, even though she doesn't think she's a skilled artist. But her mother-in-law has odd confidence that she will...

The book is very weird and at first I didn't quite understand the pattern of how it was written, that it's written directly to Peter, and the references of "you" and "your" are to Peter, with Misty referring to herself in the third person. And that lots of times a character asks another a question, but no answer will come, the subject changes. Once I understood that, then it was good, although I felt it sort of fizzled at the end.

I'm looking forward, after this, to reading more of Chuck Palahniuk's books.(less)

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Jul 31, 2012 Kevin Meyer rated it 3 of 5 stars

It's been a long time since I've read a Palahniuk book, but I remembered really enjoying Invisible Monsters, Fight Club, and Survivor. It didn't take long to get reacquainted with the unique Palahniuk style- the short sentences, repetitive phrases, and bizarre trivia are all there. But all those trademark Palahniuk touches became annoying very early on in the book. The "today's weather forecast calls for slightly irritated with a chance of" type sentences were cheesy to start with, then he did i...more

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Jul 08, 2012 Marcus rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Fans of Chuck Palahniuk

Diary is what you get when you take a cup of Wicker Man and add a teaspoon of Misery to it.

It took me a while to get into the narrative - the narrator is a man who tried to commit suicide instead ending up in a vegatative state. To complicate matters, he's relating the story of his wife, her actions, what she's going through, how she's feeling, etc, etc. Not an easy point of view to wrap your head around. Actually, for the first third of the book I wasn't sure who the narrator was - even now I'...more

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Jun 02, 2012 Erin rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

Even among my circle of reading friends, Chuck Palahniuk has received mixed (but mostly lukewarm) reactions. And Diary's rough and slow beginning had me worried.

But once I got used to the "diary" style and the narrator's annoying use of the third person, I began to really get into the story. Who would've ever thought a contractor would seal up entire rooms in his clients' homes? What a crazy idea! But then again, the entire cast of Waytansea Island is a bit crazy, strange.

At first, I thought it...more

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About Chuck Palahniuk

Charles Michael "Chuck" Palahniuk is an American Transgressional fiction novelist and freelance journalist of Ukrainian ancestry born in Pasco, Washington. The press release for his book, Rant, states he is now living in Vancouver, Washington. He is best known for the award-winning novel Fight Club, which was later made into a film directed by David Fincher.

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“It's so hard to forget pain, but it's even harder to remember sweetness. We have no scar to show for happiness. We learn so little from peace.” — 9,292 people liked it

“We all die. The goal isn't to live forever, the goal is to create something that will.” — 4,518 people liked it

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