Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey

published	May 1st 2007 by Doubleday
binding	Hardcover
isbn	0385517874 (isbn13: 9780385517874)
pages	320
description	“Like most people I didn’t meet Rant Casey until after he was dead. That’s how it works for most celebrities: After they croak, their circle of friends just explodes.…” <...more [close] “Like most people I didn’t meet Rant Casey until after he was dead. That’s how it works for most celebrities: After they croak, their circle of friends just explodes.…” Rant is the mind-bending new novel from Chuck Palahniuk, the literary provocateur responsible for such books as the generation-defining classic Fight Club and the pedal-to-the-metal horrorfest Haunted. It takes the form of an oral history of one Buster “Rant” Casey, who may or may not be the most efficient serial killer of our time. “What ‘Typhoid Mary’ Mallon was to typhoid, what Gaetan Dugas was to AIDS, and Liu Jian-lun was to SARS, Buster Casey would become for rabies.” A high school rebel who always wins (and a childhood murderer?), Rant Casey escapes from his small hometown of Middleton for the big city. He becomes the leader of an urban demolition derby called Party Crashing. On appointed nights participants recognize one another by such designated car markings as “Just Married” toothpaste graffiti and then stalk and crash into each other. Rant Casey will die a spectacular highway death, after which his friends gather testimony needed to build an oral history of his short, violent life. Their collected anecdotes explore the possibility that his saliva caused a silent urban plague of rabies and that he found a way to escape the prison house of linear time.… “The future you have, tomorrow, won’t be the same future you had, yesterday.” —Rant Casey Expect hilarity, horror, and blazing insight into the desperate and surreal contemporary human condition as only Chuck Palahniuk can deliver it. He's the postmillennial Jonathan Swift, the visionary to watch to learn what's —uh-oh—coming next. [close]
date added	12-28-06 edit book

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Ritz rated it:

04/14/08

bookshelves: autores_preferidos, autor_p_q, horror_suspenso_terror_thrillers

Read in March, 2008

recommends it for: Israel Calzadilla, Mayumi Nojiri y a todo al que le guste Palahniuk

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

¡Hilarante! Divertida, paranoica, esquizofrénica, alucinante.

Hace tiempo no me divertía tanto con un libro, ni siquiera con el anterior de Chuck, Asfixia. Es más me divertí tan apasionadamente como con Nana. ¿Debo recordar que me expreso desde mi experiencia absolutamente subjetiva y que predico para conversos?

De entrada Rant. La vida de un asesino se presenta distinta a las anteriores novelas y advierte la “NOTA DEL AUTOR: Este libro está escrito al esti...more

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Trin rated it:

07/14/08

bookshelves: fiction, sci-fi

Read in May, 2008

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

Yeah, I just read a Chuck Palahniuk book; I feel like I’m back in high school and should begin loudly listening to Garbage CDs and writing “I <3 Spike” all over my notebook any second now. In fairness, Palahniuk does finally seem to be breaking out of his mold at least a little; I skipped reading Haunted because I wasn’t in the mood to be squicked, but what had been irritating me about all his previous books were that they all se...more Yeah, I just read a Chuck Palahniuk book; I feel like I’m back in high school and should begin loudly listening to Garbage CDs and writing “I <3 Spike” all over my notebook any second now. In fairness, Palahniuk does finally seem to be breaking out of his mold at least a little; I skipped reading Haunted because I wasn’t in the mood to be squicked, but what had been irritating me about all his previous books were that they all seemed the same. They all utilized a near-identical style of narration, just with different “choruses” thrown in. And I say this as someone who was totally obsessed with Fight Club (though more the film than the book) and still gets gleeful amusement out of her memories of Invisible Monsters. (Which was also the book that introduced me to the concept of “felching”! Chuck, you and Lauren Groff need to have a word.)

Rant, presented in the style of an oral history, is not only quite different in its telling from Palahniuk’s previous books, it’s different from anything I’ve read in a long while. The myriad POVs are cool in that I always like to see characters through a variety of different perspectives. However, the character of Buster Casey, a.k.a. Rant, remains frustratingly obtuse. Palahniuk spends quite some time on his childhood, in which we are treated to lengthy descriptions of menstrual blood stains (mental category: did not need), and strangely less on his adulthood, though we do get lengthy descriptions of his ability to tell what his girlfriend last ate by licking her pussy (mental category: REALLY DID NOT NEED). Palahniuk certainly never runs out of new ways to shock and horrify. Unfortunately, that kind of thing was rather more tantalizing to me when I was in high school.

However, like I said, I really did feel like Palahniuk was stretching himself a bit here; he’s got a sort of interesting time travel plot going on, and I actually really liked the characters of Shot and Echo, and the idea of the dystopian Daytimer/Nighttimer future society. So I guess where I think this book really suffers is in the simple fact that there’s just too much going on. I mean, just on the most basic level there’s: 1) Rant’s fucked up childhood, 2) rabies outbreak, 3) party crashing, 4) future dystopia, and 5) time travel—and these never stop being rather disparate things. Worse, as I mentioned before, Rant remains a total cypher. I think this book would have worked a thousand times better if he’d felt like a real, vibrant anti-hero. Instead, we get pages and pages of Rant the cunning linguist. (Seriously, WTF? Was that supposed to be sexy? Echo seemed to think it was sexy, and otherwise, she seemed almost sensible. I have some weird kinks myself, but OMG NO.) I loved the idea Palahniuk almost seemed to be reaching for toward the end, about the ways Echo and Shot and the other party crashers would remake the world, but it’s surrounded by so much muddle. Ultimately, this felt like the first draft of what could have been a legitimately incredible novel; as-is, it’s just kind of…confusing....less

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Katy-Del rated it:

06/25/08

Read in June, 2007

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

I read Rant by Chuck Palahuik over the weekend. He is so good at having a book be one thing, until about two thirds the way through, and then, suddenly, it’s something else entirely. And then I have to go back to the beginning to re-read all the little clues I missed to figure out what the fuck really happened.

He must have really liked the way his last book, Haunted, used lots of different points of view, because the book is the oral history of a supposedly diseased man, named Rant Casey...more I read Rant by Chuck Palahuik over the weekend. He is so good at having a book be one thing, until about two thirds the way through, and then, suddenly, it’s something else entirely. And then I have to go back to the beginning to re-read all the little clues I missed to figure out what the fuck really happened.

He must have really liked the way his last book, Haunted, used lots of different points of view, because the book is the oral history of a supposedly diseased man, named Rant Casey. In a maybe, not so distant future, Rant is named responsible for spreading a mutated form of serum resistant Rabies. So we are viewing his life from the multiple views of his parents, the kids he grew up with, the people who met him after he moved to the big city.

You are plunged into a reality where the people talking all know about “boosting” and “Party Crashing” and you have to pick up what they are talking about as they go along. And You aren’t given descriptions of these people, so there are a few that, after you feel like you have gotten to know them a bit, you suddenly realize they are vastly different than what you have pictured them as. I found that kind of disturbing, because, I had fleshed out a vision and voice for all the characters.

Then about two thirds of the way through, there started being talk of jumping back in time. Some combination of rabies and car crashes and whamp, there you are in the past. And the people who can prevent themselves from being born, are suddenly immortal, existing some how out of their own timeline. And it’s pretty easy that the man who raised Rant, is Rant. That the warning he gave him about getting back before the lunatic attacks his mom is a warning about getting back before he is conceived, not before she is killed after he has left home.

But the thing’s I am trying to figure out now are… Who is Green? Green is to young to be Rant again, so I think Green is an older Neddy. Neddy and Chet, aka older Rant disappear together near the end of the book. Does that mean that eventually Rant does prevent the tragic conceptions of himself, his mom and his grandmother? How many times does Rant jump backwards? According to the PI Rant hires when he moves to the big city. Chet worked in the city until 16 years before and then disappeared in a car crash (the one that killed Echo’s parents and left her with a partially paralyzing brain injury). That would have been when Rant was 3 or 4. Is that when he jumped backward and showed up to marry his own mother and help raise himself? So that’s at least twice. Unless Neddy is the kid he would have been if his mom had been single and moved to the city when he was young. But I got the feeling that Neddy is younger than Rant.

This book made my brain hurt. As you can see I keep trying to pick it apart, more and more.

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Carrie rated it:

08/18/07

bookshelves: sci-fi

Read in August, 2007

First off, a disclaimer. I love Chuck P. like a brother. If the man was on dialysis I'd give him a kidney even if I only had one good one left and consider it payback for all the stories of his that I've enjoyed since discovering his work.

The lowdown: Rant tells the story of Rant Casey - a small town kid that turns his little town on it's ear before moving to the city to continue his work. The book is comprised of accounts from people that knew Rant with only second hand accounts of h...more First off, a disclaimer. I love Chuck P. like a brother. If the man was on dialysis I'd give him a kidney even if I only had one good one left and consider it payback for all the stories of his that I've enjoyed since discovering his work.

The lowdown: Rant tells the story of Rant Casey - a small town kid that turns his little town on it's ear before moving to the city to continue his work. The book is comprised of accounts from people that knew Rant with only second hand accounts of his words and deeds and no perspective from our hero. In that way, it's almost Biblical.

Although it is science fiction and a pretty far departure on the whole from Chuck Palahniuk's previous books, it's not as far off from what I expect out of him as Diary. But Palahniuk's voice and eye are still there and elements of the book like character relationships and atmosphere are reminiscent of earlier books like Choke.

From the beginning, it's not clear where or when the setting is. The place seemed to me to be a small desert town. Time seemed to be anytime in the past century. It's a brilliant device that Palahniuk never wavers from in the first half of the book. It makes the reading a bit unsettling. The significance of that displacement just builds throughout the book.

The characterization in this book is pretty amazing. A strong and compelling vision of Rant is built as a charismatic, smart, wild man, but nobody describes him as such throughout the book. Nobody says, "Rant was crazy" or sexy or maddening or 6'2" with brown hair and hazel eyes, but as the characters tell of their relationships with Rant the picture of him starts to come into focus. The very memorable and alluring characters that populate the story by contributing to the oral history are intriguing and become fully fleshed out as the story progresses as well.

I really don't want to give it away, so if you haven't read the book, don't read the next line, but...

the most interesting thing about this book to me was the future Palahnik creates out of what seems to be the past time. It's very real and although it's not clear if it's 20 years down the road or 200, it's very believable which makes the book frightening to contemplate at times. I very much loved how the past of Rant's childhood could have been the 1930s or the 1990s or any time until Bodie talks about plugging in. The sci-fi aspect of Rant really set the wheels of the story into motion and made it so much more interesting than if Rant had been stuck in Middleton trading gold for teeth the entire book....less

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Anica rated it:

01/04/08

Read in January, 2008

recommended to Anica by: this crazy librarian
recommends it for: I'm not sure...

Definitely the weirdest book I’ve read by Chuck Palanhuik so far. So bizarrely gross and sick I almost stopped reading it. But I was hoping the stranger the beginning, the bigger the payoff. It was worthwhile, but I wouldn’t recommend this to a casual acquaintance. They’d probably call a psych watch on me.

It starts off about this crazy kid called Rant who intentionally catches rabies and spreads it to as many people as he can. But it’s written like a screenplay, with everyone ch...more Definitely the weirdest book I’ve read by Chuck Palanhuik so far. So bizarrely gross and sick I almost stopped reading it. But I was hoping the stranger the beginning, the bigger the payoff. It was worthwhile, but I wouldn’t recommend this to a casual acquaintance. They’d probably call a psych watch on me.

It starts off about this crazy kid called Rant who intentionally catches rabies and spreads it to as many people as he can. But it’s written like a screenplay, with everyone chipping in their side of the story. It was hard to get into because I had no idea what anyone was talking about for the first 150 pages. Then you start to understand he lives in this Matrix-type future, and while he may be this incredible mastermind, he’s also the pawn of a time-travelling serial-rapist, in a bigger battle between social classes. He moves from his hillbilly town to the city, and that's when things get even crazier.

This is my understanding of it:
Green Taylor Simms is Rant. GTS is 23 when he crashes his car and goes back in time 60 years. He goes to his OWN house and had sex with his/Rant’s great-grandmother Hattie. Hattie had his/Rant’s grandmother Esther. Then he came back and raped Esther who had his/Rant’s mother Irene. Then he raped Irene, who had Rant. Every time, Simms’ senses are getting stronger because he’s multiplying his influence in the gene pool that ultimately leads to Rant. Simms is also killing all the mothers in their old age. Simms tells Rant to go back in time and kill his mother Irene to make them both immortal. Instead, Rant goes back to try to stop Simms from raping his mom. He’s too late, so he changes his name to Chester and marries his pregnant mom and raises the kid who turns out to be him/Rant. As a father he encourages Rant’s crazy rabies-seeking behavior because only people who have their ‘ports’ damaged by the disease are able to time travel. Green Taylor Simms crashes car as an old man and disappears. Chester Casey disappears in single car wreck, with Neddy in passenger seat.

Questions:
“Charles” Casey was a traffic flow engineer. 16 years ago, he rear-ended Echo’s parents, his body was never recovered. Does he become Green Taylor Simms?

Tina Something disappears after crashing a Dodge Viper – is she the 25-year-old bride who survives the crash into a train? (Pg 265-7).
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Pwntalive rated it:

08/16/07

Read in July, 2007

recommends it for: flowchart heads

I cant keep this book straight. So im going to break it into 3 sections for my own leasure.

Part One: ok
So basicly rant is this screwed up kid in the american heartland. Grows up in the middle of no place, getting kicks from snakebits and coyote scratches. The kid is basically a testbed for every animal born disease you can contract with out buggering something.
This portion of the book sets it apart from the classic chuck story arc because we see the individual WHILE the screwing up tak...more I cant keep this book straight. So im going to break it into 3 sections for my own leasure.

Part One: ok
So basicly rant is this screwed up kid in the american heartland. Grows up in the middle of no place, getting kicks from snakebits and coyote scratches. The kid is basically a testbed for every animal born disease you can contract with out buggering something.
This portion of the book sets it apart from the classic chuck story arc because we see the individual WHILE the screwing up takes place. Not after, not years later. At various times references are made to future events, but for the most part the foreshadowing is left alone instead for the twisted tales of this messed up kid, doing... well, kid stuff.

I think at this point the story could be left alone, for various reasons this could be a serial in the back of a magazine. Rant Casey: a boy in 4 parts or some shit. You know, keep the readers coming back every 28 days for more.

Part Two: Do what now?
At some point during the middle part of the book you realize things are not all what they seem. Characters start interacting with dynamics you wouldn't expect, plot elements that dont get explained; its generally confusing. Its at this point that i usualy start getting into whatever chucks got planned, but this time im all cought up it just trying to get cought up. I was tempted to go back to go over the parts i was sure i missed. the SciFi elements i was expecting just poped up and no one seemed to care.. very strange.

Part three: Ok, i get jokes.
By this point in the book the narrative is wrapped like on of those 90's tribal knot tattoos. Sorta confusing, but mostly annoying. The periphery info we've been bombarded with since page one suddenly all seems to be making sense. If you weren't paying attention before you might just want to give up now. Starting overs not an option, half the fun of this one is the realization that youve been lead along the whole time. I dont know how often Stephine Kings lead me on some switchback path, just to abandon me like someones unwanted dog on a country road. Chucks got you by the nose here, and hes not letting go. Where ever this novel ends, hes taking you with him.

I found this an interesting exercise. Being more familier with the mans writing style and the arc of his career, i can honestly say this is one of the "do not miss" Palahniuk books. If you think he got a little incestuous during the early 2000's this ones a refreshing dip in the gene pool....less

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Shannon rated it:

06/24/08

bookshelves: festival-o-suck

Read in June, 2008

recommends it for: the drooling rabid

I can't do it. I can't finish this book. Usually Palahniuk creates fairly unsympathetic characters, as in this book, and that I'm used to. Becasuse it WORKS; the plotlines of his books are always ridiculous in a totally fascinating way, which makes up for the stupid characters. However, Rant bored the fuck out of me. I tried. I read more than half and I do not care about this nutjob guy and his rabies and his slobbering all over the ladies, or the driving around in cars being obnoxious or whatev...more

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Adam rated it:

06/20/08

Read in June, 2008

Man, did I enjoy this book--I am already a big Palahniuk fan, though, so use that as your basis if you're somehow thinking of basing your decision to read this solely on my recommendation.

Without really getting into the plot (because, as with most CP books, it's best to dive in without knowing what to expect at all), I will simply say that "Rant" contains the usual marks of most Palahniuk books-- which is to say: bizarre characters, excellent storytelling, fiery language, messed-u...more Man, did I enjoy this book--I am already a big Palahniuk fan, though, so use that as your basis if you're somehow thinking of basing your decision to read this solely on my recommendation.

Without really getting into the plot (because, as with most CP books, it's best to dive in without knowing what to expect at all), I will simply say that "Rant" contains the usual marks of most Palahniuk books-- which is to say: bizarre characters, excellent storytelling, fiery language, messed-up scenarios, and a satirical bent.

One of the reviews on the back of the novel compares Palahniuk to Kurt Vonnegut-- and while I might have disagreed with this assessment based on his earlier novels, "Rant" arguably does have the most in common with a Vonnegut book-- though where Vonnegut writes about apocalyptic scenarios with a twinkle in his eye, Palahniuk seems to have both a twinkle in his eye and a fang for a tooth. No, there's nothing as stomach-churningly foul as some of the bits that appear in "Haunted," but there's definitely some of the grit and grimace that pervades all of his other books.

As with most of CP's books, you will find yourself inclined to flip back through the pages-- the book is definitely rewarded by multiple readings (or at least a post-mortem re-skim).

When telling some friends what I was reading, I was frequently met with comments like, "Oh, I'm over that guy" or "when will he break from that formula?" I must say, I really do find each of Palahniuk's books unique-- they've each got their own "hook," particularly with regard to the method in which the story is told. In "Rant," we are presented with an "oral history"-- one can imagine that it reads something like the transcript of a documentary film, with the various characters being interviewed with regard to various circumstances surrounding our protagonist. And, as with most of his books, Palahniuk really has a field day toying with the form and the structure of the book. It is really delightful-- occasionally bitter, occasionally gruesome, frequently laugh-out-loud hilarious, and never boring. I'd definitely recommend "Rant" to any fan of Palahniuk, casual or otherwise. And for those of you who've dived off the CP train, I'd maybe say that if you're even generally a fan of his work (and/or the work of Kurt Vonnegut), you may want to give it a go.
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R. rated it:

10/29/07

bookshelves: 2007

Read in May, 2007

Rant kicked so much ass.

Part of the joy is the idea of a car...with a flaming Christmas tree on top...flying through the air into a body of water...to the, you know, strains of Philip Glass' Violin Concerto II.

Part of the joy comes from the fact this is the first third of a trilogy, apparently.

Part of the joy is that the book is entirely a greatest-hits package of Chuck's strengths...remixed in the "oral biography" form. Like, like if Guns n' Roses wrote ten variations on...more Rant kicked so much ass.

Part of the joy is the idea of a car...with a flaming Christmas tree on top...flying through the air into a body of water...to the, you know, strains of Philip Glass' Violin Concerto II.

Part of the joy comes from the fact this is the first third of a trilogy, apparently.

Part of the joy is that the book is entirely a greatest-hits package of Chuck's strengths...remixed in the "oral biography" form. Like, like if Guns n' Roses wrote ten variations on "Sweet Child o' Mine" and handed the mastertapes over to...to Moby!

Part of the joy comes from the main character deciding to break the habit of time...go back through it and save his mother from being killed (thereby creating the hole for a plot for one of the two other books).

Part of the joy comes in receiving a Just Married bumper sticker in the mail for contacting Doubleday and telling them...in effect...that you were bit by a spider (or, what happens when you click on the spider at their promo site).

Part of the joy comes in recognizing party-crashing culture in my own life...OK, you guys remember the night: I had my El Dorado all gassed up, and Dave--well-respeced R.A. Dave--was dressed up as a woman that some of us guys had dropped jaws and were like, "Dude. You're so hot, and that's not cool. Wow, uh, Dave. Wanna sit next to me?" and we went sharking through Spokane one street and the next, and the next with about six or seven people (three up front, four in the back?) blaring, at Lady Dave's request, an 8-track of Bing Crosby's Greatest Hits and Chella ended up flirting with a carload of boys and, finally, we all ended up at Denny's at 2 in the morning, fixing the local sports commentator's car (he didn't know how to change a tire, but between Carlos, Me, and Sean, we got it done), eating pie, drinking coffee, and watching Chella get uncomfortable around this new guy and, generally, probably, making the guy second-guess what was wrong with this chick that her friends were such an Addam's Family *snap-snap*.
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James rated it:

02/07/08

Read in February, 2008

this book reminds me of why i love chuck palahniuk. after the vague disappointment i felt after reading haunted, which i still enjoyed, this is a very welcome addition to palahniuk's canon.

while it touches on a lot of the same hallmarks of pretty much anything palahniuk writes--oppressive society, the search for what is "real," the discovery of spiritual release outside of a religious context--just call this a variation on the theme, and an effective one at that.

this ...more this book reminds me of why i love chuck palahniuk. after the vague disappointment i felt after reading haunted, which i still enjoyed, this is a very welcome addition to palahniuk's canon.

while it touches on a lot of the same hallmarks of pretty much anything palahniuk writes--oppressive society, the search for what is "real," the discovery of spiritual release outside of a religious context--just call this a variation on the theme, and an effective one at that.

this is palahniuk's (very successful) attempt at dystopian dark comedy science fiction, a la kurt vonnegut, as the tale is told of buster "rant" casey: a backwater hayseed, a christ-figure, a super-villian, a government scapegoat, and a pretty captivating character, along the lines of tyler durden (fight club) or victor mancini (choke).

present, of course, as always, is palahiuk's gift of seeing the absurdity in the disgusting and disturbing aspects of humanity and nature and making them (pitch darkly) humorous. the book is also full of his impeccably researched and presented facts about a number of topics, including epidemiology (diseases), psychology, and numismatics (coins).

what's most compelling about the book though is the way it's written. being an "oral biography," the entire story is told in snippets, clips, and observations from people who both knew and knew of casey, each with their own version of the truth, each helping the reader develop his or her version of the truth. it's a very quick-paced format that allows the reader to paint a perfect picture not only of who casey is, but of who each of the interviewees is.

there's a saying apt for both writing and filmmaking and that's "show, not tell." what the oral history format does is show by telling, the perfect combination of both that does a better job than either could individually.

this is supposedly the first book in a science-fiction trilogy that palahniuk has planned (his horror trilogy apparently being, in both chronological and quality order, lullaby, diary, and haunted), and one can only hope that unlike that horror trilogy, the books only get better from here....less

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Jason rated it:

07/23/07

Read in July, 2007

(Full review can be found at the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com].)

So before anything else, a horrible confession: that this is the first novel by Chuck Palahniuk I've ever actually read from cover to cover. Yeah, I know, shame on me! And the reason this is such a big deal, of course, is that I'm an obsessive fan of the movie version of Fight Club, adapted from another of Palahniuk's novels, a film I have officially now seen one zillion freaking times....more (Full review can be found at the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com].)

So before anything else, a horrible confession: that this is the first novel by Chuck Palahniuk I've ever actually read from cover to cover. Yeah, I know, shame on me! And the reason this is such a big deal, of course, is that I'm an obsessive fan of the movie version of Fight Club, adapted from another of Palahniuk's novels, a film I have officially now seen one zillion freaking times. And why do I like that movie so much? Here's why I like that movie so much:

--Because it takes a profoundly original and compelling idea and makes you think it's going to be the theme of the entire project, just to later prove that it was actually a ruse to hide an even more profoundly original and compelling idea as its real theme.

--Because it unmasks the simmering hatred of the modern world so many young intellectuals have these days, this incessant desire to do something, anything, to break out of the usual corporate-manufactured, safely lobotomized, "synergetic cultural experience."

--And because the story pulls off such heady things through a slim, minimalist personal style, which much like Vonnegut attempts to use the least words possible to convey the greatest amount of information possible.

And thus do we come to Palahniuk's latest novel, Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey, which just randomly happens to be my first book of his simply because of opening CCLaP this particular year. And you know what? It too manages to pull off all the things just mentioned, and in fact does it even better; that this book even manages to head into legitimate science-fiction territory at points, even while being a grounded examination of the human condition at the same time. It's dense for sure, with a plot that's impossible to keep up with at times; but if such things, for example, made you love Donnie Darko instead of detest it, then you're seriously going to want to run out and pick up a copy of Rant as soon as you possibly can.

In fact......less

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Wheat is currently reading it

01/23/08

bookshelves: currently-reading

recommends it for: Fans of the author's previous work

(note: I am writing this review for myself)

So far (half way through the book) I feel very hopeful about this book, usually Chuck's books feel like they are - at best - sketches. Like he collects some themes, motifs, obsessions and odd ideas, and mixed then with a couple character concepts and tries to throw a twist in at the end. It gets you very interested but I could never say I am drawn into the world it creates because the world just seems too flat, too shallow. This isn't bad exactly, e...more

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Scott rated it:

04/24/08

Read in June, 2007

Wow. How can I possibly describe this book?

Mediocre? Unfocused? Half-assed?

I am a big fan of Palahniuk. I love Fight Club, Invisible Monsters, Survivor, Choke, Diary, and Lullaby. I even like Haunted a bit. I think he is great at picking some aspect of American Culture and flipping it over so it's soft white underbelly is clearly visible.

Unfortunately, with Haunted, he appears to have developed a taste for the 'big gross-out.' Rant continues that trend. And what is worse is that the...more

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Shannon rated it:

06/13/08

Read in June, 2008

Here's what happened as I read that book- I enjoyed it. Then I got angry.

I enjoyed the pacing during the middle part that was mostly chronicling the party crashing, appreciating where he'd pulled inspiration- secret raves, art car culture, cruising culture, etc. I definitely picked up vibes of Ballard's Crash too- that almost became too obvious to me. I liked the overt political use of Night-timer vs. Daytimer. All of that, including the early history of Rant, was finely crafted storytell...more

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BJ rated it:

06/23/08

Read in June, 2008

Never read Chuck. Seen Fight Club of which he authored, but never read him. Let's just say not sure I will read him again. Everything is raw. To be expected. Violence is raw. Sex is raw. Construction of every sentence is raw. Let's just say NC-17 is probably the correct rating. Over-the-top raw. I enjoy raw but this at times is just pure smut and constant hyperbolic literary antics that I can do without.

But, is there anything here worthwhile....yes, Chuck feels that modern life is ...more

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Ryan rated it:

01/26/08

bookshelves: darker, thinker

Read in January, 2008

recommends it for: adults

I'm a Chuck fan. Though 'Haunted' didn't do much to keep my fire lit. 'Rant', his most recent book, dumped a whole-lotta gas on that fire.

Chuck's been experimenting with different formats lately. This one takes the form of an oral biography which keeps the pace moving along nicely and also keeps things wonderfully disjointed. That forces you to engage your neurons to follow along.

While I can't say I 'loved' this book from cover to cover, there are many things about this book to love....more

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Alex V. Cook rated it:

02/03/08

Read in February, 2008

This is, I think, the third book I've read by Chuck Palahniuk but its hard to tell, since the stories all run the same track. He is all about the trans-dimensionalty of life, how belief (Fight Club), mutation (Lullaby) and social order (this one) are either the ties that bind us to the tracks or, when loosened, allow us to reach liftoff. I might be reading too much into the odd cover design here, but I thought this book was Choke until I got it home from the library, because...more

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Andrew rated it:

07/11/08

bookshelves: fiction

Read in June, 2008

Extremely fun, very well written, hard to put down. After I finished it, I blessed the experience as a nice "wow" couple of days of reading.

Within another day, I realized that I had just read a bunch of wow (great research into unusual topics, nicely crafted points of view from different characters, highly imaginative scenes) with a "yeah, but?" ending. Great light show, thanks, but little depth.

Maybe I'm becoming a difficult part of the reading audience. I need mo...more

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Melissa rated it:

08/23/07

Read in August, 2007

Palahniuk's ability to create vivid imagery is undeniable and the way “Buster Casey” is structured makes it an addictive read. Unfortunately, the story is so bad you feel guilty about reading it when you come down from the immediate gratification high and the hallucinations go away.

The story is told in a series of narrations from the perspective of several different characters. Each character describes their take on the title character and event’s surrounding him. The narrators are rea...more