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Haunted

by Chuck Palahniuk

3.42 · rating details · 22,886 ratings · 1,874 reviews

Haunted is a novel made up of twenty-three horrifying, hilarious, and stomach-churning stories. They’re told by people who have answered an ad for a writer’s retreat and unwittingly joined a “Survivor”-like scenario where the host withholds heat, power, and food. As the storytellers grow more desperate, their tales become more extreme, and they ruthlessly plot to make them...more

Paperback, 411 pages

Published April 11th 2006 by Anchor (first published January 1st 2005)

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Oct 22, 2010

Paul rated it

Shelves: novels, spooky-ookums, whats-all-the-fuss-about

I'm only on p 75 of this thing and I'm about to hurl it at the wall. What is it supposed to be? Does this guy really think these lame parodies are funny? This is from the section called "Slumming", which is about rich people, a couple of whom are pretending to be poor :

"Inky always said being absent is the new being present." (p 69)
"Poverty, Inky says, is the new wealth." (p71)
"Social divers, Inky says, are the new social climbers."...more

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Jan 31, 2009

Lex rated it

Recommends it for: hearty German stock

Apparently working in a vet clinic for the better part of 5 years is precisely the recipe required to inure one to the effects of Palahniuk's writing.

You'll see tons of "OMG SO GWOSS!!" reviews here, but this ain't one of 'em. I was entertained. All the blood-and-guts and bodily fluids in the world don't really gross me out. What really sickens me is people.

And that's what Palahniuk does best: he writes about the dark sides of people and how precious little i...more

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Aug 21, 2007

Carrie rated it

Shelves: horror

This book is vile. It is disgusting. No matter how much you can take, you will squirm and say "Oh My GOD!" out loud on the bus or plane or couch or wherever it is you read. It is a nasty book. But Haunted is so much more than that and so worth reading.

Haunted is set in a drab old theater, past it's prime, boarded up, invisible, and impenetrable to the outside world. Inside the theater are 23 characters. 23 people with names like the Earl of Slander and Agent Tattleta...more

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Jun 21, 2007

Jeremy rated it

Shelves: horror, old-town-library

People who are just trying to be gross can't help but be entertaining, no matter how see-thru their intent. You can't ignore the little boy who's trying to wipe his boogers on you, and when his parents have finally collared him, with anger and gag relex fully suppressed you have to admit the whole thing was actually pretty funny.

Chuck Paloonyhoonyhookiak is just trying to wipe his boogers on you. When he's done with that, he'll gladly exhaust whatever other bodily fluids happen t...more

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Nov 06, 2007

Cynthia rated it

Recommends it for: shock-seekers and Palahniuk fans.

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD.
Instead of reviewing the entire novel, I will just be focusing on my personal favourite chapter "Guts".
To date, there have been 53 known occurrences of audience members fainting during readings of “Guts”. This doesn’t surprise me at all, knowing the repulsive content of the story.
"Guts" is your mother, father, preacher and teacher shaking that disapproving finger at self pleasure. Needless to say, this short story will have you thinki...moreWARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD.
Instead of reviewing the entire novel, I will just be focusing on my personal favourite chapter "Guts".
To date, there have been 53 known occurrences of audience members fainting during readings of “Guts”. This doesn’t surprise me at all, knowing the repulsive content of the story.
"Guts" is your mother, father, preacher and teacher shaking that disapproving finger at self pleasure. Needless to say, this short story will have you thinking twice about creeping that wondering hand down your pants at night. The narrator Saint Gut-Free (who’s alias is explained at the end of the chapter) a specifically terrifying masturbation escapade. While finding satisfaction in his family pool by sticking his rear end in the water intake at the bottom of the pool, Gut-Free finds his small intestines -in Layman’s terms- being sucked out of his asshole. All the while submerged under water. In a desperate attempt to reach the surface for air, he gnaws through the innards with his own teeth. We have all studied anatomy and know that human waste passes through the small intestine before happily plopping down in your toilet. Let’s just assume that Gut-Free wasn’t enjoying a delicious five-star meal. However, the tale doesn’t end here. The Saint’s original motive in the pool was achieved, and the left over sperm later impregnated his younger sister while she was enjoying an evening swim. It’s not shocking that the family had the child aborted before it could be conceived by the preteen girl.
Now, when asked why he is oh so heroinly chic thin, Saint Gut -Free can only smile. His six inches of remained small intestines don't allow much room for weight gain. Thus he is "Gut-Free".
Not only did this tale send shivers down my spine, but a suppressed chuckle in my throat as well. I found Palahniuk's writing style to be unique and innovative. What captured me the most was the straight-forward, bare-all tone that was conveyed through the narrator. He, a self diagnosed compulsive masturbator and sex addict explains his experience all too vividly. It makes the reader feel as if they too are chowing down on feces infested intestines in a swimming pool. And of course I mean that in the best way possible. (less)

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Aug 16, 2007

Rachel rated it

Shelves: chuck, fiction

This is chuck's worst work. It pains me to say that, but its just true. a group of would-be writers on a writer's retreat each is given the chance to tell a story. The stories are all basically gross for the sake of being gross with little to no redeeming value.

One infamous story involving a pool was so hard to get through I had to take 3 breaks. Its so descriptive and disgusting I had to take a breather for fear of vomiting (i am not alone in this, he read this particular story at ...more

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Jul 17, 2007

Cloudhidden rated it

Recommends it for: no one

This is honestly the worst book I have ever read. I finished it, only because of my amazement at how bad it was and how it never deviated from that.

I was intrigued by the premise: a group of writers volunteer to go on a retreat to write their masterpiece. The book has a chapter of plot, followed by either a poem or short story from one of the participants. Sounds cool!

The book falls apart immediately. All of the stories/poems are obviously written by the same person. Th...more

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Feb 05, 2008

Jorge rated it

Los Fantasmas de Palahniuk.
Para todos aquellos con tripas de buena hechura, para no caer en el desmayo como los setenta que han desfallecido en las lecturas publicas del autor durante su tour. Para los que disfruten de la severa critica de la cultura y vida estadounidense. Para los que los procesos mas mórbidos del cuerpo, desde los diferentes mecanismos que toman parte en la muerte por asfixia, por quemadura o la podredumbre de la descomposición humana les resulten interesantes. Pa...more

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Jul 27, 2008

Toby rated it

· review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Sometimes in the humor section of the bookstore you can find a spoof of a popular book or writer. That's not what Haunted is, but it's the first thing that comes to mind.

While the cover promises that Haunted is "A Novel," the innards tell a different story: 24 short short stories and 24 prose poems tied together by a thin framing device. This frame is supposed to evoke storytelling parties of the past, such as the Canterbury Tales or the Decameron, in which the participants...more

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May 11, 2008

Josh rated it

This book is incredibly uneven, that's its downfall. There are some really good moments, some really bad moments, and one or two truly brillant ones. Looking at it as what it essentially is; a collection of short stories, it's really no better or worse than any other short story collection, and actually should get extra points for its brazen audacity. The unifying material that links all of the stories together is terribly weak, and is what ultimately sinks the book.

The first stor...more

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Jan 24, 2008

Patrick rated it

Shelves: 2005

I was really excited about this one after being disappointed with "Lullaby" and "Diary." Basically, it's a book of short stories each by a fictional author, each introduced by a poem about the writer, and linked together by mini-chapters about the writers' retreat they are all on. Trapped in a house and running out of food, they write, record, and videotape their experience, certain that when they are finally rescued, they will all become media darlings destined for reality...more

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Sep 11, 2007

Emily rated it

Shelves: chuckpalahniuk

easily the most disgusting book i've ever read. There's an afterword at the end where he talks about how books are the only medium where you have free range to tell the story however you want to tell it, to say whatever you want to say. Whereas in movies, you're trying to hit a certain audience and your work is censored and edited to a certain extent. Books alow you to travel to this deep, dark secret private place inside yourself. That's why he writes. A very compelling explanation. I thi...more

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Nov 24, 2007

Linda rated it

Recommends it for: those who are easily morbidly fascinated

Shelves: fiction

So I went to a very tiny library for the first time ever. Library was so tiny that the only book by Chuck Palahniuk was Haunted. (They only had three Stephen King books shelved!)I was hoping to find Choke or Diary as my cherry-popping experience with Chuck Palahniuk. Alas, I made due with Haunted which I've heard nothing about prior to the day I started reading it.

Since then I read that the first short story was actually featured in Playboy.

Also, my brother said he heard ...more

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Jun 18, 2008

Mikey Terry rated it

Absolute trash. It's sad when an author has an excellent social commentary and then butchers it with stories about eating newborns, self mutilation, and stagnant plot progression.

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Apr 06, 2009

Thee_ron_clark rated it

Shelves: mystery, other, other-horror, other-stuff

Murder, rape, castration, sex, masturbation, mutilation, and deception are just a few parts of this truly twisted novel. This is the third book I have read by Chuck Palahniuk and by far the best and most disturbing at the same time.

The story follows a group of would be authors, poets, and screen writers who agree to a three-month retreat away from the world in which they can create their masterpieces. Once locked away in a huge and inescapable old theater, the folks from the retreat...more

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Sep 03, 2008

Scoobs rated it

boo

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Nov 04, 2011

nik rated it

I had a hard time finishing Haunted. But it's just the way I like it. Some stories were a waste of time. Some were just too excellent. Guts, Exodus, Box-shit, and that scene or whatever it was, when Comrade Snarky said "I fainted....and you ate my ass?
You fed me my own ass?" As a whole, the book has a disoriented flow. If we talk about music, it'll be like a beautiful sound of discordance. But hey, this book, in its truest nature, causes both psychological and physiological disori...moreI had a hard time finishing Haunted. But it's just the way I like it. Some stories were a waste of time. Some were just too excellent. Guts, Exodus, Box-shit, and that scene or whatever it was, when Comrade Snarky said "I fainted....and you ate my ass?
You fed me my own ass?" As a whole, the book has a disoriented flow. If we talk about music, it'll be like a beautiful sound of discordance. But hey, this book, in its truest nature, causes both psychological and physiological disorientation. So fucking gory and gross. That part in which Cassandra was rotting in the forest. #@!#@!#@!#@!

Some stories and scenes just stand alone. Live all by itself.

The way this book was written was really eccentric. You can get lost easily if you're not used to the way Chucky writes. This book requires a high dose of patience –if you don't have it, then don't read it. It's not reader-friendly. At some parts of the book, you'll tell yourself "Why the fuck am I still reading this?" or "This is a waste of fucking time." ... I told myself that.

Writers' Retreat. Away from the world of three months to create their own masterpiece –disasterpiece. Really fucked-up characters. Disgust. The idea was really an innovation. As usual, the sick twisted mind of the author didn't fail to make me applause using one hand. In the first place, I didn't know I can do it. The characters die and suffer hard. This is the new taste of horror. Humor and Horror inside a bottle of beer. Intoxicating. Horrifying. Funny.

The world is meant for suffering –for you to suffer. If you understand that, you might chase suffering –and suffering might run away from you. You might even need to feel you're suffering to feel you're alive.

"Think of a rock polisher, one of those drums, goes round and round, rolls twenty-four/seven, full of water and rocks and gravel. Grinding it all up. Round and round. Polishing those ugly rocks into gemstones. That’s the earth. Why it goes around. We’re the rocks. And what happens to us—the drama and pain and joy and war and sickness and victory and abuse—why, that’s just the water and sand to erode us. Grind us down. To polish us up, nice and bright."

On their attempt to metamorphose their sufferings into something they can sell, they craft it into stories. They distort it. Make it worse. Make it better. Make it unreal.The story behind the story. The truth behind the truth. The reality behind the reality. Perhaps, that is what's happening in this world. The world being turned into fiction. Isn't that scary?

The narrative style of Chuck in Haunted is really incomparable. And this book of his, hits a lot of things. Obviously, you might know what those things are.

The book is haunted by a soul.
The cover of the book = five stars.

*Clapping with one hand* (less)

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Sep 07, 2011

Catherine Forbes rated it

· review of another edition

A group of amateur writers decide to get whisked away to a writers retreat; a place where they can write their masterpieces away from the bothers of everyday life. They soon realise they cannot escape the so-called retreat and take matters into their own hands. What better way to become famous than being a survivor of a horrible kidnapping? The group start to make things worse for themselves; destroying the food they have, breaking the heater, etc. They become crazy, even chopping off fingers a...more A group of amateur writers decide to get whisked away to a writers retreat; a place where they can write their masterpieces away from the bothers of everyday life. They soon realise they cannot escape the so-called retreat and take matters into their own hands. What better way to become famous than being a survivor of a horrible kidnapping? The group start to make things worse for themselves; destroying the food they have, breaking the heater, etc. They become crazy, even chopping off fingers and toes, just to make themselves look worse for when they are rescued. Each tells stories along the way, trying to shock each other.

I tried to get through this book. I really did. It did start off as promising, but it became awful. So terribly awful. Why read a book you aren’t enjoying, right? I wasted time, time I could have spent reading something else. But oh well, these things happen. I read half of this and instantly regretted buying it. I see now folk tend to exaggerate on their reviews, and by a great deal.

The first story told by Saint Gut-Free was entertaining. I believe others have had a hard time reading it, even wanting to vomit, but I can say, gore in books, no matter in how much detail, doesn’t affect me in the slightest.

Everything after that was bad. The stories were boring and the characters completely stupid. I really hope they all die because they deserve to. Also, the writing was annoying and made me think how? How can people possibly like this book?

The whole thing was supposed to make you think of the darkness inside people. In this case, how they will do anything for money. If the rest of humanity were like this lot, we would have died out long ago. We are the most intelligent species for a reason. Honestly, I can't say I'd start hacking off digits and near kill myself for the hope of money. There are people who would, obviously, and do so, but around fifteen people and none of them had any sense.

Will I try to read this again in the future? HELL NO!

© Catherine Forbes 2011(less)

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Feb 22, 2011

TJ rated it

This is a bad book barely held together by fleeting and brief moments of fantastic insight. Just when I felt like I was wasting my time and the novel couldn't get any more disgusting, stupid, boring, or any other negative sentiment, it would then turn for just a brief second and capture my interest fully and completely. At these dispersed points the book would almost redeem itself. Then, within no time at all, the nice respite from the garbage prose would come to an end and the author would then...more

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Aug 13, 2009

Dan rated it

Shelves: novels

The novel begins with a group of people getting on a bus that is going to take them to a writer’s retreat where, for three months, they will be able to work on their short stories, novels, screenplays, and poems. During this time, they will have no phone, no Internet, no newspapers, no television. The characters tell each other short stories, and in this respect, the novel resembles works like Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and Bocaccio’s The Decameron. However, they begin running out of food, an...moreThe novel begins with a group of people getting on a bus that is going to take them to a writer’s retreat where, for three months, they will be able to work on their short stories, novels, screenplays, and poems. During this time, they will have no phone, no Internet, no newspapers, no television. The characters tell each other short stories, and in this respect, the novel resembles works like Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and Bocaccio’s The Decameron. However, they begin running out of food, and then some of the guests die violently. Moreover, they are inside a building with a locked door, and they do not know where the key is.

As the circumstances of their detention become more critical, there is a kind of competition among the characters to see who can suffer the most and thus become the victim on whom the media will focus its attention; in this way Palahniuk’s novel is a comment on victim culture and on reality television shows like Survivor.

One problem in terms of realism is that although the different stories are represented as having been written by different characters, the style of writing does not differ greatly from story to story: the style of Brandon Whittier resembles that of the Earl of Slander, which resembles that of Lady Baglady, etc. All right, so Mother Nature repeats a particular phrase at the beginning of many of her sentences, and Sister Vigilante writes sentences that are grammatically awkward because of repetitions of the subject of the sentence, but in general most of these characters write like Palahniuk. This is not a bad thing—Palahniuk is a really entertaining writer. But is it realistic that two-dozen people getting together at a writers’ retreat would all write like Palahniuk? Would it not be more realistic if there were some difference among the writing styles of the different characters? And if some stories were included that had actual problems of organization and expression? I know, I know, you’re more likely interested in reading this book because you like Palahniuk’s style, not because you’re looking for realism. I like Palahniuk’s style too. I’m just saying, the way he’s got almost two dozen different characters here each telling a story, he could have tried something a little different.

There is something amusing about the cover of the book that I only found out about when I kept the book beside my bed for late-night reading.
(less)

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Jan 23, 2011

Misha marked it as to-read

Shelves: unfinished

Feeling misanthropic today. Seems like a good time to pick up some Palahniuk.

Guts. So, this is the story that makes people puke? Eh. I mean, it's gross, but is it really any more shocking than those urban legends about Richard Gere and the gerbil? I'm still holding my dinner.

While I'm on the subject of gerbiling: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBJ3rkNq2...

What else have you got, Palahniuk? Bring it.

A couple of passages I like:

- The air will alwa...more

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Aug 19, 2008

Krystal Heath rated it

Don't be fooled, I may have chosen 5 stars for this novel, but not because I loved it. This book is dynamic.

This novel looks so innocent and harmless, sitting there with it's ghostly lavender and white cover and "Fight Club" was great, I'll give it a read.

This novel will stretch you to breaking point and beyond what you have ever read before. To give an example, when Chuck Palahniuk gives a public reading of the short story "Guts", the ambulance shows up b...more

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Aug 14, 2008

jack rated it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. look, i'm a really huge fan of chuck palahniuk. i've read everything he's written (except that book about portland, but i'm getting to it, okay?). i'll read the new one when it comes out/i get around to it. so, what i mean is, i wanted to love this book. right? we all want to love the work of those we already appreciate. to not love it is to feel...betrayed. somehow.

this book gets three stars because it did entertain me. i did keep reading it. i did finish it. but i probably should g...morelook, i'm a really huge fan of chuck palahniuk. i've read everything he's written (except that book about portland, but i'm getting to it, okay?). i'll read the new one when it comes out/i get around to it. so, what i mean is, i wanted to love this book. right? we all want to love the work of those we already appreciate. to not love it is to feel...betrayed. somehow.

this book gets three stars because it did entertain me. i did keep reading it. i did finish it. but i probably should give it just two. because it fell so far below what i expect from palahniuk as to be insulting.

i could be taking it too personally.

here are my issues:

#1 you never attach to the characters because there are too fucking many of them.

#2 this shit is just not shocking. i know everybody is all, oh my god "guts" was so gnarly. i don't care. no it wasn't. he eats his own intestine? so? i've watched "aliens" and "the thing" about a billion times combined, splatter movies just make me laugh, i can watch medical shows on a&e during dinner, etcetera, etcetera. bo-ring.

#3 okay. if somebody trapped in the theater with them has a full viral load of an illness that's killed everyone around them within days and they're in there for three fucking months why isn't anyone dead dead dead? i mean, that plot hole is so big it's not even a hole anymore. it's an ocean. in the way that the oceans are so big as to be the majority of the planet and the rest of everything. well, it's just islands.

#4 wow, whittier comes back from the dead? who didn't see that one coming? the ending feels rushed and thrown together which, unfortunately, is how i've felt increasingly about palahniuk's more recent books.

i know this is a bummer train to wah-wah. i didn't hate this completely. or not really at all. i just wanted it to be really really good and it wasn't. it wasn't bad. but it wasn't good.

the two stories in here i really did like were "the nightmare box," which i know was supposed to be scary but just sounded beautiful and "hot potting," which actually did gnarly me out a little, but i think that's because i'm afraid of falling into things like vats of acid, boiling oil and WHO LEFT THE FUCKING SHARP KNIVES POINT-UP IN THE DISH DRAINER AGAIN GODDAMMIT?!?!?!?!!?!!??!?!!!!(less)

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Aug 03, 2008

Dave rated it

I still remember reading 'Guts' for the first time in the issue of Playboy that it had first been printed...and it was definitely jaw-droppingly disturbing. When I'd heard that Palahniuk was including it into a novel about a writers retreat where all the writers at said retreat were telling these short stories to each other...I was hesitant to pick up the book at all, seeing as that idea just didn't seem to make sense to me. But, I ended up getting it long after it'd already been on paperback ...moreI still remember reading 'Guts' for the first time in the issue of Playboy that it had first been printed...and it was definitely jaw-droppingly disturbing. When I'd heard that Palahniuk was including it into a novel about a writers retreat where all the writers at said retreat were telling these short stories to each other...I was hesitant to pick up the book at all, seeing as that idea just didn't seem to make sense to me. But, I ended up getting it long after it'd already been on paperback and having just finished it...I can say that I was more or less right in that the idea of the novel altogether just doesn't work. There's a definite and easy to understand structure to it all though, so that was fairly intersting... There are three types of sections to this book...

1. the novel itself, telling about the various authors attending the so-called writers retreat and what happens to them along the way...

2. short, extended haiku-ish poems about each of the various authors which preceed...

3. the short stories that each of the various authors "tell" to one another.

And the book pretty much maintains that order throughout. So again, it was interesting to have that all sorted out for you from the get-go. The poems, overall, I think could've been tossed out altogether, seeing as they only briefly touched on the mindsets of each of the authors that they were about. The short stories each of them tell are basically all autobiographical to whomever it is that's telling the story, so you end up learning enough about the storytellers through the short stories much more so than the poems are attempting to do. And as with 'Guts', which is the first short story told in the book...many of the other short stories are quite disturbing...one or two even more so than 'Guts' itself.

All in all, the book fits into Palahniuk's running themes of being anti-establishment and going against the grain of our so-called modern culture, so there's no surprise there. I just feel this book in particular is more of a failed experiment than anything else. A valiant effort was made for sure, but it still came up short in the long run.

But the glow-in-the-dark cover was a nice touch!(less)

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Jan 14, 2008

Megan rated it

Hmmm, this is a toughy. I made the mistake of reading a couple of reviews on Haunted while I was halfway through the novel. Needless to say, it didn;t change the way I felt. I can't help but notice that readers of Haunted go to two different extremes in their reviews. Let's face it - you're either a Palahniuk fan or you're not. Anyone that has read a Palahniuk novel before knows what they are getting themselves into. You are going to feel gritty, you're going to feel dirty and you're going to ha...more

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Dec 12, 2007

Shannon rated it

Recommends it for: die-hard chuck fans

The structure of this book was interesting- narration chapter, intro poem, short story, narration chapter, intro poem, short story. He stuck to that throughout. He also stuck to his old tricks and then some- pulling the old switcheroo on the reader whith characters not being who/what you think they are, and his "ewww" factor has been jacked up to 11. In fact, a very short way into the book I put the book down and nearly didn't pick it back up again. I was glad I did start reading i...more

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Dec 11, 2007

Danny rated it

Recommends it for: people with strong stomachs

Haunted is a trip into all those nasty squalid corners of the human soul, and all those dark little things we like to pretend to ourselves that no one is actually capable of, not really. But they can and do really happen, and most of them happen in Haunted.

Haunted is a collection of Palahniuk's most twisted short stories threaded together around a frame story. Most of them will put your jaw on the floor. They're sick, they're nasty, and they're almost impossible to stop reading. It'...more

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May 28, 2008

Amanda rated it

Recommends it for: Palahniuk fans/lovers of bizarre stories/readers with a strong stomach

Shelves: horror, disturbing

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. SECOND REVIEW: My first review of the book was pretty quick and more of an opinion, partially because I think I was new to the book blogging world and partially because I felt that even though I'd gotten the story, I hadn't really been able to focus on the nuances as I'd read it on audio book.

This time around, I decided to read it from the page and it was just as good if not better. Palahniuk paints a bizarre and haunting story of a group of people, all who are running from somethin...moreSECOND REVIEW: My first review of the book was pretty quick and more of an opinion, partially because I think I was new to the book blogging world and partially because I felt that even though I'd gotten the story, I hadn't really been able to focus on the nuances as I'd read it on audio book.

This time around, I decided to read it from the page and it was just as good if not better. Palahniuk paints a bizarre and haunting story of a group of people, all who are running from something in their lives, who answer the ad for a three month writers retreat. The retreat promises the chance to write a bestseller with no disturbance from the outside world.

"No disturbance" means no contact, and the characters embrace the strangeness of the situation by bringing their own violent and izarre tendencies to the table. Caught up in both their own drama and the several individual ones from each character (as told through both poetry and prose of sorts), the entrapment becomes a painful challenge to see how horrible they can make their story. By cutting off body parts, starving themselves, and performing all forms of torture on themselves and each other, they work to ensure that their story is at its most tragic, each one trying to become the most tortured of them all for the fame that pain will bring them.

At first glance, the book seems to be a way for the author to attempt to disgust his reader. All stories, including the main one, include elements of the grotesque, taboo, and uncomfortable: molestation, cannibalism, disfigurement, murder, miscarriage/abortion, sexual deviance, and general torture (e.g. one character has to chew through his own intestine, which is possibly the grossest thing I've ever read).

But the story goes beyond that and upon really reading it, you can catch the author's nuances. The characters are given fake names to match the persona they bring to the group. Names like "Comrade Snarky", "Sir GutFree," "Miss America", and "Baroness Frostbite" give a weird whimsy to a dark story, but beyond that, it also shows the characters not as individuals but as a product of their experiences. The torture they put themselves through is dark, yet justified, as much of what they are escaping holds a torture of its own.

The novel is multi layered, which lends the reader to discover new things each time, to allow the mind to make connections and see patterns. The story of the group gives way to the story of their captor which gives way to the story of the nurse. And peppered among these are the stories of the characters.

I wouldn't say this book is for everyone because it's anything but a "feel good" book and it is very disturbing and sometimes nauseating. But for anyone who likes their limits pushed and who isn't afraid to read the things that most people refuse to give thought too, this is great read!

FIRST REVIEW: I noticed that this book didn't get very high remarks, but I have to say I absolutely loved it. I listened to it on audio book during a couple road trips and my commute to work and could seriously listen to it again (though I'd prefer to have the actual book).

I enjoy the way Palahniuk writes. Yes, he pushes the envelope and does the "gross out" thing in quite a few of the short stories, but it's the old train wreck story...I couldn't help but want to hear more. Some of the stories are actually just creepy, and the overall weirdness made me do a double take.

If someone has a copy of the book they want to get rid of, I'll definitely take it off their hands. I loved this book!(less)

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Feb 18, 2007

Kitty-Wu rated it

· review of another edition

Un puñado de escritores -o aspirantes a escritores- acuden, tras leer un anuncio en la prensa, a un retiro para artistas, donde se supone que darán rienda suelta a su imaginación. Esta colonia de escritores resulta ser un lugar aislado del mundo, donde la comida y la electricidad son bienes escasos. En estas precarias condiciones los protagonistas comenzarán a escribir historias bizarras y terroríficas, lo que les convertirá en héroes de una especie de reality show.

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Una...more

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Feb 22, 2011

Sophie rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: multiple-reads

Twenty-plus stories alternating between poems and chapters of the book, dozens of "mostly true" stories all of which are more or less disturbing.

I have a morbid fascination with anything that pushes boundaries, divides opinion and challenges the limits of taste. I wouldn't say "Haunted" breaks any ground that hasn't already been covered, however, that isn't to say it's an easy read by any means at all. Some of the stories are harder to read than others.. much, muc...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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“People fall so in love with their pain, they can’t leave it behind. The same as the stories they tell. We trap ourselves.” — 415 people liked it

“The difference between how you look and how you see yourself is enough to kill most people. And maybe the reason vampires don’t die is because they can never see themselves in photographs or mirrors.” — 249 people liked it

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