Want to know where Chuck Palahniuk’s tonsils currently reside?
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reviews
Dec 17, 2009
Jeremy
rated it: 
Just go to Portland. I have been there 7 times. Just outside of the city are the mountains and waterfalls (a five minute drive). Perhaps my favorite city in the U.S., it is full of life, culture, hate, and wonder and yet still costs as much as living in Tulsa. I plan on moving there after my Bachelor's degree. Screw the book, just book a flight.
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May 03, 2008
Brooke
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It's a quick read, and a fun primer (in parts) of Portland's underground and history, mixed with a bit of Palahnuik's attempt at autobiography. I actually give this book more like two and a half stars, but since Goodreads doesn't work like Star Search, I don't have that option.
The book lost points with me for being uncomfortably seedy in places; to put it more plainly, a chapter with restaurant recommendations, great local gardens, or tips on how to pronounce local streets was often More...
The book lost points with me for being uncomfortably seedy in places; to put it more plainly, a chapter with restaurant recommendations, great local gardens, or tips on how to pronounce local streets was often More...
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Apr 18, 2007
Paul
rated it: 
In short, this collection of non-fiction essays is a love letter to Portland. If the style of this guide book appeals to you, if the odd, macabre, and sometimes loathsome puts you in just the right mood, if you want an adventure, come to Portland. Then read Fugitives and Refugees. The rain merely keeps the riff raff out and the green in. The battle for Canine Equal Rights has been won. The microbrew revolution began here and is thriving. And the people are as weird and welcoming as you could eve
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Sep 26, 2007
Gayle
rated it:
In this book, Palahniuk gives an insiders guide to some of the more odd things in and around Portland. He describes the neighborhoods, places of interest, and the things that makes Portland weird and oh so loveable. It's a quick read that should be bought before traveling, whenyou move here, or even if you've lived here your whole life. There is all kinds of information in this book no one would know otherwise. Plus, he gives his own personal experiences living and traveling here to make it more
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Jul 22, 2010
Benjamin
rated it: 
As a city I love Portland, and I think I love it more because of this book. I wish every big city had Chuck Palahnuik to write a guide for it. I haven't finished this yet because I want to get it done right before I go back for a visit. So far, a tight little book with a beautiful map on the inside cover. Great, bizarre stories with some creepy things you just don't want to know about.[return][return]Now I have finished it, even though I haven't visited Portland now for over 18 months. Next time
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Jul 20, 2010
Leifer
rated it: 
I had issues with this. For one, the ONLY time he talks about ethnicity in the book was when he was jumped by a group of "black men with black hoods". Identifying his muggers as black (and OTHER) sets himself on pretty shaky ground, and in a city that is 80+% white, i can't see how this is NOT an issue.
ALSO-- he talks about a gay man who was trying to sleep with him which was "capital NOT going to happen." Again, you weren't going to sleep with anyone else in the More...
ALSO-- he talks about a gay man who was trying to sleep with him which was "capital NOT going to happen." Again, you weren't going to sleep with anyone else in the More...
Dec 03, 2009
Jeff
rated it:
Palahniuk is a Portland native interested in the most socially deviant aspects of the Rose City, which he artfully assebles in the collage Fugitives and Refugees. Interdisplaced throughout the narrative are sightseeing tours for the unusual traveler and "postcards" from Chuck's own life out in Oregon.
The book is short and sweet, easy to read, and perhaps low on the must reads of Chuck's bibliography, but if you're planning a trip to Portland, seriously, why not?
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The book is short and sweet, easy to read, and perhaps low on the must reads of Chuck's bibliography, but if you're planning a trip to Portland, seriously, why not?
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Feb 05, 2012
Justin
rated it:
This series by Crown is an interesting one - 2nd tier celebrities (or, maybe better put, major figures in sub-major circuits) pen brief volumes that are half ode to their hometown/half visitors guide to the city they love. In a way, it could be a comprehensive guide to where that person would take you if they really cared about you, enjoyed your company, and were putting you up for a month.
As a volume, this particular book isn't terribly strong. The writing is often pedestrian, and More...
As a volume, this particular book isn't terribly strong. The writing is often pedestrian, and More...
Aug 15, 2011
Amanda
rated it:
I wanted to like this more than I did. There's nothing wrong with it, but it suffers by comparison with some of the National Geographic Directions travelogues I've read lately.
I hadn't read Chuck Palahniuk before, and I'm interested in reading some of his fiction now. I liked his writing style, which was most in evidence in the postcard "snapshots" scattered throughout this introduction to Portland. These snapshots were short, diary-style entries depicting his life in Portla More...
I hadn't read Chuck Palahniuk before, and I'm interested in reading some of his fiction now. I liked his writing style, which was most in evidence in the postcard "snapshots" scattered throughout this introduction to Portland. These snapshots were short, diary-style entries depicting his life in Portla More...
May 29, 2009
Serena
rated it:
An awesome read, and a quick one at that, so there's no reason not to!
I guess we all know CP for his fiction, but what a great opportunity to hear his writing in his own voice about a subject he's obviously passionate about. I'm going to Portland soon, and rather than read up on the city through stale tour guides and newspaper articles first, I decided to pick this up instead and hear about the city from a quirkier point of view. And what a great one it is! Even if you have no pla More...
I guess we all know CP for his fiction, but what a great opportunity to hear his writing in his own voice about a subject he's obviously passionate about. I'm going to Portland soon, and rather than read up on the city through stale tour guides and newspaper articles first, I decided to pick this up instead and hear about the city from a quirkier point of view. And what a great one it is! Even if you have no pla More...
Oct 14, 2010
Elizabeth
rated it:
Review from my blog:
I started and finished Fugitives & Refugees, thus ending my resolve to not read any more Chuck books this week. Yes, we're on a first name basis. That's mainly cos I don't really know how to pronounce his last name and I feel better about just calling him Chuck. Anyway, Fugitives & Refugees was really good – a series of vignettes and travel tips about and within Portland, Oregon – my close personal friend Chuck‘s home since 1980. Some of them are crazy, some are More...
I started and finished Fugitives & Refugees, thus ending my resolve to not read any more Chuck books this week. Yes, we're on a first name basis. That's mainly cos I don't really know how to pronounce his last name and I feel better about just calling him Chuck. Anyway, Fugitives & Refugees was really good – a series of vignettes and travel tips about and within Portland, Oregon – my close personal friend Chuck‘s home since 1980. Some of them are crazy, some are More...
May 22, 2011
Punk
rated it:
Non-Fiction. Palahniuk takes us on a tour of Portland's sex clubs, hardware stores, gardens, and ghosts. As long as you consider Newberg and Maryhill to be part of Portland, which they decidedly are not.
I'm not sure if this book will have any appeal to people unfamiliar with Portland -- the travel guide aspect is thin on the ground -- but I liked it. Sometimes you just want to read a book about the place where you live. That self-satisfied thrill when you recognize the landmarks, the More...
I'm not sure if this book will have any appeal to people unfamiliar with Portland -- the travel guide aspect is thin on the ground -- but I liked it. Sometimes you just want to read a book about the place where you live. That self-satisfied thrill when you recognize the landmarks, the More...
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Mar 25, 2010
Tracie
rated it:
I was at Powell's Book Store buying books with my son for his 21st Birthday when I first heard of this book.
Outside the on the street the bull horns got our attention. As we peeked out on the corner stood hundreds of people male and female dressed in wedding gowns. There were balloons and lots of cheering going on. Soon then took off walking around the city, I have no idea what was going on.
Ryan said, "it's just Portland". So when I saw the book it was so More...
Outside the on the street the bull horns got our attention. As we peeked out on the corner stood hundreds of people male and female dressed in wedding gowns. There were balloons and lots of cheering going on. Soon then took off walking around the city, I have no idea what was going on.
Ryan said, "it's just Portland". So when I saw the book it was so More...
Jun 21, 2010
Ben
rated it:
Palahniuk is a great writer, and this is an entertaining book, but parts felt forced or not up to the standards of his previous work. Even "Stranger than Fiction" and others excel in a way that this travel guide does not. The idea of this book, a local look into Palahniuk's hometown, is fabulous, but the execution just seems too devoid of real nuggets of Palahniuk's time there. Instead of gems of his background, it's a bit more storytelling in a general way. For instance, while I a
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Jul 09, 2011
Kevin
rated it:
I burned through this thing in less than 24 hours (its very short ie., about 165 pages). It was really quite enjoyable, being both interesting and informative about numerous, often-strange aspects of life in Portland, Oregon...as well as containing some sheer hilarity (the anecdote about the "laser Floyd" show in 1980, may be the single funniest thing I've read since finishing John Kennedy Toole's "A Confederacy of Dunces," nearly two years ago).
Having been publish More...
Having been publish More...
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Mar 23, 2010
Xon
rated it:
This book was alright in parts. I'd recommend this book more for people who have lived in Portland for a little while and want to check out some more obscure parts of the city and surrounding area. I picked this book up right before I went out there for a weekend. Portland was great and definitely a unique city. But this book didn't do a whole lot when it came to exploring the city for one weekend. I get the feeling Chuck was a little nervous about being trendy and didn't want to lose some
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Nov 26, 2011
Sarah
rated it:
This was...ok. Its a book about Portland, giving his insider's view of it and it is interspersed with little memoir postcards. The memoir parts of it were good, very entertaining and a little twisted. I enjoyed them. However, they were slightly fleeting. The rest of the book reads way too much like your average tourist guide, no matter the "alternative" view of Portland he gives. It was interesting to read, and funny in places, but I thought he'd have put a little more creative spin on
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Aug 03, 2011
Jaquilyn
rated it:
I enjoyed reading this, but mostly for the parts of the book that consisted of Chuck speaking about himself and his past, which unfortunetly there wasn't much of. This is a great book if you are GOING to Portland, Oregon and if I ever do go I will be taking this book along with me...and after reading it I actually would really like to go. It's a good book, but not nessecary to read for the most part. If your looking for a Chuck Palahniuk book that screams CHUCK!! then this isn't what you're l
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Jan 08, 2012
Sara
rated it:
I just about gave up on Chuck with the disaster that was "Choke", but with this book he's been totally redeemed.
This is a fascinating collection of many of the things that make Portland weird - and remind me why I love living in this corner of the world. Recommended for fans of travel essays, Portland, the odd and obscure. Loved it! I've lived here since 1997 (with a brief journey back to Idaho for a couple of years, then returned) and I didn't know about half of what was i More...
This is a fascinating collection of many of the things that make Portland weird - and remind me why I love living in this corner of the world. Recommended for fans of travel essays, Portland, the odd and obscure. Loved it! I've lived here since 1997 (with a brief journey back to Idaho for a couple of years, then returned) and I didn't know about half of what was i More...
Dec 01, 2011
Ron
rated it:
This is a bit better than Chuck's other collection of non-fiction, but it is hampered somewhat by the inclusion of recipes from his favorite local haunts and directions to various places (I expected travel writing and not a travel guide). It is further undercut by his overly reverential idolatry of the execrable and frequently mentioned Katherine Dunn. Chuck's work has deteriorated greatly over time, and his tastes point to the cause: he is interested primarily in the lurid and has no real sense
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Sep 25, 2011
Brian
rated it:
okay. so i really dislike this author, but i guess i wouldve like to have read this book shortly after moving to portland because that is when it came out. i am sure a bunch of things were already gone byt the time it was published, and i wouldve convinced myself not to see many of them anyway. but i lived there for 9 years and experienced a good number of the things in this book on my own.
i used to own all of the books by this guy and i was going to read them. when i left portland More...
i used to own all of the books by this guy and i was going to read them. when i left portland More...
Jan 04, 2009
Becky
rated it:
More Chuck Palahniuk. I actually checked this book out of the library before "Choke," but didn't read this until later. It's an unusual travel guide for Portland, Oregon, with descriptions of places like haunted buildings and sex clubs, but there are also recommendations for restaurants and thrift stores, among other things. Palahniuk also has "postcards" throughout with anecdotes from his life in Portland. He's the author of "Fight Club," so there's a mention about
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Dec 09, 2008
Sarah
rated it:
Some great places to check out in Portland, along with an "historical" thread that reads like postcards written from his own past (though I don't know who could possibly fit several pages onto the back of a postcard). I think too many of the personal stories relied on his own involvement with the Portland Cacophony Society as a way to fit in the crazy stuff he did (YBNormal?). But all in all pretty damn entertaining, with some social history and interesting places to see that I didn't
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Oct 14, 2011
Alpha
rated it:
"This isn't per say a regular novel by Chuck Palahniuk for it is not a fictionous novel or a novel based off events of his life. I got this novel because it was done by the author of my choice but really its an insider's guide to Portland, Oregon - the hometown of Chuck Palahniuk himself.
In this book, Chuck talks about all the great sites you can see and events you can attend in Portland during different times of the year. If you look at the cover, you'll see pictures of the Santa More...
In this book, Chuck talks about all the great sites you can see and events you can attend in Portland during different times of the year. If you look at the cover, you'll see pictures of the Santa More...
Jul 30, 2011
Josh
rated it:
This is much, much more than a travel guide; it's practically a personal conducted walking tour of the less-conventional side of Portland, Oregon by the cult author, who's also a native.
There's a minefield of information: from a quick guide to local slang, to the best food recommendations (including recipes), right down to the names and contact numbers of the operators of strange museums, a self-cleaning house, haunted hotels, sex clubs and even the individual animals at the Oregon zoo.
What is u More...
There's a minefield of information: from a quick guide to local slang, to the best food recommendations (including recipes), right down to the names and contact numbers of the operators of strange museums, a self-cleaning house, haunted hotels, sex clubs and even the individual animals at the Oregon zoo.
What is u More...
Sep 30, 2010
Dan
rated it:
This may not be typical of all, or even most, but it seems to me that the residents of a city often have less knowledge of the attractions of their city than do that city’s tourists. Nor, if it is the case, does it seem remarkable: if one typically enjoys the attractions of a city while on vacation, and if one typically travels to cities other than one’s own for a vacation, it follows that one typically does not enjoy the attractions of one’s own city.
While the premises of that syll More...
While the premises of that syll More...
Jun 02, 2008
Grainne
rated it:
It's not a secret that Chuck Palahniuk is one of my favorite writer's but I had never read this, his foray into non-fiction. This is an ode to Chuck's hometown, Portland, Oregon. The delightful thing about this book is it is a tour-guide to what some would call the "underbelly" (and certainly includes the famous Underground) of this city. Within these pages you will find out how to hook-up with housewives, businessmen (if that's how you swing) and prostitutes. You will find directions
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May 20, 2008
jess
rated it:
this is part autobiography, and part cityguide, with a heavy dose of things off the beaten path, and some experiences that were probably extinct before the book was off the presses. i feel like every city should have a love letter like this written to it, and i think crown journeys may be working on that very mission. my fave book is _geek_love_ and katherine dunn makes several appearances in _fugitives_and_refugees_ in an interview about some of portland's unique elements. i felt it was a littl
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Mar 27, 2008
Jen
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Jan 16, 2008
Tim
rated it:
I didn’t realize it at the time, but apparently this is one of a series of books that attempts to blend travel writing and guide book into one.
Naturally, when I saw that Palahniuk had written a book about Portland, I was intrigued. As a fan of his writing, I was fairly certain I’d find a hodge-podge of travel trivia and quirky destinations. Needless to say, I wasn’t disappointed. Not content to tell you about the usual tourist attractions, though he does cover those as well, Palahni More...
Naturally, when I saw that Palahniuk had written a book about Portland, I was intrigued. As a fan of his writing, I was fairly certain I’d find a hodge-podge of travel trivia and quirky destinations. Needless to say, I wasn’t disappointed. Not content to tell you about the usual tourist attractions, though he does cover those as well, Palahni More...
