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Chuck Pahlaniuk's name is pronounced "Pal-a-nuck"
Thanks, Alien. I'm just not into this book. I think I'm going to put it to the side and start some books I think I might enjoy. I just don't see the allure of this book.
I agree, Rob. After St. Gutfree, I didn't think it would be a very good book, but I stuck with it, and the author has a LOT to say about why people make the choices they do. My three favorite stories so far have been Chef Assassin's, Reverend Godless, and Sister Vigilante. He's quite an intelligent and creative writer.I have a question for those of you who have read this book, too. Was Miranda really a woman? I started to think the group was just refusing to stop and think about what they were doing.
I just bought Haunted yesterday and looking forward to reading it on a plane to SanFrancisco next week.... I have read a couple really stupid books by Palahniuk, ("Diary", for example) but for those of you who haven't read Choke yet, that's my favorite by Palahniuk and I highly recommend it.... can't wait for the movie.I liked his memoirs in Stranger than Fiction too.
I was the one who said they brought it on themselves, and I stick to it. Look at what they are choosing to do to themselves! I don't mean their past experiences either. They are destroying the place to make their situation worse, and, ironically, it wasn't that bad to begin with. Most of them feel that their situation isn't "bad" enough, and so by destroying their food supply and making mountains out of molehills, they have put themselves into that horrid situation they are in. If they would have just begun writing, as Mr. Wittier suggests, they all would have survived quite well. As a teacher, I relate to THAT 100%. I watch a few young adults every day complain at how horrible their academics are, and while they are making their situations worse by choosing to avoid the work, if they just would do what is asked, it would be fine. They don't want to do something that isn't that exciting, so they won't until it escalates into something more "interesting."I wonder if Palahniuk is using this book as a metaphor to show how people want things to be worse than they really are to create more drama in otherwise boring lives. Isn't that what all those stories are about anyway? Each person needed to feel something more by doing something dangerous or going beyond what they should have been doing. Somewhere in the book, I remember hearing a line about creating conflict to make our lives less boring. I agree with that 100%.
As far as the gross-out factor, other than Miss America and her baby's fate and St. Gutfree's story, I didn't feel that it was that hard to handle. Actually, I thought I learned a lot of new facts about the human body and other facts about our world.
I am listening to this on audio. The way they seem to increase the suffering by one upping each other is really disturbing. Maybe even more so than the stories, though the Pearl Diving story is the one that bothered me the most so far.
I just finished this book on Audio CD this morning and thought it was fantastic. Yes, some of it was beyond gross...the part where they kept removing their fingernails bothered me the most. I love the stories by Mrs. Clark about Cassandra the best. The book almost makes me wish that Chuck only wrote short stories! I loved it!
Post #2 addresses the OP as Rob. Remember him? He went nuts on your "life was better in the fifties" thread and finally deleted himself before any of the mods could.
I found this clip of Chuck discussing his last name and the pronunciation. http://www.bordersmedia.com/features/...
It's "pawlanick."
I think it's a different Rob, Tressa. It seems like the avatar of the Rob you mentioned still appears by his comments.
Yeah, I don't really know what happens when a member is deleted. Maybe if a member is just deleted from a group, the avatar still shows up. If the member is thrown out of GR all together, there's no avatar.I just don't ever remember two Robs here at HA.
Seems like justice when a member acts out and ends up being overlooked or ignored into oblivion rather than the moderator deleting that person and making him or her into a martyr for censorship.Seems like that's what Haunted is partly about, trying to avoid losing attention.
LOL. I so agree. I thought the outburst of the member who deleted himself from HA over the '50s thread was hilarious. He was in no danger of being kicked out of HA, he said he took himself out before a mod could.Antagonistic members don't know what to do when others just keep posting over them and not addressing anything they've written.
I think she did have the dolls and the stuffed animals in her car, and since she saw them as real, she would "kill" them and herself if anything went wrong.
I am about halfway through the book, and although it is nothing like what I'd expect, it is entertaining. The whole "tranny punch" story was hysterical!