Who agrees with me...

[TheChilly]

... that Chuck Palahniuk needs to work on sharpening his storytelling and come out with a GENUINELY good story rather than churn out pieces of shock value after pieces of shock value?

Because "Snuff", "Pygmy" and "Tell-All" were sub-par and cannot (and WILL NOT) match the quality and immersion of his earlier novels.

(I bet "Choke" was where he completely ran with and did to death the 'shock value' concept. *chuckles*)

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

I've read Fight Club, Beautiful Monsters, and started but did not finish Survivor. I read FC and BM right in a row and then tried Survivor, and by then was just burned out and never got around to it again. For some reason, he's an author I've never decided to revisit. The plots of his newer books just don't sound interesting at all.

[Uberzensch]

I agree. His last four or five books have been significantly worse than his first four or five.

[TheChilly]

I've only read "Haunted", "Snuff", and some of "Fight Club"...

All I saw in those works was the prose of a wannabe Bret Easton Ellis.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

I guess I should read Bret Easton Ellis, :P.

[Silvia]

... that Chuck Palahniuk needs to work on sharpening his storytelling and come out with a GENUINELY good story rather than churn out pieces of shock value after pieces of shock value?

Because "Snuff", "Pygmy" and "Tell-All" were sub-par and cannot (and WILL NOT) match the quality and immersion of his earlier novels.

(I bet "Choke" was where he completely ran with and did to death the 'shock value' concept. *chuckles*)


I agree. Some of his novels I enjoyed, such as Fight Club, Survivor, Choke and, to a certain extent, Beautiful Monsters, I even went through a Chuck Palahniuk phase when I was 13, but then he got lost, I think. I disliked Diary and Lullaby very much, couldn't finish Haunted and felt an impulse to destroy Stranger than Fiction. It is true that he stakes his all on that shocking effect you talked about, and I have to say it worked for me for the first novels, but now it's high time he discovers whether his writing skills survive an "ordinary" plot.

[arrytus]

I've read Choke [in which i thought there were two good chapters, and a decent idea- the collecting rocks/earth], Diary[horrid], and Lullaby [which I thought was the best of the three; not saying much though]. If I ever find a copy of Fight Club I'll read it, and I've got a copy of 'I. Monsters' which is on my shelf, as well as book of his non-fiction.

I read him - to borrow a phrase of Hemingway's- when I don't feel like thinking. If I find his books in the used store I buy them but I'm not a fan; I guess I buy them to see what the obsession is. Like when I was a teenager I LOVED 'GENERATION X' by Douglas Coupland but the more books of his I bought the worse he got. Gen X is still on my top 50 books however.

[Patrick_Bateman]

Choke is awful

[Patrick_Bateman]

I guess I should read Bret Easton Ellis, :P.

Yeeeeeeeeeeah! you should

But leave out Less Than Zero

[MystyrMystyry]

I revisited Beautiful Monsters a few months back

It didn't survive a re-read

Nor did Fight Club last year (June/July? 2009), yet the movie did? Go figure

[TheChilly]

Yeeeeeeeeeeah! you should

But leave out Less Than Zero

Nah, leave out some parts of The Informers.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

I revisited Beautiful Monsters a few months back

It didn't survive a re-read

Nor did Fight Club last year (June/July? 2009), yet the movie did? Go figure

I actually think the movie is better than the book.

[blackbird_9]

It seems to me he's got caught up in himself and his "style"... to the point where his work is more about the "style" niche that he's built up around himself then about the quality of the work. I've read Monsters, Fight Club, Survivor, and Pygmy. I started Choke and didn't finish it. I got bored. Blah. He's washed up in my opinion... struggling to ride a dying wave.

[TheChilly]

I only pray Palahniuk lets go of his "shock value" trademark and shifts to writing some real stories. Maybe someday.

[laymonite]

I really love Palahniuk's ability to mix postmodern form with his journalist background, but, yes, I agree that his recent books have been losing my attention. I never really found anything of shock value in his books (probably because I had already experienced a lot of Richard Laymon novels earlier in my reading life), but I've always been pleased with the peppering of trivia that reminds me of a fragmented "book of useless information" bathroom book!

[PeeSlowlyAndSee]

I've only read "Haunted", "Snuff", and some of "Fight Club"...

All I saw in those works was the prose of a wannabe Bret Easton Ellis.

Wait, you've only read 2 of his books, but you feel you have the authority to comment on all his books?

Hmmm...

Hell, in your first post you say that "Pygmy" and "Tell-All" are sub-par, yet in your next post, you admit you haven't even read them...

[Sulla]

I've read his first few books. I think up to Beautiful Monsters. I tried to read several of his other books but just can't.

Personally, I think he should write a sequel to Fight Club. He pretty much is with every book anyway. He'd be better off as a series writer than one he constantly tries to outdo himself.

His writing is terrible and pretentious. He knows how to do suspense a bit and he's good at picking dark subjects. Yet he's turned into a writer who, for me, is unreadable.

[Dark Passenger]

I agree with the OP. I'm a big fan of Chuck, but the guy needs to slow down and concentrate some of his ideas into one whole rather than throwing out a book a year. Bret Easton Ellis should be a good example for him, although I wish Ellis published more.

I don't think Chuck has said anything better than he did with Fight Club, even though the cool kids flame it--that's only because of its popularity. I think if he slowed down his work would have the depth that was once promised, rather than having to rely on gimmicks and saturating his works with choruses, which in truth now seem forced unlike the method that was so fresh to begin with.

[TheChilly]

Wait, you've only read 2 of his books, but you feel you have the authority to comment on all his books?

Hmmm...

Hell, in your first post you say that "Pygmy" and "Tell-All" are sub-par, yet in your next post, you admit you haven't even read them...

Browsed through Tell-All. Couldn't get through after the first few pages.

Pygmy was the same story for me, but the style of writing in the piece turned me off instantly in the first couple of pages.

That's what I meant by 'haven't read them'... Eh, whatever.