What is your opinion on Chuck Palahniuk's work?

I love him. The “toiletry tornado” (if you will) in Rant made me giggle so hard I nearly peed myself. Snuff is the only one I haven’t read.

@jeffgoldblumsprivatefacilities

Read “Snuff”. It’s a great write!

i’ve read everything of his short of snuff and the newest one – pygmy? – and the one non-fiction that he wrote about some state, i think.
i really like him. i think his books are incredibly interesting, and i’ve never wanted to put one of his down. also, i’ve read a few of the books more than once, and i find that i always see new things that make me see everything differently. there’s just so much going on in all of his novels, and the characters are so unique and i love the way he develops them.

also, i love how much emotion his books can provoke. i remember the first time i read the guts chapter in haunted, and i seriously thought i was going to throw up. loved watching my friends’ reactions to that too. (;

Awesome. Every one.

If you ever need to stop yourself from over-eating, all you have to do is read Guts. Kills the appetite every time.

@boots- It’s a difficult choice, but Lullaby is probably my fave.

Palahniuk is my FAVORITE author of all time. I tend to try to sell him to everyone I meet.

@tiffyandthewall

The first real thing I read from him was Guts which may be a bad or great way to start reading his stuff…

@Randy Well your avatar is selling your thoughts of him quite well…

@jeffgoldblumsprivatefacilities I may read that next… My GF has a copy of Diary and I hope she may lend that to me…

I tend to tell people that when they first read anything by him that they will either want to throw up, praise his amazingness or both at the same time. Man, he’s so good.

@Randy I’m in the latter group… I’m buying Invisible Monsters off of Amazon as I type…

It was recommended by a friend inadvertently off another site…

I think I like Survivor best.

A friend got me his book Haunted for my birthday. I actually took the book back to the bookstore and returned it. It was boring and really not scary. Seeing that no one else has mentioned that book here, maybe I should give one of his other books a shot.

But until then, my opinion is – meh.

@PnL In the least I recommend “Snuff”. It was great and the actual ending made it even beyond that… whatever’s beyond ‘great’ to you…

@PnL I highly recommend picking up another of his books. Or all of them. You can’t go wrong.

I knew of Fight Club but never read the book but I just looked him up on Audible.com and his stuff looks good so I ordered Pygmy. I’ll let you know if I like it when I am finished.

@PnL I’m ashamed to admit that I didn’t get all the way through Haunted. It bored me too. But Palahniuk’s still battling for first place on my list of favorite authors.

Okay, I’ll consider it, thanks guys. I am actually going used book shopping tomorrow (to prepare for an upcoming trip), so I’ll keep my eyes out for Chuck.

@PnL not implying that you must like haunted, or any of his work at all, but i don’t think its intention was really to scare the reader, just mildly disturb i guess. but i see that a few people think it was boring. perhaps try another if you get around to it. my personal favourite was diary, but maybe just because i really liked the main character – a reluctant artist. (:

He’s the only contemporary fiction writer I really like anymore, although I feel like Snuff was a real step backward. That could have easily been an old manuscript/idea that was passed over in favor of his previous books. Generally, though I think he’s taken fiction to a new and exciting place. I liken the experience to the first time I saw “Pulp Fiction” and left the theater disoriented and happy.

I actually happened to see him read at Bumbershoot in Seattle in ‘98 or ‘99. He had just gotten the Fight Club movie deal and read from the book. I don’t remember that experience being remarkable, but it’s cool knowing I’ve had a connection of sorts since near the beginning is cool.

@kevbo I’ve never read anything before stuff… how is it a step backwards? And I’ve seen Pulp fiction….

His other stuff is much more inventive, esoteric, visceral, rebellious, you name it. IMHO, Snuff is to his opus as a porno is to the Cannes film festival.

The good news is that Snuff is a great place to start. If you haven’t already seen the movie (don’t!), read Choke and see just how dynamic he can be with his treatment of sex.

@kevbo Choke is my favorite novel of his but the movie couldn’t live up to it. such a let down.

choke is a great second book to read of his. he’s so twisted but he finds a way to get genuine humor out of the most awkward events.

Yeah, the movie sucked. I think quality-wise last year wasn’t his best.

It’s really hard to pick a favorite. Most of them have a great reason to be picked. Invisible Monsters comes to mind for turning scenic description on its head.

@boots, you’ve hit on a fat vein of gold with this discovery. Savor it.

Chuck Palah-who?

Fight Club (the book) was great, and the movie was even better (fixed the ending).
Choke is terrific, but the movie was rushed (they filmed it in 3 weeks). Disappointing, but you can see what could have been.
Palahniuk is must read!

I’m reading Snuff now, so far it’s not bad but not that impressive. I have read most of his other books and I agree they are better.
I like Snuff’s book cover :)

Palahniuk is great. I think survivor was his best. They were supposed to make a movie on that instead of choke, but then 911 happened and it got canceled. :(

I am trying to read Pygmy, but it is not easy going. Like ready robot talk. I am finding it hard to keep the plot in mind because the dialogue is so strange.