survivor review that will make you want to kill
I tried to dig back on some of these old threads in here but didn't find anything about this review I read on amazon. This guy is from Portland and probably got the living shit beat out of him by Chuck in a bar back in the days;his review totally thrashes the book in every single way he could think of. Survivor is probably my favorite book and after reading this review I was just shocked at how someone could dispise it with such passion.
I love how he predicts Chuck's underachievments with Survivor and gives Fincher all the credit for FC. It's probably the funniest thing I've read in a while. He should right a comedy. 
He even made a comment about us, chuck's fans, so I thought you all might enjoy it:
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Conformism and Popular Fiction, March 26, 2003
Reviewer: A reader from Portland, Oregon or somewhere else like it
You could read the first half of SURVIVOR at an intersection while waiting for the light to change. You could read the second half on a Great America rollercoaster.
This is not a good thing.
A very stupid book that requires no intellectual effort, SURVIVOR belongs to a category of literature that one might call "the fiction of transportation": it is an easily digestible book that one reads in order to "kill time" while in an airport or some other means of transportation. In its post-consumer stage, the book is then discarded and quickly forgotten, like the wrapper in which a McDonalds hamburger is contained.
I do not have problems with the ideas packaged in this book because they are "offensive" or "unpleasant" (these are the reasons that the author claims his work was initially rejected); I have problems with its ideas because they are puerile.
The author spells out the book's meaning in a series of self-explanatory claims, each one of them a painfully stupid cliche. For instance: "You realize that our mistrust of the future makes it hard to give up the past" (SURVIVOR, p. 150). The few glimmers of originality in this book were pilfered from other authors and film artists. The scene in which Branson screams, "I WANT TO GO TO PRISON!" (Ibid., p. 54) is an apparent homage to the film AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON; the reverse pagination was stolen outright from Breat Easton Ellis' GLAMORAMA, a great novel by a great author whom Palahniuk has spent his brief career imitating.
Palahniuk's writing abilities are equal to those of a twelve-year-old. There is nothing interesting, compelling, or intense in this book. The crux of the novel, for instance, is the moment in which Adam narrates the origin of Tender's sexual neurosis. Tender was traumatized to the point of no longer wanting to have sex when he witnessed a lethal childbirth. Palahniuk's Adam describes the trauma in this way: "She screamed, and the baby died" (Ibid., p. 34). This kind of deadpan summary does not inspire much confidence in the writer's narrative "talents."
[b]Predictably, SURVIVOR has gained a massive cult following. The reason for the book's popularity among an ever-widening pubescent audience is their residual awareness of FIGHT CLUB---the film, not the novel. Palahniuk's followers, ironically, are the real conformists: they worship the author as if he were Tender Branson (!) (the protagonist of SURVIVOR) and uncritically welcome whatever the man vomits onto the page.[/b]
SURVIVOR, of course, would have never been published were it not for the financial success of David Fincher's film version of FIGHT CLUB---a film that is powerful for reasons that have nothing to do with Palahniuk. Were it not for David Fincher (the better craftsman), no self-respecting publisher would have touched SURVIVOR.
When they reach their twenties, the more intelligent of these people will rub their eyes in wonderment and marvel at their past credulity and mindless conformism.
“If you can quit, probably you should.”
-Alexander Blackburn, then editor of Writer’s Forum in Colorado
What a moron...CP fans worship Brad Pitt as Tyler Durden....no?
as long as you might be on the worshipping bit.
amusing
I tell you all now that I've come to the conclusion that God is insane; it would explain everything.
This conclusion is watery, for I myself am more likely to be insane. What breaks it apart is I don't beleive in Insanity.
I think.
no. CP fans worship CP like they would....tyler durden
I tell you all now that I've come to the conclusion that God is insane; it would explain everything.
This conclusion is watery, for I myself am more likely to be insane. What breaks it apart is I don't beleive in Insanity.
I think.
I know this is a really old thread but I just think this is funny
[QUOTE=]it is an easily digestible book that one reads in order to "kill time" while in [B]an airport or some other means of transportation[/B].[/QUOTE]
I know what he means but doesn't it seem like he thinks airports move about and take you places?
Maybe he's talking about the moving sidewalks.
There is hope, but not for us.
good point jane
anyway, one sad lunatic with a keyboard is not going to make me change my opinions, to the trash bin with that!
Because there is nothing over the rainbow… - http://theunsunnyvalley.wordpress.com
[QUOTE=Mr.Shadov;920200]good point jane
anyway, one sad lunatic with a keyboard is not going to make me change my opinions, to the trash bin with that![/QUOTE]
1,031 to go
[QUOTE=nathaniel parker;920203]1,031 to go[/QUOTE]
now only 1030
Because there is nothing over the rainbow… - http://theunsunnyvalley.wordpress.com
Also, the author of that article is pretentious to the point of absurdity.
thanks for sharing.blackhawk tactical pants.
— Spambot
"I could have done worse!" exultantly cried the murderer Lebret, sentenced at Rouen to hard labor for life. — Félix Fénéon
I thought so too, tres Parka-esque!
i agree with him, it was an easy read, i read it in my kayak.
But what he's said could be applied to 90% of the stock room in any given Borders...
[QUOTE=corellion;920403]But what he's said could be applied to 90% of the stock room in any given Borders...[/QUOTE]yes and that it applies to our alleged hero is sad indeed.
[QUOTE=morey;920387]i agree with him, it was an easy read, i read it in my kayak.[/QUOTE]it took me three monts to finish it...
Because there is nothing over the rainbow… - http://theunsunnyvalley.wordpress.com
[QUOTE=morey;920428]yes and that it applies to our alleged hero is sad indeed.[/QUOTE]
Not really, because the other 10% is completely unreadable.
The guy that wrote this is a dumbshit. period the end.
"Society exists only as a mental concept; in the real world there are only individuals." --Oscar Wilde
His complaining about it being a simple read are silly to me. I dont think an author should have to use complicated language and draw things out to make a good book. I prefer concise over needlessly complicated any day.
I dont really care about the 'cliche' thing either. I really, really identified with the feeling that your life is full of the exact same failures no matter what changes you make, like how he got used/told what to do no matter where he went. I think that theme makes it my favorite CP book, I absolutely loved it.
Poor guy... has some serious issues. Ask him to stick to Barabara Taylor Bradford or something... Let's all spend a moment in silence to mourn for the man.
Survivor is my favorite Palahniuk book, I treasure it deep lee,
we should track down and black mail this guy:sombrero:
what a total douche bag. how could fincher have been so AWESOME without that story that chuck wrote? i mean the movie is good of course but what makes it so awesome is not the great acting, the good camera angles or w/e. its the fucking mind blowing and extra creative story line.
wow, what a inconciderate moron. This is one of my favorite CP books! I enjoyed every page! I would love to see this guy, try and even match CP's work if a so called "twelve-year-old" could write it.....
"You ever wonder when God's coming back with a lot of barbecue sauce?"
-Lullaby-
Funniest thead title ever. It will make you want to KILL.
i'm pretty sure i read that particular review a while back. i love to spend late nights filtering through amazon reviews of my favorite books. for a fun time, look for [i]the road[/i] by cormac mccarthy and seek out the one-star reviews. can make for some fun reading.
[i]surv[/i] is my second fav cp book, but really i could care less what dude thinks of it. if i did, id probably myself write a review to cancel out his.
kabol
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play hard, like it's work to be done.
The little imp that wrote that review is probably just jealous of Chuck's success, bottomline. He obviously has two functional hands, a keyboard, and is over the age of five, therefore, being an "American", it is his right to spew his mental vomit all over Amazon. Whatever, Fuck 'em!
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i just realized, this thread is five years old. yawn. i shoulda known better as i'd not seen peppermd since way back in the day..
..
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That's actually pretty funny. Survivor is the CP book I like least, so maybe that's why this doesn't piss me off.
Though, it's a bit disconcerting to see that this clown is a fellow Glamorama fan.
It's not easy having a good time.
Even smiling makes my face ache.