SNUFF THE READ, SPOILERS INDEED
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i dont know; it was something mirk said earlier, about not ever reading it. it has occurred to me a couple of times in the past year to particularly ask her what she thought of the book, being that the story if far removed from her general like of bookreads; i just kept forgetting. then i read in a post earlier that she exhibits absolutely no interest in reading it. like, as in, ever haha
i can only imagine that the amount of chuck fans here who do not hold desire to someday read snuff is legion; but i do desire to understand a majority of the reasons. the fors and againsts. thoughts, specific ideas.
i didnt like choke. not that much, anyway. that book was sordid, poor-me, just silly to me with the birthday and christmas card money because of staged chokings; though, the sex addict workshop and the honest in-belief as a descendant of christ was pretty fun. in other words, even if i knew everything about the book prior to reading the book, i doubt such foresight would have deterred my reading of it in resolve. i certainly enjoyed parts. as with snuff.
except, with snuff:
there is no illusion: it is not a deep book with rich characters. there is no existential mountain of porn, no project mayhem homework assignments, nor credish death cult members, no apparitionous messiah on a stretch of highway road reviving struck animals.. it is about porn, set up like a porn set the way invisible monsters was fashioned like a fashion pin up magazine. flash, and you get a whole history about the porn world; it does not find the deep.
but it is a fun read. my woman, mortified, threw the book down a few times. "This guy is fucking sick." and thirty minutes later, she'd be back on the couch reading what happens next. gross and all, the book is still a fun read !
-kabol
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play hard, like it's work to be done.
I didn't not like it. It wasn't trying to be FC, Choke, or Survivor.
"They sold you hippies grunge, hip hop, now liberty activism."
I think if you're anti-porn you should read it. It feels like a good insight into the world of porn and maybe I'm jaded but I didn't find it that shocking. It was more - as reggie says - illuminating. It made me re-think my views on the whole Annabel Chong thing.
I guess I see Chucks books as funny, with nice deeper touches, rather than immense social commentaries. Sure Snuff isn't great art, but it's funny. It's like Chuck lite, the comedy without the depth. I do have a pretty puerile sense of humour though…
"What cha readin' fer??"
It's like Chuck lite, the comedy without the depth. I do have a pretty puerile sense of humour though…
I think this sums up almost everybody's take on Snuff.. I think noone liked it because there was no deep philosophical message... Like Fight Club and saying Anarchism and Nihilsm lead you nowhere... Survivor and its School Education undertones and how we are trained for one specific job... Or Invisible Monsters and the shitload of messages and depth it had.
Snuff was just a quick and funny comedy -- I enjoyed it and I wasn't expecting no philosophy on that matter, I wasn't expecting an, "Holy shit he's right," moment like i've had with his other books... I mean the only "Holy shit..." moment I did have in Snuff was with the whole idea that parents fuck us up one way or another -- but we all very well knew that, but atleast i didn't feel alone in that matter.
Pygmy looks beyond promising 
I couldn't bring myself to spend thirty bucks for 170 pages, or whatever it was. I'll read it someday, though.
I really didn't enjoy this book at all until the last 20 pages or so. Then I read the rest of the book with my jaw on the floor.
It wasn't great, or profound, or completely shocking, but it was ok to spend 3-4 hours reading this book.
Step back. Evaluate. Recognize.
I agree with you on this one.
rocking horse people eat marshmallow pies
I've read this now. I kind of liked it, but I always like Palahniuk's voice, it's familiar and makes me feel like writing, and the pages seem to go by so fast. There were parts I liked, but overall, I wished for something more. I wasn't disappointed, I knew what it was about and knew not to expect much. Funny at times, but it's so dry reading those Palahniuk scenes where somebody is involved in a task, Tyler Durden making soap, porn star doing her makeup, and the task is explained in drawn out detail in between pieces of dialogue, when you know it's not really going anywhere, that nothing is going to come from this scene. The twists and turns were predictable, and the ending was grotesque and nothing else, really, just grotesque. Whatever elements therein, that were enjoyable, have been better in other Palahniuk books. No character really struck me, no scene really stood out. There's not a lot happening here, it's not like Fight Club where every chapter changes the story considerably.
I don't know what happened with this mess, I liked Pygmy and Rant and if not for the lull between them that was Snuff, I might be looking forward to the next novel. Chuck says he doesn't take writing seriously. It shows in Snuff.
I was not aware there were cult members who refuse to read Snuff. I admit, the topic line is one of Chuck's most brazen, but...it's Chuck!
I was just explaining my reactions to the book the other day to my girlfriend. She is extremely anti-porn and doesn't desire to read the book. On my first read of it, I was definitely destracted by all the shock value and outlandish subject matters. Admittedly, I considered it easily to be Chuck's weakest works. However, I read it again....because I love Chuck. The second pass, with knowing what kind of depravity it will be describing, was much easier and a more thought provoking read. Chuck does an amazing job sending up the porn industry and the low life's who get involved in it, while simultaneously trying to empower the woman who end up in porn. Its a very despicable industry and Chuck illuminates that....at least, thats what I see.
Although I would still consider it his weakest work, it is much closer to the others than I was giving it credit. The worst of Chuck is still much better then the best of others.
In any regard...I'm dying to get ahold of Pygmy. Damn you, Time.......
wonder who will water all the children of the garden when they sigh about the barren lack of rain and droop so hungry 'neath the sky?