22 Umbrellas

I noticed several other people on this board also read his books and I couldn't find a thread for him, so here we are.

Books:
Fight Club
Survivor
Invisible Monsters
Choke
Lullaby
Fugitives & Refugees
Diary
Stranger Than Fiction
Haunted

Biographical Info: (credit chuckpalahniuk.net)

Kimberly

Susan thanks for starting the thread I've added it to the Bookstore Link thread

22 Umbrellas

All the Chucky P. fans disappeared...

I thought I would post some quotes from Invisible Monsters. My favorite thing about his books is how he manages to work in so many thought-provoking ideas into each novel. And they're so beautifully written too.

When we don't know who to hate, we hate ourselves.

Nothing of me is original. I'm the combined effort of everyone I've ever known.

The one you love and the one who loves you are never, ever the same person.

We're so trained to do life the right way. To not make mistakes. I figure, the bigger the mistake looks, the bigger chance I'll have to break out and live a real life.

Our real discoveries come from chaos, from going to a place that looks wrong, stupid, and foolish.

In the end, my whole body is my story.

Your birth is a mistake you'll spend your whole life trying to correct.

Find value in what we've been taught is worthless. Find good in what the world says is evil. I'm giving you my life because I want the whole world to know you. I wish the whole world would embrace what it hates. Find what you're afraid of most and go live there.

I'm tired of hating and preening and telling myself old stories that were never true in the first place. I'm tired of always being me, me, me first.

There's no escaping fate, it just keeps going. Day and night, the future just keeps coming at you.

LastRomanticistLeft

Okay, so who has read Rant? My mind is freakin' blown. It was way GOOD! Chuck's done it again. I almost feel like re-reading it again, except I have to lend it to someone.

So Rant turned out to be a good guy.

Anyone wanna discuss the book? I think Chuck's intention was for everyone to have a different opinion/point of view about how they feel about how things turned out in the book.

Here're some quotes from the book that I like, keep in mind, some may not make sense until you've read and/or have finished reading the book (some are humorous, and some just mean something to me (and you possibly):

Do you ever wish you'd never been born?

"From the Field Notes of Green Taylor Simms: If you must know, the hidden message written on my egg was "F___ You."

"From the Field Notes of Green Taylor Simms: If a deity can make himself flesh by conceiving life with a mortal, perhaps a mortal can achieve immortality if he's able to travel back in time and destroy one or both of his parents. In this response to the Grandfather Paradox, the time traveler eliminates his physical origins, thus transforming himself into a being without physical beginning and therefore without end. Stated simply: a god."

"Neddy Nelson: All I'm saying is: What if time is not the fragile butterfly wing that science experts keep saying? What if time is more like a chain-link fence you can't hardly f___ up? I mean, even if you f___ed it up, even ten hundred times--how would you ever know? Any present moment, any "right now", we get what we get. You know?"

"Rant Casey: The future you have tomorrow won't be the same future you had yesterday"

"Neddy Nelson: If you lived long enough, couldn't you watch yourself be born? Couldn't you raise yourself? Be your own old man?"

"From the Field Notes of Green Taylor Simms: I came to Party Crashing because accidents happen. People you love will die. Nothing you treasure will last forever. And I need to accept and embrace that fact."

"Shot Dunyun: No bulls___. If your car skids into oncoming traffic, and you die listening to the Archies sing "Sugar Sugar", it's your own damn laziness."

"Echo Lawrence: It almost didn't matter that his spit gave me rabies" <-- that made me chuckle

"From the Field Notes of Green Taylor Simms: Every family is a regular little cult."

"Wallace Boyer: [...] every person is obsessed with himself. [...]A salesman only has to prove he's just as obsessed with you as you are with yourself. After that, the two of you share a common passion: you."

Those are the shortest quotes I could find for now, the rest are either too long or couldn't find them right away.

TheAngel

I've never read any of his books but some short stories. Some of them are pretty nasty but I applaud his use of imagery in creating a scene that the reader can both see and feel. I've seen Fight Club but haven't had the opportunity to read the book that goes along with it. I should do that someday. He seems like a very interesting author and I'd probably enjoy it.

S.A.S.H.A.

I finished Choke last week and am reading Survivor at the moment.

Sasha

moonrox

S.A.S.H.A., you're miles ahead of me. I've been trying to finish Choke for years.

It's not because I think it's boring. I actually think it's very good, but I have to keep stopping every time I read it because of time issues. Then lately when I pick it up, apparently, I must be in a slow area in the book because it's difficult to push myself through it. At first it was really good, now it's getting slow. So I'm think that maybe I need to put it down for awhile and maybe pick up one of his other books. I think the next of his on my agenda will either be Fight Club or Lullaby. i haven't decided yet.

Have any of you guys read any of these? What are your thoughts on it?

S.A.S.H.A.

You're in luck. You might get to see the movie before reading the book.

Sasha

LastRomanticistLeft

Moonrox, that's very weird about not getting into Choke in some parts, I was the opposite, I had a very hard time getting through the beginning. But trust me, it gets better. I've read Rant, Invisible Monsters, Choke and Fight Club, they all have great twists, gotta say though, with Chuck P's books, I always have trouble getting through the beginning, it's a shame. But I gotta say, Rant had a not so bad beginning, maybe start with that? Except in Rant, you gotta take in a lot of info, or else you'll kind of be going back and forth in the book trying to remember certain crucial moments that will help you understand the totally SCREWED UP twist. Gotta say though, so far Rant is my fave Chuck P book, such a great concept about re-creating yourself, though most of his books are about re-creating/re-inventing yourself through chaotic tragedies. But this one totally blew me. Really it did. When I finished reading I was like "What?! No way!! Did he just....? NO WAY!". So tell me what you think if you get around to reading it.

For those who haven't read Fight Club, I really like the ending of the book, I'm not pooing on the movie's ending, I just liked how it doesn't end conventionally in the book. Both version's are equally fine though.

Thought I'd post another interesting quote from the book Rant:

S.A.S.H.A.

I finished Survivor last night. Invisible Monsters is next.

Sasha

LastRomanticistLeft

Interesting, I just finished Invisible Monsters, I should get on Survivor though, people say that one's very good.

By the way, I forgot to mention that Chuck signed my Fight Club book for me on May 23rd, it was very cool of him.

S.A.S.H.A.

Ooh, cool.

My brother tells me that Survivor was going to be made into a movie, but then the terrorist hijackings occurred, so it was scrapped.

Sasha

moonrox

Thanx S.A.S.H.A. for letting me know about this.

That means I'm going to have to get a move on and finish reading it. I've made some more progress through Choke but I think I need to just pick up Fight Club or Lullaby to try to get me back in hunger-mode for his writing.

I have such a problem finishing books. Because once they start getting a little slow or I have to put them down during a climatic moment, I can't ever seem to get around to picking them back up again. So I try to push and force myself to pick them up and finish them.

I hope I can finish Choke before the release date though. But with the way school is going, things just might be a little too hectic. I guess it's to be expected of a senior.

S.A.S.H.A.

Ooh, it's rare for me not to finish a book I start. Good luck finishing it!

Sasha

Hang It Up

I love Chuck Palahniuk, he's my favourite author. I've read all of his novels except for Rant, but have yet to read his non-fiction. I finished off Invisible Monsters and Survivor this summer and I loved them. The messages in his books really ring true to me and whenever I finish one of his books, they make me think. Also, they're very quotable!

Some of my favourite quotes from his books are:

If death meant just leaving the stage long enough to change costume and come back as a new character...Would you slow down? Or speed up?

You have a choice. Live or die. Every breath is a choice. Every minute is a choice. To be or not to be.

I also really liked the poem "Product Improvements" in Haunted.