Surviving Survivor



Chuck Palahniuk - New to the Personal Pantheon of Authors

I just finished reading the book Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk.  About a month ago I mentioned to my daughter and son in law that I had demolished all the books from my favorite authors and I was looking for some new authors to add to my target list.  My son in law enthusiastically recommended Palahniuk and said I should start with Survivor.  My daughter was not overwhelmingly enthusiastic about this choice but she’s a huge Joan Didion fan and probably figured out this was not fertile ground for a recommendation to me.  I had heard of Palahniuk as the author of Fight Club which made a great movie; beloved by my daughter.  I also heard he was kind of weird and really pushed the envelope with some of his books.  I guess my daughter was trying to protect my gentle soul.  Anyhoo, I digress, I absolutely loved the book.  It is the only book I can recall reading in which all of the characters are totally without redeeming qualities.  There was literally no one in this book you could honestly root for and that was kind of neat.  You turn each page wondering what new depth the main character will immerse himself and those around him.  While he does this Palahniuk takes aim at some of my favorite targets within society – the cult of celebrity and extreme right wing religion.  Both of these are worthy of the destructive prose Palahniuk sends their way and as a reader I was amused that he was saying what a lot of us think but don’t say.  This was a great read and you feel almost, again almost, guilty about laughing at the depths sought out by the main characters because he is saying what most of us do secretly think about some of the pomposity of today’s society.  Guilty because he’s really poking fun at all of us and it’s deserved.  If you cannot laugh at yourself – you’re a lost soul.  I’m reading everything I can find of Palahniuk’s.  Thanks to my son in law, I knew you had great taste when you chose my daughter but now you have literary cred as well.