Palahniuked Again

I just finished my latest foray into Chuck Palahniuk’s truly disturbed world by reading Invisible Monsters, a Christmas gift from my son in law.  I really liked the book but it’s almost a guilty pleasure because there are no redeeming characters once again.  This must be this author’s shtick and it’s like an amusement park ride as the reader careens from one depravity to another with these totally disreputable characters.  Important background facts doled out for their stun value and it becomes a game to try and guess where the next shock will come from.  I finished the book with real admiration for this author’s capacity to delve into the darkest corners of the human mind and poke fun at society in general at the same time.  It’s good to read something like this, out of my normal comfort zone, because it pushes the edges.  I’ve read thousands of books, as my basement will attest, and most are in that comfort zone where you have a transcendent hero/heroine.  Palahniuk throws that all out and says here is someone so deeply flawed that I dare you to like him/her.  I guess this is why people slow down to look at traffic accidents, everyone has a certain amount of morbid fascination or maybe just an appreciation that they are better off than the victims.  I like Palahniuk’s style and will keep reading his books, although I am going to read some more uplifting stuff before.  Reading too much Palahniuk could be depressing.  This Palahniuk effect was compounded by another book I was reading at the same time, The Berrybender Narratives, by another author who revels in less than admirable characters, Larry McMurtry.  I’ll never forgive him for killing off Gus McCrae although that was one of the best death scenes ever.  After a week spent with Palahniuk and McMurtry I need some hopefulness in my life!