# Favorite Chuck Palahniuk novel? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 22, 2011, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-chuck-palahniuk-novel/586411 "2011-06-22T12:08:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![keepmyheadintheclouds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@keepmyheadintheclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/keepmyheadintheclouds)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-chuck-palahniuk-novel/586411/1 "2011-06-22T12:08:34Z")
I’ve read Survivor, Snuff, Choke, and his non-fiction Stranger Than Fiction. Looking forward to reading his new book Damned that will come out later this year. Any fans of his work? Anyone that dislikes his work? ---
**Author:** ![Biffer\_Spice\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ea924/32.png) [@Biffer\_Spice\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffer_Spice_1)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-chuck-palahniuk-novel/586411/2 "2011-06-22T13:03:49Z")
is survivor backwards? i picked it up and couldn’t make head or tail of the first few pages ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-chuck-palahniuk-novel/586411/3 "2011-06-22T13:17:06Z")
I normally would stay out of the thread, but the OP did specifically ask if anyone disliked Palahniuk. I thought Fight Club wasn’t bad at all. Promising even. But the sudden success that the movie brought with it wasn’t kind to Chuck or his writing skills. I felt Choke, despite an interesting premise, was super thin and completely fell apart. Survivor is one of the few books so bad that it actually made me angry. It’s paginated backwards yet is told in almost completely chronological order. It’s just a gimmick, like everything else about that execrable book. I truly despised it and so haven’t read anything by Palahniuk since. ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-chuck-palahniuk-novel/586411/4 "2011-06-22T13:17:29Z")
I read _Survivor_ and really hated it but I loved the movies _Fight Club_ and _Choke_. Maybe I just need the visual to go with the weirdness because after _Survivor_, I doubt I’d waste time reading his work again. ---
**Author:** ![Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-chuck-palahniuk-novel/586411/5 "2011-06-22T13:22:14Z")
Invisible Monsters is my favorite. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-chuck-palahniuk-novel/586411/6 "2011-06-22T14:06:20Z")
I don’t know if I can say it’s my favorite, but I thought the way the characters obtained drugs in ‘Invisible Monsters’ was clever. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-chuck-palahniuk-novel/586411/7 "2011-06-22T14:18:03Z")
_Haunt_ was the first one I read and I liked it enough to go on to read _Survivor_ and _Choke_ which weren’t as good. I didn’t even finish _Pigmy_. ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-chuck-palahniuk-novel/586411/8 "2011-06-22T15:13:46Z")
I read _Fight Club_ and liked it a lot. Then the movie came out and I liked it better than the book. Then I read \*Survivor \*and decided that I didn’t actually like Palahniuk very much. I have been thinking recently of giving some of his other books a shot. But my reading list is long and I am not all that dedicated to squeezing him in. ---
**Author:** ![keepmyheadintheclouds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@keepmyheadintheclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/keepmyheadintheclouds)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-chuck-palahniuk-novel/586411/9 "2011-06-22T16:53:19Z")
> [@Biffer\_Spice](#): > > is survivor backwards? i picked it up and couldn’t make head or tail of the first few pages The pages are numbered backwards, yes. It’s been a while since I’ve read it, but I believe it begins near the end of the story, with the protagonist narrating events leading up to the point. The backwards page and chapter numbering are “counting down” to the end. I found this very interesting because the ending is basically given away in the beginning, and there is no real secret as to what will happen at the end. Like the pages in the book counting down, the protagonist is “counting down” to the inevitable end. Seems kind of vague, but I don’t want to ruin the book for anyone. I find the subject matters that appear in his work to be very interesting—cults, sex addiction, the world of porn, secret organizations, etc.----the seedy underbelly of society. Thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-chuck-palahniuk-novel/586411/10 "2011-06-22T17:02:13Z")
> [@Erdosain](#): > > I normally would stay out of the thread, but the OP did specifically ask if anyone disliked Palahniuk. I thought Fight Club wasn’t bad at all. Promising even. But the sudden success that the movie brought with it wasn’t kind to Chuck or his writing skills. I felt Choke, despite an interesting premise, was super thin and completely fell apart. I agree here. I read fight club - that was good. Choke wasn’t that good, but had it’s moments. I didn’t like Lullaby at all. I couldn’t even make it through Haunted and it put me off of his books entirely. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-chuck-palahniuk-novel/586411/11 "2011-06-22T19:58:11Z")
Loved _Fight Club_. Liked _Lullaby_, _Haunted_, and _Pygmy_. Didn’t care for _Choke_, _Tell All_, or _Rant_. Hated, hated, hated _Snuff_. Haven’t read \*Survivor \*or _Invisible Monsters_. If you get the chance and you like Palahniuk at all, try to go to one of his book tour stops. They’re great fun. He’s actually a very nice guy who comes across as very normal on the surface (until he starts telling his stories!) I enjoyed getting to meet him, and still have as one of my prized possessions a realistic-looking severed arm I had him sign for me. He also handed out steak air fresheners. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-chuck-palahniuk-novel/586411/12 "2011-06-22T20:15:06Z")
I really enjoyed Survivor. Didn’t care for Rant or Snuff. Haunted was ok. ---
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-chuck-palahniuk-novel/586411/13 "2011-06-23T01:52:51Z")
Ex huge Palahniuk fan here, “Survivor” is his best by far, for me. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-chuck-palahniuk-novel/586411/14 "2011-06-23T15:08:09Z")
All I’ve read so far is **Choke** , **Snuff** , and **Pygmy**. **Pygmy** was a difficult read, due to all the three-quarters-broken English, but I can at least appreciate that the idea was interesting. Didn’t really have anyone to root for in **Choke** , so it was hard to get into. I actually kinda liked **Snuff** , which had an interesting structure to the story, though a ridiculous ending. Of the three, I liked **Snuff** the best, but it’s good to know there’s better stuff out there. **Fight Club** never seems to be in at my library. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-chuck-palahniuk-novel/586411/15 "2011-06-23T16:15:03Z")
Is there any point to reading _Fight Club_ if the ending has already been revealed to you by the film? ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-chuck-palahniuk-novel/586411/16 "2011-06-23T16:21:52Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Is there any point to reading _Fight Club_ if the ending has already been revealed to you by the film? Well, yes and no. The ending of the movie is different than the ending of the book (although the bit about Tyler Durden is the same). So I would say yes, it’s worth reading the book even if you’ve seen the movie. ETA: \*Fight Club \*is one of the rare books where the movie and the book are both equally good, even though they’re not quite the same. IMO, anyway.