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Underground > Books, Criticism & Writing >

Is Chuck Palahniuk getting old?

  
  

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jamesPD
22:50 / 10.08.08
Anyone else going to the Roundhouse on Tuesday 12th and fancy meeting up for a shandy either before or after?
 
 
jamesPD
11:16 / 12.08.08
Noone at all? You rubbish, rubbish bastards.
 
 
STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK
14:52 / 12.08.08
I was going to, but I don't think I'm gonna make it- too skint.
 
 
--
16:21 / 18.08.08
Yeah, even though I have all his books I never made it through "Haunted", and I haven't even begun trying to read "Rant" or "Snuff".

Weird, as there was a point where he was one of my favorite writers. I've never re-read any of his books but I do recall "Choke" fondly. I think my drop-off of interest in his work has to do with the fact that I ended up discovering writers who did what he does WAY better (in particular, Dennis Cooper and Bret Easton Ellis).
 
 
orbific
16:48 / 28.08.08
I've finally dragged myself to the end of Snuff and still can't believe how bad it was. I love the earlier novels but this reads like a bad parody. The rhythm of the writing is off so that the short paragraphs clang rather than chime. The themes feel like re-treads of earlier books and the constant insertion of trivia feels tiresome. And the setting feels like a desperate attempt to shock.

I think part of the problem might be that the ensemble cast of characters (like in Rant and Haunted) loses the focus of Fight Club or Survivor. Or maybe it's just that the techniques that seemed so exciting in the first book are less effective with repetition.

'--' - you said Dennis Cooper does Palahniuk better than he does. Any particular books you can recommend?
 
  

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