Haunted: A Novel

I have very eclectic tastes in reading. My ideology: no book is bad. Some unusual books, like this one, end up being awesome. This book caters to those who appreciate twisted thinking. It is also takes a deeply insightful yet intellectual look into the social, emotional and psychological aspects that comprise our humaness (for lack of a better term) without apology for being brutally open, honest and blunt about those things that we may not like about being imperfect in our humanity, but that are albeit truisms. You will see yourself in some way, shape or fashion in one or some of these characters. Admittedly, the book from the first chapter made my stomach turn and I almost gave it up. I forced myself to continue. I found that a well woven story developed and I could not put it down. Hmm how would I describe it Alfred Hitchcock meets Stephen King meets Dr. Freud meets Dr. Jung...... and on and on. You get the picture. I do caution that if you don't like to be disturbed nor made to think - - really think about some not-so-nice human behavior don't read this. It aint roses and sunshine, but it will make you really think. Enter at your own risk and enjoy

After scrolling for some new material, I found Haunted. I read the description and reviews and decided to order it. (under $10 for a hardback, not a bad price) After reading it, you will definitely have some WTF and didnt see that coming moments.

According to Webster's, satire uses wit, irony, or sarcasm to expose vice or folly. I would add hyperbole to that definition, and Chuck Palahniuk certainly uses it to great effect in "Haunted." The reviews I've read have Palahniuk concentrating mainly on reality TV shows, but if you read the stories closely, you will see that he plays no favorites. Just about every segment of our society comes under fire. The set-up deals with a number of screenwriters, novelists, and poets who answer an ad entitled "Writers' Retreat: Abandon Your Life for Three Months." They are taken to an abandoned theater where they set about making things worse, to create "plot points" for the masterpiece they will be writing. They destroy the furnace, clog the toilet, and ruin their food. Then they begin to amputate fingers and toes in order to become the headliner in the story. For structural purposes, Palahniuk uses a Canterbury Tales format, with a poem and a story for each participant. They all have nicknames, such as Chef Assassin, The Matchmaker, Comrade Snarky, Lady Baglady, and Saint Gut Free. Their leader, Mr. Whittier, who appears to be an old man, and his assistant, Mrs. Clark, are the only ones without a nom de plume. If you've read the "Fight Club," you know that Palahniuk doesn't pull any punches. These stories deal with child abuse (actually dummy abuse), masturbation, cannibalism, reverse terrorism, among other depravities. I have to admit I didn't like most of them, but I have to give Chuck P. credit for chutzpah. One of my favorites was "Guts," about a boy who is disemboweled by a pool filter. It takes a sick sense of humor to appreciate this one, but the image of how the boy extricates himself is hilarious. "Exodus" is also very good; the star of this one is Director Denial who works for the Child and Family Case Services unit in a police department. She mistakenly orders anatomically correct dummies to be used in child abuse cases. The detectives begin to check them out for their own depraved purposes. Another one, "Speaking Bitterness," deals with a female self-help group visited by a man who has had a sex change operation. They don't allow men, but he won't admit that he really is a man. He's too perfect for them; they begin to abuse him. Each of these stories has a certain amount of credibility. "Punch Drunk," for instance, is about reverse terrorism. The characters blame the world's problems on religion and set out to bomb Mecca, and the Vatican and other religious shrines. Certainly some of these stories stretch the limits of acceptability, but if you've read "The Canterbury Tales," you know that there is a certain depravity about some of them, "The Miller's Tale," for instance. All you need to do is pick up a daily newspaper, and you'll find stories Palahniuk could have included in this anthology.

I give the author kudos for trying something new, not just a hum drum set of short stories put out there at random because he needed to publish something this year, Palahniuk attempts to give his stories a meaning, with a main plot interlaced between them. I think this was an excellent IDEA; unfortunately where the idea falls on its face is when the interlaced main story is terrible. Basically 17 writers are invited to a "retreat" hosted by the devil, and much like reading '120 days in Sodom', the horror becomes tedium very quickly, too quickly in fact, because the rate at which the writers "go insane" is a bit rushed to me. That being said, this book has some really nice short stories, and I think if it would have been released as just a set of short stories, I may have gone as high as 4 stars (some were great, some were not great), but at the very least, the dull main plot really knocked a star off this one (and I'm being kind). If I read this again, I would just skip to each short story and enjoy them without burdening myself with the demented rantings of the authors that are writing them. At no point does it really matter to you anyway. You may LOVE 'Lord of the Rings', but would you necessarily love an autobiography of J.R.R. Tolkien? What if Tolkien was trapped in warehouse with other authors killing and eating each other? Probably not.

👍🏻

I love the short stories of the characters and Saint Gut-Free's chapter gave me a good belly laugh.

Man I loved this book. This is one of the more powerful novels I’ve read. Palahniuk has truly become one of my favorite authors. The amount of gore and the level of crazed that these characters reach is unlike anything else I’ve ever written. I found myself wanting to read this constantly and it provides a great mental escape. The funny thing is I can easily see this becoming a comfort read of mine. I already want to reread it and dissect it completely with annotations. As always please look up trigger warnings before reading

I wish the book had some sort of preface or introduction to it that described what Chuck set out to do with this novel since I think it makes it much more enjoyable to think of it from this perspective. Granted a good novel does not need this sort of introduction, and you do begin to see the pattern of his stories pointing towards this type of objective, but I think it is important to know up front that in this novel, Chuck sets out to take everyday items and create stories that make you think about them, and the gruesomeness contained in some of them, everytime you see it. It is basically to give the mundane an element of horror. As a warning, this is perhaps the most disturbing novel I have ever read. At its core it is a collection of short stories with an overarching plot to give them some context. And the first of the stories, entitles "Guts" is available on Chuck's website for reading, and I would recommend you do so before taking a shot at the full novel. If you cannot make it through that story, or find yourself not enjoying it, then this is not the novel for you. Back to the book itself, the short stories for the most part are hit and miss, with some of them being really great, and others just seem to miss the mark. The inconsistent quality of these stories combined with a confusing and overall weak overarching plot is what at the end of the day makes this an okay novel rather then a good one. As I mentioned above, each story in the novel sets out to take an everyday action or item and make a spectacular story using it. Most of these, even if dry, succeed in this aspect. And I feel that if I kept that in mind while reading the novel, I would have found a lot more of the stories to be much more engaging. The main plot of the story however, is not assisted by this fact. Sure there is a pretty decent plot twist in the story and manages to create a moment or two of shock, but overall I feel this might have served better as a strict short story collection then a novel. And if that is what you are looking for, there are quite a few good ones in here to satisfy you.

Very good

Certainly one my favorite books, and one of the greatest Palahniuk’s works. Highly raccomended to whom appreciate pulp books. ;))

Genial

I bought "Haunted" because I'd heard it was a contemporary example of a gothic horror and, while I'm not sure I would bracket it as such, I did love it. It's postmodern in its structure, built of a collection of short stories and poems mortared together with a framing narrative. And while this could be construed as a gimmick it is nevertheless a gripping book, as characters' back stories are gradually and strategically unveiled. It's also very funny, completely satirising fame-culture and celebrity with its framing story and also sending up the horror genre ("Civil Twilight", "The Nightmare Box"), religion ("Hot Potting", "Ritual") and, obviously, sex ("Guts", "Dog Years", "Foot Work", "Exodus...). It's worthy of its reputation for violence but I didn't find it distasteful. Other postmodern horrors I've read have fetishised their violence, piling on lurid descriptions of horror and gore, but Palahniuk is better than that. If it's disgusting it's because he's choosing the best words to create an impact, leaving just the right gaps for your imagination to jump in and do the rest of the work. The infamous "Guts" is likely most transgressive and since it leads the pack you'll know quickly if the book is for you. Some horrors that try to subvert the classical tradition are a noticeably different reading experience - think Bret Easton Ellis' "American Psycho" or Mark Z. Danielewski's "House of Leaves", where you're always conscious that you're reading a book, however admirable or affecting it is. But "Haunted" is involving: you do lose yourself in it. It's a remarkable and unique read, for those with the guts for it.

This book deserves all the praise it gets. The stories aren't really as scary as much as they are distressing. If you can get through the first story 'Guts' you are pretty much through the worst(or the best of the absolute worst) that Chuck Palahniuk offers in this book. The book is basically divided into the main story and the short stories that the characters in the main story write and they are fantastic, funny, incredible and unsettling. Overall quite an entertaining book.