Survivor

Definitely my favorite Palahniuk.

This was my first time reading one of this author's books and, in the end, I enjoyed it but I was underwhelmed. The absurd and nonsensical style was exactly my kind of thing, but the plot wasn't clever enough or clean enough for my liking. Some chapters I was really on board with what was happening and others I lost interest. Some of the descriptive passages I skimmed to get to the point, and the point was always muddled. That said, some parts and concepts of the book really worked. It had some great pockets of humor. But it also had some preachy social commentary and overdone bits for shock factor. I don't know, I am middle of the road on this one.

Story: 8.5 / 10
Characters: 8
Setting: 9
Prose: 8

“The only difference between a suicide and a martyrdom really is the amount of press coverage.”

“If a tree falls in the forest and nobody is there to hear it, doesn't it just lie there and rot?”

“There are only patterns, patterns on top of patterns, patterns that affect other patterns. Patterns hidden by patterns. Patterns within patterns. If you watch close, history does nothing but repeat itself. What we call chaos is just patterns we haven't recognized. What we call random is just patterns we can't decipher. what we can't understand we call nonsense. What we can't read we call gibberish.”

Oh, I could go on and end up quoting the entire book here. Every Chuck Palahniuk book that I pick up to read, somehow turns out to be a masterpiece. And Survivor is no exception either. I still can't understand how Chuck manages to do. To alter your entire mindset and perception with mere words. To start with, this book is about a guy called Tender Branson who happens to be a member of some Creedish Church. Right fom his childhood he's raised up in the cult's environment. The story moves ahead with Tender Branson rising to fame and then the great fall that comes with it. It's a profoundly cynical take on the world of glitz and glamour and how everything isn't as beautiful as they show it on the screens. About how everything is just a marketing gimmick to rake in the moolah. Survivor for me, is a rather satirical and unabashed take on the capitalistic and contemporary modern American culture. The characters are insanely interesting and weird, like every character Chuck creates.

Overall, Survivor is truly an underrated masterpiece among Chuck's best works!

I should have know what I was getting myself into when I started reading this book. I actually read the whole thing while I was on a trip wit our school's baseball team and I'm so glad they couldn't see the faces I made throughout this. It was entertaining, graphic, and oddly riveting.

I'll be the first to admit that I have weird tastes in books. The weirder the better. The gorier the better. I think that's why, despite the nature of this book, I actually enjoyed it.

I got a little nauseous on the bus reading it, but it made the trip go fast!

Probably my favorite Chuck Palahniuk book. Most I just feel ok reading, but this one kept my attention and his writing is a little clearer than in some of his other books. Great story that catches your attention.

Seeing as this is one of the two Chuck Palahniuk books I actually own (the other being Pygmy) and the only one I ever read and finished, I liked this immensely.

Rimasto folgorato dai primi libri che ho letto di quest'autore (Fight Club, Soffocare), quest'ultimo non mi ha entusiasmato come i precedenti. Non posso dire che non mi sia piaciuto, la scrittura e la storia sono sempre originali e ti sembra sempre di leggere qualcosa che non hai mai letto prima; e questo è davvero un punto di forza notevole per chi scrive e per chi legge.
Mi ha lasciato un po' meno soddisfatto rispetto agli altri perchè la storia è talmente radicata nella struttura sociale americana che noi italiani, o meglio dire io personalmente, ho fatto fatica a contestualizzarlo e a comprenderlo appieno, credo che qualche sfumatura mi sia sfuggita.
La storia è come dicevo originalissima e prende da subito e la si segue facilmente e velocemente solo per capire dove andrà a parare nel capitolo successivo; da notare come l'autore inserisca delle chicche in tutti i suoi libri: come costruirsi una bomba in casa, come ladrocinare nei vari supermercati e così via... quasi come una sorta di lettura anarchica per piccoli distruttori del sistema. L'originalità delle storie di Palahniuck molto probabilmente risiede anche in questo.
Consigliato anche questo anche se ad un “primo lettore” dell'autore lo instraderei verso altri suoi libri.

I'm reading Palahniuk's novels in the order they were published. The first thing I noticed about Survivor is that the writing style is exactly like Fight Club's, as it this part of my notes: staccato sentences, mired in small details, repetitive. The story made the style work in Fight Club, not so much in Survivor. I thought it started out pretty well, but about three quarters of the way into the book, I kind of lost interest. I expected to be somewhat disappointed by the time I finished reading, and sadly, my expectations were met.

Ammetto di essermi invaghito di Palahniuk, all'inizio perché attratto dalle storie “strambe”, “malate”, “fuori dalla norma” di cui i suoi romanzi sono pieni. Come non lasciarsi colpire dai suoi personaggi, storie ed eventi assolutamente folli.
Poi è subentrata un'altra dipendenza, quella per la sua capacità innata di prendere in giro il mondo in cui viviamo, le nostre certezze, di sbatterti in faccia le nostre ipocrisie.
E Survivor in questo è uno splendido esempio.
Fulminante, cattivissimo ed al solito assolutamente “straniante”