Beautiful You seems to be Chuck Palahniuk’'s response to and commentary on the popularity of 50 Shades of Grey series and the proliferation of commercial erotica born from that series. But Beautiful You never rises to the deep social analysis that Palahniuk’s early stuff does. Beautiful You remains simply clever and superficial, becoming more a book belonging to the commercial erotica genre rather than a commentary on it. But still, it's a damn fun read.
Tag Archives chuck palahniuk
A few nights ago, when reading the James M. Cain short story “Pastorale,” I was struck by a scene that seemed very Chuck Palahniuk-ian[1]. A dead man is pulled out of a frozen lake; the man fell through the thin ice atop the lake when trying to retrieve the severed head of a man he helped kill earlier in the story. But unlike a Chuck Palahniuk story, “Pastorale” kept going. The shock was not the climax. I’m not sure why I immediately forced a comparison to Chuck Palahniuk. The writers, and their work, are completely different. I suppose the use of shock, which I consider a very Palahniuk thing, was used in “Pastorale” in a way that I wasn’t ready for. It’s important to state up front that I love Chuck Palahniuk’s writing. I’ll read every novel he writes, even if they continue to be as bad as his last…
Thanks to Gordon Highland for bringing this Charactered Pieces review to my attention. Generally my ego is a pretty good magnet for the rare praise floating around out there. And of course, super thanks to Dakota Taylor and Insomnia Press for the kind, kind words. "Charactered Pieces is on par with...early novels by Chuck Palahniuk. The difference is, Palahniuk sucker punches the reader with his prose and knocks your teeth out, leaving you bleeding and cheering. Caleb is a little more sneaky. Charactered Pieces spikes your drink and has you in someone's trunk before you even know it...One of the most moving and diverse pieces of work I've read in years." Read the full Charactered Pieces review here. And if you are so bold, find links to buy Charactered Pieces here.
Another Wordless Book Reviews episode. Here I review four books using only sound effects and facial expressions. The books: Invisible Monsters: Remix by Chuck Palahniuk, Cosmopolis by Don DeLillo, Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee, and Flashover by Gordon Highland.
The fine fellows at Booked Podcast, Robb Olson and Livius Nedin invited me over to discuss the reissue of Chuck Palahniuk's Invisible Monsters. Here's a bit from the episode description: Booked reviews Invisible Monsters REMIX by Chuck Palahniuk, with special guest host Caleb J. Ross. It’s more of a book discussion than a review this episode, since this is not technically a new-new book, and there’s a good chance that lots of people listening will have already read it. So we talked a bit about the book, Palahniuk, and (of course) felching. As you do when you talk about Invisible Monsters. Click here to listen to the latest Booked Podcast episode, featuring Caleb J. Ross.
First off, please forgive the video quality here. I was trying a new recording method, which obviously didn't work that well. With this episode, I've opted for brevity. Here I review four books using only sound effects and facial expressions. The books: The Little Sleep by Paul Tremblay, Damned by Chuck Palahniuk, Seeing by Jose Saramago, and The Moral Landscape by Sam Harris.
In this episode I examine two examples of book design: the die-cut cover and the photo finish (or ImageWrap) while touching on the the embossed hardcover. Examples include Denis Johnson's Nobody Move, Chuck Palahniuk's Rant, Donna Tartt's The Little Friend, Tim Etchells' The Broken World, Brian Evenson's Baby Leg, and Will Christopher Baer's Hell's Half Acre.
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