by Chuck Palahniuk
You can find one review of this book by Eliot here.
I have to disagree with Eliot on a few points, though.
For one thing, I greatly enjoy Palahniuk's writing style. I have read Fight Club, Survivor, Invisible Monsters, and now Lullaby and I am still not tired of it. I like how he goes into areas where a good number of people shy away from for one reason or another. I like his satire on our modern culture. I love how he jumps back and forth chronologically in his writing.
I also thought that the book had an extremely interesting premise. The guy finds a poem that can focus a person's thoughts enough to kill someone. It would be a lie to say that I have never wondered what I would do if I had that power. My own experiences with my anger have been enough for me to be terrified at having the ability to kill with my thoughts. Seeing how someone else deals with it, however, made the book quite intriguing in my eyes. And I must say that I found the methods of coping with this deadly ability rather...interesting.
Even with that defense in mind, though, I must admit that the plot is thin. Other than people mysteriously dying and a road trip around the US not much really happens in the book. The reader is not told much information about any of the characters other than that they are mostly power-hungry in some way. I also found the ending rather disappointing.
Despite the thin plot and lack of character development, I enjoyed the novel. Lullaby is definitely not Palahniuk's best work, but it is cleaner than the majority of his books I have read. I'm hoping there is not a connection in that. If there is a connection between lewdness and quality, I may find I like Choke the best of all of Palahniuk's books. I've heard it's rather sexually intensive. I guess I'll find out when I eventually read it. Currently, I have six other books to read before I get to it. At my current rate, however, it probably won't take me too long.
Posted by Randy at April 21, 2004 01:43 AM | TrackBackGlad you enjoyed reading it...apparently I'm one of the few people that have actually written about not liking it. But, that seems to be OK with the authors of ChuckPalahniuk.net, because they linked to my review on http://www.chuckpalahniuk.net/09lullaby.html .
Oh, and apparently the story is Palahniuk "metaphorically hashing over the idea of the death penalty." Would have never guessed.
Choke takes the cake on sexual intensity. I couldn't get past the first few chapters. Just call me a weenie. :)
I usually always enjoy satire on our culture--American Beauty and Fight Club were very poignant and appropriate. Not a fan of this one though. The writer on ChuckPalahniuk.net says the book "DEMANDS multiple readings." Gah! Why waste my time?
Posted by: Eliot at April 22, 2004 09:04 AMNow I would say that Survivor and Invisible Monsters demand multiple readings, but I don't really see myself reading Lullaby again unless I'm searching for a specific quote.
I guess I can kind of see what they mean by "metaphorically hashing over the idea of the death penalty," but it is really disguised.
Posted by: Randy at April 22, 2004 11:41 AMI got Choke at a Books a Million sale last summer, but I still haven't gotten around to picking it up yet.
Posted by: the Limey Brit at April 22, 2004 03:14 PM