Customer Reviews

Nonfiction

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If you liked Palaniuk's fiction, you will appreciate these stories too. Some journalistic, some very personal, they get you to know Palaniuk on more personal level. As if listening to him in a room.

Some stories - about combine fighting, for instance - are weird. Some - Boddhisatwas - touched some very sensitive nerves. Interviews are interesting, if nothing else. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

The last, "Personal" part is, well, personal. The author talks a lot about "Fight Club" in it. It is very interesting, funny and somewhat sad at times.

This book is collection of short stories vividly describing the 'seedy underbellies' of many slices of Americana ~ wrestling, using steroids, counterculture festivals, etc etc. While the stories themselves ranged from poignant (wrestling) to boring (interview with Juliette Lewis and Marilyn Manson), they were all strung together by the author's very deliberate attempt to enlighten the reader. The authors almost constant name-dropping of Fight Club, Brad Pitt, and (strangely) himself got old, and most of the time were irrelevant to the story on the page. I'm probably on the jaded side of readers, but the descriptions and interviews that comprise the stories weren't as shocking, or enlightening, as the author likely intended them to be. If you are looking for a light, amusing read, this will satisfy your pleasures. However, I wouldn't expect to walk away with much more.

Any fan will appreciate this title.