Survivor [Paperback]

Chuck Palahniuk (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Anchor Books (1999)
• ASIN: B000REYMRG
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (445 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,160,086 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Chuck Palahniuk's novels are the bestselling Fight Club, which was made into a film by director David Fincher, Diary, Lullaby, Survivor, Haunted, and Invisible Monsters. Portions of Choke have appeared in Playboy, and Palahniuk's nonfiction work has been published by Gear, Black Book, The Stranger, and the Los Angeles Times. He lives in the Pacific Northwest.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

124 of 132 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant satire and apocalyptic vision rolled into one!, July 3, 2000

By 

"figurat" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Survivor: A Novel (Paperback)

Chuck Palaniuk (say it ten times fast) has recently stormed onto the popular literary field, thanks to David Fincher's amazing adaptation of his underground novel, FIGHT CLUB. Hopefully, if he keeps writing books this good, he can give up being a mechanic forever.

SURVIVOR begins on its final page, and shoots backwards towards page 1, always reminding you of its approaching demise. Along with the novel, the narrator is apporaching his own demise, as he pilots a commandeered airplane waiting for it to crash and explode. In order to preserve his life story, he is speaking into the black-box on-flight recorder, hoping to wipe himself out and attain immortality at the same time.

What is his problem? Well, he is the last survivor of a suicide cult, a former indentured servant in the "real world". He also narrates of his tranistion from nobody to media messiah back to nobody. In it, Palahniuk takes on a wild ride through a satire of modern society in all its little nuances. Everything from Lobster eating to TV networks gets raked over the coals in this incediary novel.

ALthough the book, like FIGHT CLUB begins to self-destruct about three quarters of the way through, the story is so compelling in its banal gruesomeness that you can't help but read it. Palahniuk is a magician who will keep you hypnotized, glued to each page until the final end of both his protagonist and the book.

Oh, and did I mention that the book is also riotously funny? It is. So in other words, one of the best books I've read in awhile.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Palahniuk's "other" best work, June 14, 2001

By 

m_s_ - See all my reviews

This review is from: Survivor: A Novel (Paperback)

"Fight Club" may get all the press, notice, and attention, but in many ways Survivor is its literary equal, and maybe even a better book. Once again, Palahniuk manages to pluck a few choice elements from the boiling stew of our mass culture - apocalyptic cults, the grotesquely rich, disasters in the air (along with just enough random-but-relevant facts that leave you wondering how the heck he KNEW that) - and weave them together into a compelling adrenaline ride of a novel that also happens to be thoroughly entertaining. I HATE reviews that end up being spoilers, so I won't say any more, other than to mention that it has all the twists, turns, and extraordinary events that one would expect from a novel by Chuck Palahniuk.

Is it similar to Fight Club in some respects? Yeah.

Is it a literary masterpiece, destined to become a classic? Probably not.

But is it an excellent book to spend a few light evenings with? You bet your life it is.

22 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Now Boarding, Flight 2039: direct to Oblivion, October 23, 2000

By 

Ian Arsenault ([e-mail]) (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Survivor: A Novel (Paperback)

Testing, testing. One, two, three.

Testing, testing. One, two, three.

Maybe this is working. I don't know. If you can even see this, I don't know. But if you can see this, read. And if you're reading, then what you've found is a review of the story of everything that went wrong.

It doesn't take a page.

And there you are at 39,000 feet. Above the clouds and in the cockpit of a Boeing 747-400 with no passengers.

And no pilot.

Final evacuation call for Chuck Palahniuk's novel, Survivor.

And don't ask if it has anything to do with the television show.

It'll just make you look stupid.

Imagine being raised for slave labor just because you were three minutes and thirty seconds too late. Imagine everyone you know and love offing themselves in a mass cult suicide. Imagine becoming a mass media produced messiah just because no one could prove otherwise.

Imagine Tender Branson, your new pilot.

He doesn't know how to fly a plane.

He'll tell you himself.

Go Ahead.

Ask him.

He's just dying to get a few things off of his chest.

This book is totally backwards. Seriously, you'll see what I mean. With a lot of similar humor and style to his first novel Fight Club, Palahniuk's Survivor is a great read for newcomers and devout fans alike. Pick up this book and you won't want to put it down. But it'll be the most time you'll ever spend reading to get to the bottom of page one.

I promise.