Suicide death cults, psychics, mass murderers and Super Bowl halftime riots only make up a small yet essential part of this wildly entertaining and completely original tale of one man's journey from outcast to celebrity. Leave it to Chuck Palahniuk to paint such an intriguing and twisted tale. I've been a fan of his for some time now, so my adoration of this novel wasn't much of a surprise for me, but I must say that even I was floored with how impressively captivating this novel really was. I remember back when I was first getting into Palahniuk. This particular novel didn't seem to strike me very much; I actually thought it sounded rather boring. Instead I read `Invisible Monsters' and `Choke' and `Diary' and I became more and more intrigued at just what this man was capable of. Chuck is the type of author that can astonish even when his novel is less than brilliant. Even the likes of `Choke' and `Diary', his two least effective novels for me (I have yet to read `Snuff' though) completely captivated me and still linger in my subconscious; so it's safe to say that he is above and beyond talented and remarkably memorable.
So that brings me to `Survivor'. I don't know if you know this about me yet (I've mentioned this in a few reviews) but I am definitely a `mood reader' or whatever you want to call it. What I mean is that I like to try and put myself in the atmosphere best suited to the novel I am reading. When I read `Blindness' I read it in the dark, only at night, with a flashlight shone solely on my book. I wanted to feel the blindness surrounding me. When I read Ballard's `Crash' I read it in my car on my lunch breaks. I had to feel the confined spaces which permeated the novel. So, with `Survivor', I read it in an airplane on my way to vacation this past week.
I mean, when a novel opens with a man hijacking an aircraft only to record his personal life story and then plummet to the ground in a horrific plane crash, where else are you going to read it?
One thing that I've found about Palahniuk as an author is that to review his novels in any real detail does him, and the eventual reader, a huge disservice. It makes things very hard for me, because if you've read any of my reviews you know that I like to talk; a lot. I have a lot to say about just about everything I watch and or read and or listen to, so same goes for `Survivor'. For your sake though, and for respect of the author, I'll keep this brief.
In my opening paragraph I mentioned that the whole `cult, psychic, murder' thing was small part of the story, and I know many people reading this that have read the novel will be quick to scream "no, it's the whole shebang", but the thing is; this novel is about something much bigger than that. `Survivor', first and foremost, is a social commentary unveiling the ugly truth behind the media circus that is celebrity. The truth that lies behind `Survivor' is that anyone can become a celebrity whether they want to or not, and if you will make someone else rich then you better be prepared to find for you life because you will quickly become nothing more than a puppet in a sick and twisted world of fame.
As fabricated and far-fetched as `Survivor', and really just about any of Palahniuk's novels may seem, there is a blatant honesty that permeates each page.
I've read just about everything Mr. Palahniuk has written (I'm halfway through `Rant' and have yet to read `Snuff', `Haunted' or his latest `Pygmy') and I can honestly say that while he is not my favorite writer he is one of the most intriguing, original and engrossing novelists working today, and it is a pleasure to read any and everything he puts out there. `Survivor' is without doubt one of his best works and is a must-read for any fan.
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Customer Review: Survivor: Cult Thriller With Undertones
Mindi Rosser
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