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A review by books_n_bananas
Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk
2.0
Meh.
As Palahniuk novels go, I think this is one of my least favorites along with 'Lullaby'.
As always, Palahniuk forces the reader into a weird version of reality that makes us ask questions--like 'Black Mirror,' but less Sci-Fi.
I'm not sure what exactly made this novel fall flat for me. I wasn't a huge fan of the characters--Tender was just unrelatable and was bland as a character--he did what he was told. That's that. Fertility was searching for meaning, but ultimately, also had no real drive or personality.\
The attention-grabbing schemes that Palahniuk usually employs were of course present--the mountains of porn, unintentional assisted suicide, intentional assisted suicide, murder hidden as suicide, unintentional murder, etc, etc. But it was monotonous--there was no drive forward through the novel.
I would say the ending was the most thought-provoking part of the novel and even that was kind of been-there-done-that as endings go.
tl;dr
All this to say, as novels overall go, it's not bad. As Palahniuk novels go, it's currently at the bottom of my list.
As Palahniuk novels go, I think this is one of my least favorites along with 'Lullaby'.
As always, Palahniuk forces the reader into a weird version of reality that makes us ask questions--like 'Black Mirror,' but less Sci-Fi.
I'm not sure what exactly made this novel fall flat for me. I wasn't a huge fan of the characters--Tender was just unrelatable and was bland as a character--he did what he was told. That's that. Fertility was searching for meaning, but ultimately, also had no real drive or personality.\
The attention-grabbing schemes that Palahniuk usually employs were of course present--the mountains of porn, unintentional assisted suicide, intentional assisted suicide, murder hidden as suicide, unintentional murder, etc, etc. But it was monotonous--there was no drive forward through the novel.
I would say the ending was the most thought-provoking part of the novel and even that was kind of been-there-done-that as endings go.
tl;dr
All this to say, as novels overall go, it's not bad. As Palahniuk novels go, it's currently at the bottom of my list.