A review by ladyramkin
The Invention of Sound by Chuck Palahniuk
dark
informative
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
This is a standard Chuck Palahniuk novel. What I mean to say is that it’s like he went down an ADHD hyperfixation rabbit hole on sound and foley artists and this is his version of a fictionalized TedTalk.
As always, his strongest gift is his commanding voice. You KNOW when you’re reading something by Palahniuk and honestly I think that’s why people enjoy his work. It’s the same shared energy as a Catholic mass in some regards. I found myself hypnotized by his writing even though I lost track of the plot in the middle of Part 2. Maybe that was my fault; I read too fast, I treated it like a sprint when I should have treated it like a marathon. However, the lack of chapters meant that I could never stop and breathe, I just kept going until exhausted I stopped.
Overall I feel like this was a combination of Lullaby and Diary. Plot elements of both books feature heavily here but it took on its own form of horror. It’s good, but I didn’t love it.
As always, his strongest gift is his commanding voice. You KNOW when you’re reading something by Palahniuk and honestly I think that’s why people enjoy his work. It’s the same shared energy as a Catholic mass in some regards. I found myself hypnotized by his writing even though I lost track of the plot in the middle of Part 2. Maybe that was my fault; I read too fast, I treated it like a sprint when I should have treated it like a marathon. However, the lack of chapters meant that I could never stop and breathe, I just kept going until exhausted I stopped.
Overall I feel like this was a combination of Lullaby and Diary. Plot elements of both books feature heavily here but it took on its own form of horror. It’s good, but I didn’t love it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Violence, and Drug abuse