I Finally Finish Reading A Book

Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


It has probably been more than 10 years since I last read a Chuck Palahniuk book. Yet I tell people I really liked the two I read way back then. I am not sure why, but after a few weeks of a reading funk where all “currently reading” books seemed uninteresting, I came home yesterday and decided to read Survivor which has been my my bookshelf for 8 to 10 years.

A good choice for spending the bulk of two evenings in a room by yourself and just read. I wonder why  I don't do it more often.

Any-hoooo... the “feel” of Survivor reminds me of how I remember Fight Club feeling, Even though I've forgotten enough of that book that I can't know if what I remember is the book or the movie. But with no real analysis or evidence, I proclaim Survivor a good book but not a great book. Interesting, funny, with characters I want to know more about.

Maybe the thing about my somewhat faint praise is that while I found the characters and plot engaging, I kind of felt like the author was not telling us all about the characters, mainly I wanted to know and get more from the narrator, Tender Branson.

But even now, I am talking myself out of that judgment since the psychological hobbling he got as a child restricts his range of emotional dept. So really that is part of the store of a survivor.There, I upped my rating a star just now.

I recommend it and I want to read more of his and if I get enough gumption I won't wait another decade to read another Palahniuk book.




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