Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Snuff by Chuck Palahnuik

Chuck is one of my favorite authors but his last book, Rant, is one I couldn't even finish and have no desire to try and finish. So, once again, the helpful library came to my rescue! Why buy a hardcover if I'm not sure I'll even like it??


I liked it. It's typical Chuck, written in the same voice, using the same gross-out techniques he employs for just about every novel. But Snuff was more compelling and different enough from his previous books to keep me interested.

Snuff is based on a porn star, Cassie Wright, who is determined to set a world record of screwing 600 guys on film. She previously had a baby and gave it up for adoption and is planning, if she dies during the record setting, to give the baby the insurance money to make it set for life.

The main characters who we're giving a crap about are Sheila, the man wrangler and helpful assistant to Cassie. No. 72, the young kid who comes to the set bearing flowers and a secret. No. 600, washed up porn star who starred with Cassie in many films and is trying to make a comeback. And No. 137 (I think, I don't have the book with me, it's this or 127), a seemingly random young man who has a pretty sketchy background and reason for being part of the film.

There were several twists in this book that I expected and figured out, but then Chuck managed to turn all that on it's head (no pun intended).

This was a good Chuck book, although I'd still recommend Fight Club and Invisible Monsters before this.

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