197 pages
English language
Published April 14, 2008 by Doubleday.
A full-frontal triple-X novel that goes where no American work of fiction has gone before. A porn star intends to cap her career by breaking the record for on-screen fornication.
Oh my god. After repeated attempts I finally found the book that made me click with Chuck Palahniuk.
Bizarre, prurient, twisted, stomach-turning, and a perversion of literature; in other words, an absolute blast of a novel that delivers a money shot you'll never forget.
Ew.
This book sickened me, both from making me laugh and making my stomach churn at the same time. Apart from the many potential - and probably existing - film-titles in this book, there are a lot of traces of Palahniukisms that crept into my mind while reading this seemingly simple story about three men who are among the 600 waiting to have sex with Cassie Wright in the gang-bang that she hopes will take her to history.
Of course, there is more to the tale than this, simply put.
Apart from the wonderful characters, the stories within the story, the history of the main characters, there are a lot of wonderful little facts strewn throughout, which may or may not be true; I feel like it's not very relevant to find out whether or not they are.
Palahniuk writes in a very subtle way, which I cannot even fathom doing …
This book sickened me, both from making me laugh and making my stomach churn at the same time. Apart from the many potential - and probably existing - film-titles in this book, there are a lot of traces of Palahniukisms that crept into my mind while reading this seemingly simple story about three men who are among the 600 waiting to have sex with Cassie Wright in the gang-bang that she hopes will take her to history.
Of course, there is more to the tale than this, simply put.
Apart from the wonderful characters, the stories within the story, the history of the main characters, there are a lot of wonderful little facts strewn throughout, which may or may not be true; I feel like it's not very relevant to find out whether or not they are.
Palahniuk writes in a very subtle way, which I cannot even fathom doing given the subject. Imagine the Monseigneur Creosote skit in Monty Python's "The Meaning of Life" without the effects, and you might find out what I mean.
And I don't mean he excludes sex, sperm, rubber, sweat, bronzer, the risk of death through too much sex, your mother catching you masturbating, fecal matter, cyanide and Oklahoma.
Highly funny, very recommendable and a small, neat modern classic.
This was NOT the greatest Palaniuk I've ever read. Sure, the hardcore porn theme is "shocking" and its grossouts many, but at the end of the day what we mostly have is an angry protagonist more than a meaningful social satire, which is usually what I expect from the author.
