The Invention of Sound

While I'm a big believer that a book should be judged based on its own merit rather than rating it based on a comparison to other books by the author, I can't help but feel that this book suffered from the success of many of Palahniuk's other works. This contained all of the tell-tale markings of a Palahniuk book: cynical humor, horrific actions, and a blase attitude toward terrible things. But what it was lacking was any real commentary, which is where I think Palahniuk shines. Fight Club, Invisible Monsters, Diary, Pygmy... these all had SOME semblance of commentary which is what made them shine. The story was just a story that had nothing to say, and without anything to say it just seems like it is shock for the sake of shock. The people were terrible, the descriptions of the murder and rape and kidnapping were awful and gut wrenching, but none of this served any purpose to the narrative; only to make you feel gross I assume to mask the incoherent story. Maybe he was trying to recapture the notoriety that 'Haunted' brought, but this just missed the mark. And even if you like being shocked for the sake of being shocked, there are better books to read than this one.

I’m almost reluctant to give 4 stars because really the book is far too happy to delve into the same kind of edginess that has made me weary of Palahniuks more recent book, but the narrative manages to undermine some of that. The world the story takes place in is not the one we live in, really, which helps, and while we are given an explanation for the behavior of some of the characters, we’re not asked to revel in their deviant behavior the way we have been in some of his other books. There’s something being said about our desire for the spectacle of horror, of people being harmed, and the collective self reflection that we probably should undertake concerning that. Perhaps that’s what I’m finding to like about the book? I’m very conflicted honestly. Lol. Still, I think I will be recommending it to a few people who might be receptive to it.