Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk

RECOMMENDED - but just barely

In a word: Disappointing

Plot:  19 aspiring writers answer an ad for a unique 'writer's retreat' hosted by the strange Mr. Whittier.  The retreat is unique in that they are locked in an abandoned theater and Mr. Whittier refuses to allow them to leave until they have produced their 'masterpiece'.  Once locked in, basic neccessites are sabotaged by the writers themselves, each thinking they are the only ones doing the sabotage.  This is done in an effort to make their situation more heroic (and saleable to Hollywood).  They soon realize that their individual vandalisms has resulted in a collective nightmare.  No food, no water, no heat, no light.  Their plight becomes more desperate when Mr. Whittier dies and they truly are trapped inside the theater with no means of escape.  Escape, however, seems to be the furthest thing from the writers' minds as they compete with each other to see who can become the most  "haunted" by their ordeal.  They torture themselves (there is plenty of slicing and dicing involved) and each other (several of the writers are killed) in a desperate attempt to become the most traumatized by their 'hostage' situation.

The book is broken up into 23 short stories and 21 poems, each telling the story of one of the characters (who are given descriptive names - Miss America, Miss Sneezy, Agent Tattletale, Mother Nature, etc.)  Inbetween the stories, an unnamed narrator unfolds the horror that occurs in the theater.  Technically a short story collection, but with an underlying story connecting all the characters together.

Thoughts:  This book has a really cool cover.  It glows in the dark!  Spooky! 

This is the first Chuch Palahniuk book I've read and I'm a bit dissapointed.  It isn't his writing style that dissapointed me, however, it was the book itself.  Short story collections are hit and miss by nature, but this one seemed to be more miss than hit.  Some of the stories are excellent (Guts, Swan Song, Product Placement and Mrs. Clark's trio of stories), but rest are mediocre.  Many of the characters aren't memorable, either.  When one of the writers, The Duke of Vandals, is killed I had to go back and re-read his 'story', since I couldn't recall his character at all.  The narrative story, the tale of the theater, is somewhat silly.  Still, taken as social satire, it kind of works and I REALLY like Palahniuk's writing style.  I do plan on picking up another of his books (I'm thinking "Choke"), just to see if this is a mis-step for him.

On an interesting note - this book contains "Guts", the infamous short story that, apparently, had people passing out when Palahniuk did live readings.  Maybe I've read too many horror books, but it didn't do that much to me.  It's gross - most of this book is - but nothing to pass out over. 

If you like this, try reading:  Books of Blood by Clive Barker; Horrorscape by various authors; The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexis.