Snuff
by Chuck Palahniuk
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Book Reviews of Snuff
Book Review: The World Of The Bottom Feeders
Summary: 4 Stars
Cassie Wright, an over-the-hill porn star, whose career is on the wane because of age and high definition-- "stage makeup didn't look like skin, not anymore"-- stages her swan song (though she isn't Leda) by having sex with 600 men in Chuck Palahniuk's latest novel SNUFF. She sets out to break the records of (real porn stars) Annabel Chong (251 sex acts), Jasmine St. Claire (300), Spantaneeus Xtasy (551 partners), and Sabrina Johnson who supposedly took on 2,000 but was exposed as cheating.
Cassie is for the most part seen through the eyes of other characters and literally through her old videos that are playing constantly--"The Handmaid's Tail," "Miracle Sex Worker," "From Her To Eternity" are some of the titles that can be mentioned here-- in the room where the male performers, barefoot and wearing only their underwear, wait their turn. The principal characters are her manager/handler Sheila, Mr. 72, 137 and 600. Each of the male performers receives a number that indicates when he will be called to strut his stuff. Number 72 is a youngster who has brought flowers for Cassie; Number 137 is a former television star, hoping for a comeback, heavy into bronzer, lip-gloss and nail polish; and Number 600 is Branch Bacardi, a veteran porn star who has his own line of sex toys modeled after his organ. Theses four characters are harboring secrets that come out as this small novel (197 pages) unfolds in a plot that moves as quickly as the sex. (Sheila has a stopwatch and tells the performers when enough is enough.)
SNUFF, full of tongue-in-cheek humor, is a raw--oops-- look at the lucrative porn industry in these United States and a novel that I suspect both Charles Bukowski and Harry Crews would like. The author gives an unflinching account of these rather sad characters in language so vivid that you can smell the Stetson cologne and feel the sticky baby oil on the floor.
Mr. Plahniuk says in an interview that he wants to write novels that must compete with video games and music videos (and porn videos perhaps?), that he writes for people who otherwise would not read and that humor is crucial to his plot-driven stories. "Without humor, my books would be like those tragic Oprah books." The author succeeds admirably in SNUFF, which certainly will not make Ms. Winfrey's list.
Book Review: Sick, Twisted, Obscene, and Hilarious...One of Palahniuk's Best!
Summary: 5 Stars
Cassie Wright, an aging porn star, is filming her finale in the industry with a whopping idea for her closure: to have sex with 600 different men in one movie. Cassie has been in the industry for years, made thousands of movies (the names of which, coming from Palahniuk's brilliant imagination, will leaving you laughing to tears), and with her once fashion-model good looks gone, she intends to go out with a bang. She's on the set, and downstairs in a roomy basement await 600 men ready to becoming noticed or re-noticed by participating in Cassie's spectacular event.
The story is told through the eyes of four people. Sheila, the talent wrangler responsible for organizing the men into groups of three to attend Ms. Wright's performance; Mr. 600 who we discover is long time porn actor Branch Bacardi, an old pro with a deep history with Cassie; Mr. 72, a besotted young man named Darin bearing an armload of wilting roses and claiming to be Cassie's long lost love-child; and Mr. 137, an out-of-work TV actor who used to play detective Dan Banyon in a prime-time series until his previous gay porn work was uncovered. The men wait in the basement, covered in bronzing cream, snacking from a buffet that includes condoms, talking with each other and wondering if there's any truth to the rumor that Cassie could die from a vaginal embolism before the day is over.
Chuck Palahniuk has written an exceptionally humorous novel with 'Snuff'. The chatter is filled with little known Hollywood gossip tidbits, leaving me to wonder how much is true or not. The clashing of personalities was exceptionally well-written, the thoughts of the characters interestingly tragic and comedic. There's enough deviant sex-talk involved that if that particular subject offends you, you probably won't see the humor and enjoy the book as much as I did. I read it in one sitting, unable to put it down until the twists and surprises at the ending.
'Snuff' is a highly enjoyable piece of "toilet humor" written by one of today's literary legends. I definitely think this is one of Palahniuk's best written novels, and the unique storyline keeps you reading well past bedtime. It's witty, funny, appalling, sarcastic, and amusing. I can't recommend this book highly enough. 10 Stars. Enjoy!
Book Review: SEX SELLS
Summary: 4 Stars
Let's face it: sex sells. That's the reason Cassie, the porn queen in SNUFF, is making a film wherein she tries to "shag" 600 guys in order to break a record. It's also the reason I bought the book. Well, that and the fact that I enjoy Palahniuk's dark humor as a guilty pleasure like a good episode of Melrose Place - The Third Season. With that said, I was pleasantly surprised by the way the novel played out. The novel wasn't about the 600 men - er, shagging--the porn queen. It was primarily about a handful of the 600 guys in the waiting room, their connections to Cassie, and their desire to be something/someone better than who they are at that very moment. Furthermore, as the novel progressed, each chapter was told from a different person's point of view. It was a bit of a challenge at first to keep everyone straight (especially since the guys were known only as their number in line), but once you got into the story more and could distinguish each character, it became interesting and intriguing.
SNUFF also gave me some insight into the porn industry, including terms, and I thank Palahniuk for the research he did. More than that, I see somebody must have gotten Palahniuk The Big Book of Filth: 6500 Sex Slang Words and Phrases for his birthday one year. He scattered every word he could for masturbation throughout the entire book.
To sum up my brief book review, I was entertained reading SNUFF. It was a quick, enjoyable read (for those not faint-of-heart) on my flights to and from Vegas and I loved the crazy twist ending. It made me giggle as only someone with an equally sick sense of humor could. SNUFF definitely came from the same mind as the novel Invisible Monsters and the short story "Guts" (featured in Haunted: A Novel). I'd recommend it if you're looking for something "light" yet heavy with dark humor.
Book Review: Should have been just a short story in 'Haunted' instead
Summary: 2 Stars
First of all, like many of the other reviewers here, I am an avid fan of Chuck Palahniuk, so let me just get that out of the way. Also, like many of the other reviewers here, I'd highly recommend his earlier books, specifically his first four; Fight Club, Survivor, Invisible Monsters and Choke...undoubtedly the 4 masterpieces (thus far) in his career. If you are new to his work, absolutely read those four first before you get to this, if you have to get to this one at all.
My biggest complaint about this book was that it felt more like a short story than a novel. I finished it in one day and felt empty and unsatisfied at the end. What this book most reminded me of was his 2005 novel 'Haunted'; a book comprised of a main storyline split up and interlaced with separate short, chapter-long stories of horror, gore and death involving each one of the characters in the book...it felt like 'Snuff' should have been one of those short stories that one of the characters in Haunted would have told. Or maybe four separate short stories from the three "Misters" and Sheila. Either way, this didn't feel like a real book. It was almost 200 pages but it still felt like a magazine article. It took place in the time frame of one day and presumably only a few hours, which I suppose is another reason why it felt so short in the end. The book just doesn't really go anywhere and simply does not touch upon the eccentric and intricate plots of his early work. When I ordered it, I knew nothing about it except for its title. In my head I pictured a 350+ page excessively dark and graphic book about a Snuff film, or the Snuff industry; I pictured somewhat of a return to his 90's books, with a narrator and a provocative and delightfully offensive yet darkly funny plot that would actually progress throughout the book and not just stay in the same place. Needless to say, I was disappointed. It did not meet expectations and, while not the worst book I've ever read, certainly is not anything close to the best from this author.
Book Review: No More Palahniuk For Me.
Summary: 2 Stars
After hating the author's last book, to the point of not being able to finish it, and after thinking that his so-called non-fiction compilation was a huge waste of time, I decided to give Palahniuk one last chance. And I can now report that I will never again read another book by this author.
It's not that Snuff is bad. No, there is and ounce of good material in there somewhere. I think this novel would have made an amazing short story or novella. But as a novel, it doesn't achieve much. It is just under 200 pages long but feels much longer than that.
A porn queen is making a movie, wanting to break the world record by sleeping with 600 different men. The novel is told from the point of view of the waiting men; you have the ex television star who's looking for a different kind of comeback, the old porn king who's doing this as a favor to the queen, and a young man who's positive that Cassie, the Porn Queen, is his mother. You also meet Sheila, the young assistant who tries to make sure that everything goes as scheduled.
And that's that. The story is repetitive (the same things being mentioned time and time again - how many times do we need to hear that this or that guy is eating chips at the food table???) and the characters are paper-thin. From the very first few pages, you know exactly where this story is going. It holds no surprises, nothing to make us want to turn the next page to see what happens. In one word, the whole thing is just blah.
No, I wasn't turned off my the context. As a matter of fact, some of it was interesting. You can see that the author did his research and found some great factoids about the industry. But fun facts aren't enough to save a story. Honestly, I was bored while reading Snuff. With a title and premise like this one, it should have been at least remotely entertaining. But in the end, all I could think was, been there, done that.