Survivor: A Novel
by Chuck Palahniuk
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Book Reviews of Survivor: A Novel
Book Review: as alluring as it is trite and obvious
Summary: 2 Stars
If you are looking for a quick and superficially engaging book that makes you think you're thinking more than it actually makes you think, Survivor is the book for you. I read all 304 pages in just a few hours and its pseudo-profundity briefly made me feel like an intellectual giant. Yet, the more I reflected, the more the book struck me as choppily written, obtusely minimalist, and with a message that's trite and ironically reeks of the consumer culture it attempts to lampoon. The first half is relatively strong because, in describing the day-to-day tedium of its likeable central character, Palahniuk's prose is fully in sync with the rhythmic, compulsive thrills that lonely people create to make life momentarily bearable. Titular survivor and narrator, Tender Branson is the quintessential Palahniuk misanthrope, jittered as much by psychological hangups as the debasing consumer culture. When he's drawn out of his obsessions and embarks on a real romance wrapped in morbid sexuality and psychic foreboding, his struggle for connection feels organic and palpable. The second half however doubles over on such promise, and instead taps into the trite satire that threatens the emotional balance of the first half. Every dangerously stupid Gen X aphorism, so sparsely sprinkled throughout the first half, nascently comes into full offensive bloom, accompanying equally cliche narrative plot devices: the climactic [emotional] encounter; the murderous brother; the twisty realization of fate. Palahniuk loses his humanity and turns a story underscored with human despair into a high-octane exercise in fame-sucks banality as our hero inexplicably degenerates into a grotesque tele-evangelist. None of the satiric gags are funny because they are just that: gags- neither stemming from an emotional or intellectual place. I enjoyed reading Survivor on the basis that it's rarely boring and easy-to-swallow. I guess one could say the problem occurs in the digestion.Book Review: engrossing but flagrantly trite and pseudointellectual
Summary: 2 Stars
If you are looking for a quick and superficially engaging book that makes you think you're thinking more than it actually makes you think, Survivor is the book for you. I read all 304 pages in just a few hours and its pseudo-profundity briefly made me feel like an intellectual giant. Yet, the more I reflected, the more the book struck me as choppily written, obtusely minimalist, and with a message that's trite and ironically reeks of the consumer culture it attempts to lampoon. The first half is relatively strong because, in describing the day-to-day tedium of its likeable central character, Palahniuk's prose is fully in sync with the rhythmic, compulsive thrills that lonely people create to make life momentarily bearable. Titular survivor and narrator, Tender Branson is the quintessential Palahniuk misanthrope, jittered as much by psychological hangups as the debasing consumer culture. When he's drawn out of his obsessions and embarks on a real romance wrapped in morbid sexuality and psychic foreboding, his struggle for connection feels organic and palpable. The second half however doubles over on such promise, and instead taps into the trite satire that threatens the emotional balance of the first half. Every dangerously stupid Gen X aphorism, so sparsely sprinkled throughout the first half, nascently comes into full offensive bloom, accompanying equally cliche narrative plot devices: the climactic sexual encounter; the murderous brother; the twisty realization of fate. Palahniuk loses his humanity and turns a story underscored with human despair into a high-octane exercise in fame-sucks banality as our hero inexplicably degenerates into a grotesque tele-evangelist. None of the satiric gags are funny because they are just that: gags- neither stemming from an emotional or intellectual place. I enjoyed reading Survivor on the basis that it's rarely boring and easy-to-swallow. I guess one could say the problem occurs in the digestion.Book Review: A Decent Novel
Summary: 3 Stars
A fellow Amazon reviewer said that we've seen better with 'Fight Club'...and I tend to agree. I usually don't like to compare books by the same author, and as a Stephen King addict, I've learned that a novel like 'The Stand' really can't be compared to something like 'The Green Mile'; they're just too different. With Palahniuk, however, I couldn't help but envision Ed Norton saying some of the things that Tender Branson is supposed to be saying. The styles are identical, the plot is rather similar, if you really look at it, and each has its narrator, its alter-ego (Adam Branson being the alter-ego), and the lead female character. 'Survivor', I think, is basically a cheap sequel to 'Fight Club', an extraordinary novel in itself. The problem with 'Survivor' lies in the fact that it seems to rely too much on sounding like 'Fight Club'. Tender is not the narrator from his first novel, Adam is no Tyler Durden, and Marla is nowhere to be found. I read the first chapter at Barnes and Noble and thought it sounded amazing...even better than 'Fight Club', but I was, in a way, a bit disappointed. No, it's not a terrible book, but it's not original. 'Fight Club' was one of the smartest, freshest novels I've ever read, and I've expected more of the same quality from Palahniuk. Unfortunately 'Survivor' isn't all that it's cracked up to be.
Don't take me wrong. It sounds like I loathed this book. I didn't. In fact, I enjoyed it enough that I read it in just a few short hours...but I read 'Fight Club' in about ninety minutes. I see real talent in Palahniuk, and I look forward to future works by this up-and-coming author, but I can't totally recommend this novel after reading something superior, yet similar. So, if you've already read 'Fight Club', my advice is to find it at a library; if you've just happened to stumble onto this, it's a good read, and will only make you all the more thrilled when you meet Tyler Durden and friends.
Book Review: The most weirdest and one of the best books I have read...
Summary: 5 Stars
Lots of novels start out from the beginning where we meet the characters and get to know them...in Survivor, this is not it. Instead it is going backwards with the life story of Tender; a former cult memeber called the Creddish Society which they comitted a Jim Jones mass suicide. So now 30,000 feet in the air and getting ready to crash into the Australian outback, he then tells his story of the famous black box (which is really orange), and so he tells his story about being saved from the cult, and how is psycharicist tells Tender to make up syomptms he does not have so she can chart his success overcoming the disorders. He then goes around his daily routine; cooking, cleaning, and he has his own suicide help line which he tells people to kill themselves because they really dont have anything to live for. So now, the suicide level has risen, and he thinks that his brother Adam is killing people he knows and making it look like a suicide. So now, Tender is then found out that he is the last survivor of the Creedish Cult, and now he is famous all over the world. Before he gets famous, he meets a woman named Feternility which she can predit tragic events before they happen. So now that Tender is famous, he then has people write his autobiography (which he didnt write), and has a huge following which they think that he is a messenger and can heal the sick, and make everyone feel better. So now, with this in hand, Fetternility then tells Tender that there is going to be a hijacking of a plane and it is going to crash; that is all she knows. So now, Tender then gets on the plane and hijacks it, but their is no one inside it so now, we then meet Tender again saying 'testing 1, 2, 1, 2...'I felt this was a very unique novel by Mr. Palahniuk, and if you thought Fight Club was weird, boy do he has a surprise for you. I didnt expect like another Fight Club, but I expected something orginal and I got it. Good job.
Book Review: Amazing follow-up to Fight Club
Summary: 5 Stars
With a first novel like Fight Club, you almost expect to be disappointed by the follow-up. The sophomore novel/album/movie is usually the one that tanks, but Survivor is a definite exception.The book, like Fight Club, is actually sadistically funny. There are moments when you find yourself laughing out loud at things you should probably not laugh about. But, that's what satire is all about, isn't it? This book is a wonderful satire of the media, religion, and even those suicide hotlines. And then there is the practical advice, such as how to get blood out of a fur coat, how to eat a lobster, how to fix a facial cut in a hurry, and how to clean up broken glass. At times I found myself wanting to take notes... and wondering how Chuck Palahniuk knows all this. Come to think of it, this guy has a lot of dangerous information. Don't cross him.
The concept of the novel is completely new (as far as I know). Tender is narrating his entire story into the black box as the plane goes down. (For those of you who haven't read it yet, don't worry. I'm not giving anything away that you down learn on the first page. Because we know that if someone really did that that some well-meaning, but money-hungry, publisher would get ahold of the story and publish it, you are almost able to believe that this really happened, and you're really reading about it, giving you an almost voyueristic thrill. Like Fight Club, the action of the book is told in retrospect, allowing characters to comment on things as they see them now.
I don't want to give anything away, but I'll just say that I find it amazing how likeable these characters are. I really shouldn't like them, but I do... and that's a little disconcerting.
This book is a great and fairly quick read. I highly recommend it to anyone who liked Fight Club (either movie or book). And if you haven't read Fight Club... well, read my review of that, too.