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Haunted: A Novel
 
 
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Haunted: A Novel (Hardcover)

by Chuck Palahniuk (Author) "When the bus pulls to the corner where Comrade Snarky had agreed to wait, she stands there in an army-surplus flak jacket-dark olive-green-and baggy camouflage..." (more)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)

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Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

What elevates Palahniuk's best novels (e.g., Fight Club) above their shocking premises is his ability to find humanity in deeply grotesque characters. But such generosity of spirit is not evident in his latest, which charts the trials of a group of aspiring writers brought together for a three-month writer's retreat in an abandoned theater. The novel intersperses the writers' poems and short stories with tales of the indignities they heap upon themselves after deciding to turn their lives into a "true-life horror story with a happy ending." They lock themselves in the theater, reasoning that once they're found, they'll all become rich and famous. They raise the stakes of their story by first depriving themselves of phones, and then of food and electricity; eventually they cut off their own fingers, toes and unmentionables before they start dying off and eating each other. Palahniuk tells his story with such blithe disregard for these characters that it's hard not to wish he had dispensed with the novel altogether and published, instead, the 23 short stories that pop up throughout the book. For instance, "Obsolete," about a young girl about to commit state-mandated suicide, and "Slumming," about rich couples who pretend to be homeless, play so deftly with expectations and have an emotional core so surprising that they consistently, powerfully transcend their macabre premises to showcase the heart beating beneath the horrors.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


From AudioFile

A writers' retreat that provides an opportunity for aspiring writers to get ahead provides the construct for this collection of stories, which are increasingly bizarre and filled with sexual preoccupations. If this retreat is supposed to free its participants of their demons as they explore their muses, its success is in question. However, the full-cast performance cannot be faulted. The actors create the realities of the stories vividly, draw out the drama, and bring out the personalities of the characters, generally making the stories as haunting as promised. J.E.M. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.
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When the bus pulls to the corner where Comrade Snarky had agreed to wait, she stands there in an army-surplus flak jacket-dark olive-green-and baggy camouflage pants, the cuffs rolled up to show infantry boots. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews

21 Reviews
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4.0 out of 5 stars (21 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Inverse Wow, Jul 19 2006
By Steven R. McEvoy "MCWPP" (Canada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Haunted: A Novel (Paperback)
Chuck Palahniuk is most known as the author of Fight Club, the book that became the movie with Brad Pitt and Ed Norton; and overnight Palahniuk had a cult following. Erie, scary, and terrifying; if I had to use three words to describe this book, that would be it. Robert A. Heinlien the classic Science Fiction author once quipped "One man's theology is another man's belly laugh." of this book I would state, 'One man's perversion is another man's pleasure." This book will hit both, depending on who you are and your sensibilities.

This book is a collection of short stories, written by characters who are on a writer's retreat. They all responded to an ad to "give up three months of your life and create the masterpiece you have always said you would". Each of the 18 respondents had an idea of where they would be going - to a large country estate, a camp in the woods; yet the reality is they get locked into an old ornate theatre house. They have food, shelter, and facilities, yet all doors are locked, all windows bricked over and no way out.

From there the book becomes a cross between Fear Factor, Survivor and your most feared horror story. We see the depths to which people will descend to achieve fame and riches. Palahniuk, during the current book tour, was reading the first story called 'Guts' and to date there have been 63 people who have passed out with many people being injured falling into book cases in book stores. This book will at times, turn your stomach, but will give you an understanding of the darkest side of human nature.
Readers beware! This book is like the fight club movie on super steroids.

(First Printed in Imprint 2005-06-03 as 'Fight Club author gets Haunted')
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, Jul 19 2006
By Steven R. McEvoy "MCWPP" (Canada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
Chuck Palahniuk is most known as the author of Fight Club, the book that became the movie with Brad Pitt and Ed Norton; and overnight Palahniuk had a cult following. Erie, scary, and terrifying; if I had to use three words to describe this book, that would be it. Robert A. Heinlien the classic Science Fiction author once quipped "One man's theology is another man's belly laugh." of this book I would state, 'One man's perversion is another man's pleasure." This book will hit both, depending on who you are and your sensibilities.

This book is a collection of short stories, written by characters who are on a writer's retreat. They all responded to an ad to "give up three months of your life and create the masterpiece you have always said you would". Each of the 18 respondents had an idea of where they would be going - to a large country estate, a camp in the woods; yet the reality is they get locked into an old ornate theatre house. They have food, shelter, and facilities, yet all doors are locked, all windows bricked over and no way out.

From there the book becomes a cross between Fear Factor, Survivor and your most feared horror story. We see the depths to which people will descend to achieve fame and riches. Palahniuk, during the current book tour, was reading the first story called 'Guts' and to date there have been 63 people who have passed out with many people being injured falling into book cases in book stores. This book will at times, turn your stomach, but will give you an understanding of the darkest side of human nature.
Readers beware! This book is like the fight club movie on super steroids.

(First Printed in Imprint 2005-06-03 as 'Fight Club author gets Haunted')
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
4.0 out of 5 stars Haunted [Review for Ms.Clark D2 P4], Mar 28 2006
By Lia (Toronto) - See all my reviews
Chuck Palahniuk is, in my opinion an amazing writer. He's able to incorporate the wisdoms of everyday life with euphism. Every book of his I've stumbled across on, I've considered a work of art.

Haunted is a story about 23 different people, in all areas of society being drawn together by a flier which dictates, "Writers' Retreat: Abandon Your Life For Three Months.". Lured in by an old man, Mr Whittier, these individuals all christened a name depicting the story of their life (Saint Gut Free, Mother Nature,ect)go on to tell a tale.

I think myself a quite open minded person, but after reading the first tale, I felt bombarded with gruesome imagery. It was a while before I picked up the book again, although I must say it was worth it.

These are the stories which fuel society's gossips, the ones that start, "Oh I heard once from a friend that this.." surreptitiously whispered and shared amongst many circles of friends. Horrying, yet intriguing.

I find the general plotline that consists each person being more and more desparate in hopes of starring in a tale which will glorify their own mortality, not as exciting as the single stories. It was hard to get drawn into the main plot when you kept being interrupted by a poem and a story by one of the 23 characters.

I find it easy to relate to Palahniuk's writing style; articulate and verbose, everchanging to convey a point, and always running off on a number of different tangets. It is probably the reason which I love his work so much. There's so much real and fictionalized information compacted in each book, that you feel the need to read it once, or twice, or maybe even thrice. Just something of substance that will always be mystified in your head.

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 		 Most recent customer reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Just Awful
Don't be fooled by the title or the cover of this book. This is not a collection of horror stories -- at least, not in the traditional sense. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Don Dueck

5.0 out of 5 stars Not going to be everyon's cup-0-tea
Wow! What a weird horrible story! I disagree with the reviewers that think the short stories are vastly better than the overall plotline, or that the overall plot is expendable... Read more
Published on Mar 19 2006 by Jeff Walker

4.0 out of 5 stars VERY odd, but good--not for the faint-hearted by any means
As you may have figured out, HAUNTED is composed of one underlying story and several short stories by the characters within the novel. Read more
Published on Mar 15 2006 by Sharon Blech

4.0 out of 5 stars Truly Haunting
One of the most unique and engrossing novels I've ever read! Wonderfully grotesque and equally as funny.
Published on Sep 6 2005 by Julie

5.0 out of 5 stars Twisting the Human Character
"HAUNTED" is clearly an amazing book. Author Chuck Palahniuk has an amazing talent for turning and twisting the human character making the grotesque beautiful and the... Read more
Published on Jul 11 2005 by Gentry Scott

4.0 out of 5 stars Not for the easily offended (... as if you didn't know)!
I've been waiting for this book for a while and now it's finally here. Was it worth the wait? Yes and no. Read more
Published on Jul 5 2005 by Phil Renton

4.0 out of 5 stars Not for the easily offended (... as if you didn't know)!
I've been waiting for this book for a while and now it's finally here. Was it worth the wait? Yes and no. Read more
Published on Jun 30 2005 by Phil Renton

4.0 out of 5 stars Not for the easily offended (... as if you didn't know)!
I've been waiting for this book for a while and now it's finally here. Was it worth the wait? Yes and no. Read more
Published on Jun 23 2005 by Phil Renton

4.0 out of 5 stars Not for the easily offended (... as if you didn't know)!
I've been waiting for this book for a while and now it's finally here. Was it worth the wait? Yes and no. Read more
Published on Jun 21 2005 by Phil Renton

4.0 out of 5 stars Not for the easily offended (... as if you didn't know)!
I've been waiting for this book for a while and now it's finally here. Was it worth the wait? Yes and no. Read more
Published on Jun 13 2005 by Phil Renton

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