Non-Fiction by Chuck Palahniuk (2004)

TL;DR: Chuck Palahniuk compiles a collection of true stories. 


In one of the last stories, Chuck Palahniuk writes: 

I'm sorry if this all seems a little rushed and desperate. It is.
While this book doesn't seem desperate. It does feel a little rushed; like stories were cramped in folders and bounded as one material. 
These stories have their own sort of personalities. They could easily fit as individual blog posts. And they would be interesting posts. As a whole, it feels more disjointed than collective. One common thread seems to be about people finding their place in the world around them.


Chuck Palahniuk's world is different. As a writer, he is extraordinarily good. So good, that his stories made for discomfort, feels extraordinarily uncomfortable. Ok, I don't really know if they're made for discomfort. But his stories take you to a place so unfamiliar, it's almost fearful. and scary. and different.



The book is split into three: People Together, Portraits and Personal. The stories in People together are about a Sex Festival, Wrestling, Writers, Wheat Harvesters Derby, Cosplaying as a Dog, Castle Building, Overusing Anadrol, People in the Navy and two friends of CP, one of a mystic sort, another on the opposite side of the fence. The stories in Portraits are about an actress in Scientology, a Gay guy, Amy Hempel and Minimalism in Writing, Marilyn Manson and Tarot Cards, a Dog sniffing out dead bodies after an earthquake, Rocket Guy, and what seems like a letter to Mr. Ira Levin. The last part, Personal, contains personal stories, one time about when CP escorted dying people, another about his trip in LA, getting a Lip Enhancer, Fight Club and the killing of his father, Life and being in the nick of time or racing the clock, Memory, more about Fight Club and the circumstances with his father.

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