A brilliant parable of how life and expectations of one's family and culture can trap you. The tale is of an art student of poor background who gave up her ambitions for the American Dream of marrying a wealthy island resident of the Northeast with a grand old house. The pressures on her to fulfill everyone's expectations to become a great artist soon moves into bizarre territory after her husband's apparent suicide attempt. Much of the story emanates in an omnmiscient second person account of e...

The way this narrative was a dairy while also describing a diary was an amazing idea. The setting and the characters were the right type of people in the right place but something about it all made it sort of gross to read. And that was probably the point and I probably missed that but I wish it was more of an actual diary. I started reading with that idea and am a huge fan of epistolary fiction. My favorite of which is The Sorrows of Young Mike.

My absolute favorite Chuck book so far. It spoke to me bring an artist wit the theme of artists suffering. Original storyline as usual, he does not disappoint... but rather brings it... fully (more so then any other book he has written, in my opinion). Suffering = living. Suffering = true feeling. Suffering = emotions. Emotions = Open mind. Open mind = creativity. Creativity = Artistic excellence. (Or something along those lines). This book made me realize why (as an artist) I go through dry spe...

I finished this book yesterday but sat with it for a spell to consider my opinion. I gave it four stars because it was a compelling read and it was a unique narrative with a writing style that I very much enjoyed. I also appreciated the fact that I haven't read anything like it before. The opening chapter was awesome - an intriguing narrative hook and the use of second person had me by the scruff. The final line of the opening chapter left no argument, I was turning the page. As the book progres...

no, no, no, no, no, no, no.NO. NO.This book is ridiculous.I've never found it exactly difficult to get through a Chuck Palahniuk book because he's one of the greatest, most complex writers I know of, but this book... it was such a drag. I prefferred babysitting over reading Diary.I had to pull myself through it each and every day. I get anxious if I don't finish a book so I couldn't toss it aside. The only reason I completely forced myself through it in less than a month is because I was so exci...

ETA: So I bought this edition because apparently I'm in love with the book.But I didn't know that the front cover is like this:I'm so happy because the gimmick is awesome. I appreciate it.I'm sad because this is for my collection of all Chuck Palahniuk and I'd like to wrap it in a plastic cover. How would I be able to do that if the edges are uneven?So Charlie the Wallflower, unlike you, I know why I'm both happy and sad at the same time...2nd reading review:Just for the record, the weather toda...

I last read this book some time between November 2005 and March 2006, but the audio recording was excellent. I thought knowing the plot - especially the conclusion - would diminish some of its power, but I was very happily surprised that it was even better than I remember. I had forgotten just how many details about art, physiology and other esoteric intelligent topics were woven into the tale, as well as how rhythmic it is in the telling. Still my second favorite of Palahniuk's writing (behind

Liking Chuck Palahniuk's books must be akin to a Fear Factor challenge for most readers. And sometimes I can't help but wonder, what if THAT is what exactly Palahniuk wants the readers to feel about his works? Feel challenged by it, dislike it, feel disgusted or insulted by it--all of these by hurling the naked truths of human nature to the face of people in the harshest possible way?My first Palahniuk book is Choke, and I was sort of culture shocked when I read it--a multitude of f-bombs being

Very slow to begin with. A little confusing at times but the end was great.

A clunky "horror novel" with all the usual Palahniukisms we've come to love/expect. Isn't he just OBSESSED with factoids? Piecing these together, a patchwork of knowingness played out in a mostly insipid arena, it is a haunted house story told clumsily... by a Dude.Yet, as sordid and repetitive, as shock-for-shock's sake and clumsy as it is, DIARY is actually pretty enticing, never dull. Funny how I read him in my mid 30s, knowing how unliterary it is, a beach book parading as a beginners manual...

This was my first selection to our book group -- and it definitely shook things up a bit.I love Palahniuk, and this is actually my favourite of his. Fight Club comes second, so if you hate Fight Club, I can't think you'll like this. The style is still there -- short, choppy ideas repeated until you wonder why, a vocabulary that makes you double take from time to time. One of our book groupies actually read it with a dictionary to hand because she wanted to know what every word meant. Which, give...

Some strange shit. Always the strange shit, Chuck. This novel tackled art in a very weird way. How it was used to save a cheesy named Island. How an artist was brought to a master plan by a strange group of Island people, to do her art, convince her to do her art and fulfill the prophecy of saving the Island. Enriching it. Nurturing it. Though some parts of the book were tough for me to handle, I consider this an easy read. Especially towards the ending. It felt like it was shortened and brought...

“It's so hard to forget pain, but it's even harder to remember sweetness. We have no scar to show for happiness. We learn so little from peace.” ― Chuck Palahniuk, Diary

Hey, goodreads. Remember how seriously I used to take you? I would tell you every time I finished a book, and then I would tell you about the book. I guess I haven't been doing that as much lately. Kind of like how Chuck Palahniuk has been phoning it in for three books now, huh? Because look, this was the last one of his books I hadn't read. Now I have read all of them. And Chuck? The only reason I didn't give this one five stars is because it wasn't Rant, which I have built up in my head to be

Like all of Palahniuk’s other work, Diary is vivid, disturbing, grotesque, and a bit supernatural. If his descriptions don’t leave you feeling at least somewhat squeamish, then you must have no imagination whatsoever. He is like a painter who makes the simplest object look hideously grotesque, who can look at a common scene and envision it in the twisted way only a serial killer might. Only, the serial killers in his novels don’t kill for pleasure; they kill for reasons much more creative than t...

I'm always struck by just how weird Palahniuk's novels are. In the case of this one, I really thought I had it figured out. Turns out, I didn't. I should probably just give up trying and enjoy the story. Which I usually do. Misty lives on Waytansea Island with a husband in a coma and a mother in law who seems bent on pushing her to be the famous artist everyone seems to think she is. While Misty went to school for art, she takes it as an insult that everyone thinks she, a poor white trash girl,

Far and away my favorite Palahniuk. Like Rosemary's Baby meets Harvest Home, but snarky and funny. Suspenseful, wild, engrossing. Totally fucking fantastic.

The Correspondents #4Dear MJ,Received your letter via Patrick. There are several things a man can do to attract a woman. I present a series of options for perusal in the following numerically partitioned sentences. 1) Kidnap. All you need for this is a car and a popular secluded late-night environs. Prowl lanes and nooks for bait. Once you have kidnapped your selected woman she will hate and fear you: the best qualities for a woman to have in any relationship. 2) Wear Down. Works best with frien...

I enjoyed this book quite a bit more than I did Choke, the only other Palahniuk book I've read. With strong echos of Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery," this is a creepy tale of intrigue and intergenerational mayhem on a small island off the coast of the United States.What lengths will the islanders go to to keep rich mainlanders off their island? And what does Misty Kleinman's artistic talent have to do with it?The story uncoils slowly, but with a growing sense of menace that made me truly uneasy....

Misty Wilmot was a promising young artist back in her youth. She met Peter in art school, married him, had his daughter, and somewhere along the line her talent seemed to dry up. Her husband’s unsuccessful suicide attempt has left him in a coma, and Misty is turning to alcohol to get her through the days. Peter was a contractor, and now his former clients are threatening lawsuits at Misty because rooms in their houses have disappeared and there are disturbing messages on the walls. Amidst all of...