This fantasy horror (or maybe horror fantasy?), is a Palahniuk masterclass. Thirteen year old Madison, daughter of mega celebrity parents finds herself dead and consigned to Hell! Wow now that an interesting kick-off point; that notwithstanding, Madison goes on a journey, to, dare I say it, find herself; but you have to bear in mind she's looking to 'find herself' in the customary cluster-fuck method that can only be called in a Chuck Palahnuik style!The first half of this book focuses more on t...

Tedious, try-hard and frustratingly inconsistent. Chuck Palahniuk is completely incapable of writing as a 13-year-old girl, particularly a girl of the same generation as Madison would ostensibly be. He just sounds like a 40-something white guy who's really impressed with himself and his ability to write. I can't say that I've read anything else by Palahniuk, but this book was all I needed to ensure that I'll avoid him for the rest of my life. Madison doesn't know what French kissing is, but desc...

(Audiobook) "Are you there Satan? It's me Maddison" begins each chapter. Maddison finds herself in hell, dying of an apparent marijuana overdose. The daughter of a multi millionaire and an award winning Actress, 13 year old Maddison is a self described "fat chick" struggling with her sense of self and identity at the time of her death. This setup allows Paluhniak to viciously pillory EVERYONES sense of identity. it is a lot like attending your own roast because however you identify, what ever yo...

**originally published on www.wearevespertine.com**I’m going to put a few fears to rest right away regarding this newest work by Chuck Palahniuk.First, this one is close to 250 pages, so for all of those who have been complaining about the length of his last few releases—you can chill out. You’re getting a decent page count this time around.Second: there was some churning the rumor mill that this is a YA novel. Thankfully, those were just rumors as this book isn’t even close to being YA. Not unl...

3.5 stars.Dear God,I want to go to Hell, ‘kay? Thanks bunches!Damned is the first book I’ve enjoyed from Palahniuk since… Diary, I think. His first four or five novels were fantastic, and then we received such disasters as Tell Tale, Snuff, and Pygmy (The latter was written entirely in phonetic English. Le sigh…). Because I was so shell shocked by Pygmy I completely skirted Rant, because it seemed to be written in the form of interviews, a style I’ve never enjoyed. The only reason I picked up Da...

If a thirteen year old dead girl in Hell stops a rampaging Godzilla-sized demon by sexually pleasuring it, would you consider that necrophilia, bestiality or kiddie porn? I’m not sure either, but these are the kind of questions that can come up when you read a Chuck Palahniuk novel. Madison is the very smart but overweight daughter of a rich and famous Hollywood power couple that finds herself dead and in Hell after experimenting with marijuana. Turns out that all the whacko Christian fundamenta...

I enjoyed this book, but it would have been much better if it had a plot arc going on. Sometimes it's nice when authors work off an outline or just known what's going to happen next in the story rather than seeming like they're making up every little thing as they go along. Sure, there's an inciting incident and a journey with no particular destination for no particular reason than to just wander around Hell and check out the sites. And then the journey comes to an abrupt halt for no reason that...

I once again find myself Lamenting Good Reads' lack of half stars. This should be a 3 1/2. I must admit, I walked into this book with a fair bit of trepidation, having felt rather lukewarm to everything that came after Haunted and been fully enraged by Pygmy. Reading this book was going to be, I thought, the book fan's equivalent of identifying the corpse. "Yep, that's good old Chuck P. I used to love him... Pity what happened, though." And I would assert that my beloved author was dead to me, a...

Damned is another book I loved from Chuck Palahniuk. Each chapter starts: “Are you there, Satan? It’s me, Madison,” by a girl so emotionally needy she craves attention from the devil himself.Madison is thirteen, and very smart. She's the daughter of a narcissistic actress, and a billionaire father. They adopt orphans to look good to the public, and ship Madison to her Swiss boarding school during the holidays to do other things. Madison dies, and is sent to Hell. She thinks the reason for landi

I wanted to finish the book before I did a full review on it, but some things just cannot wait..and this is one of them.I really try to like Palahniuk. His earlier stuff..brilliant. But lately, especially in the case of Damned , all I'm reading is shock value nonsense. You know, I get it. You are a very intelligent man, Mr. Palahniuk. You know a lot and you have very opinionated views on the world. How bout writing an essay on why you think the Hollywood celebrity crowd is wasting their time tr...

“What makes earth feel like hell is our expectation that it should feel like heaven.” ― Chuck Palahniuk, DamnedReading this wasn't Heaven (brilliant) and it certainly wasn't Hell (horrible). It was just kinda purgatory, luke warm. Read almost as an obligation. Perhaps, I've grown too old. Perhaps, CP has grown too old. The shock is gone. All shock is gone? There is also a bunch of Hell fiction out there. I still prefer Steven Peck's A Short Stay in Hell and of course Dante's (not Dan Brown's) In...

If you, like me, have been suspecting Chuck Palahniuk is heading in an irreversible downward spiral, this book will not change your mind.Chuck Palahniuk used to be my favorite author. My high school copy of Fight Club is highlighted and dog eared; I included a quote from the book next to my signature in people’s yearbooks. The book he signed for me during his “Roses and Shit” tour for Haunted is framed in a shadow box. (I know: I’m lame. Let’s move on.) But I won’t even say he’s my favorite auth...

Palahniuk shows more sympathy for the Devil than for liberals in this book. Which is not to say that this reads like an axe-grinding conservative polemic (I have no idea what Palahniuk's politics are), but the targets of his satire in Damned are Hell and Hollywood, and he makes Hell seem like the less awful place.A word to all the Goodreads reviewers who classified this book as "Young Adult" -- are you nuts? Did you actually read this book? Or do you just assume that any book with a teenage prot...

Loved this book.The breakfast club but set in Hell. And with the English Patient playing over and over (which i have seen and don't wish that upon anyone)The first half was amazing, the last half dragged a bit for me but I still loved it. Sick & twisted.Unique Characters. Short Chapters. Unusual storyline.

Read on the WondrousBooks blog. Are you there, Chuck? It's me, Jeannette. I honestly used to like your books once. Invisible Monsters was a revelation - if I ever grow the balls to become a director, that would be the movie that I'd do. If you have become addicted to heroin, find some help, I believe there is still something you can offer to the world. But your books have started to suck. I'm sorry, Chuck. I really don't want to hurt your feelings, I think you are a rock star in contemporary

Fifty pages into Damned I was pitching it to my friends, selling them on reading about eternal torments, daemons, and hellfire - all hilariously done in the style Palahniuk has made his own. Those first fifty pages are pretty entertaining. Madison, a sad, overweight rich kid, drops dead (from a weed overdose) and finds herself in hell. This is isn’t the standard lake-o-fire Hell either – this is Hell like you’ve never imagined it - an underworld that is as amusing as it is gross (and it’s really...

quite possibly my favorite book of the year!MY THOUGHTSABSOLUTELY LOVED ITSo, if Christopher Moore (think Abby Normal from Bite Me) and Judy Blume got together and wrote a book dedicated to a life lived in hell as a sort of CandyLand game with all of the twists and turns that move a player forward; where candy is currency . Each chapter starts with a note from Madison, the eleven year old protagonist address to Satan. As she accepts her death and now after life, she finds that even small infract...

I finished this in the beginning of December after really dragging the audiobook out as much as I could bare. This book is definitely not for everyone and I'm very aware that it's easy to dislike with a passion. But I just loved it with a passion. It's hard to explain but even if it's about a 13 year old girl it's not by any shape or form suited for children/teens. It's an insane story with a lot of disturbing and bizarre content but somehow very human and so intriguing to listen to. This is one...

It was... you know... eh. Don't get me wrong, well written, with some solid Palahniukian things to say about... things and stuff. But overall? Shit, I don't know.I didn't really go into this book with any kind of expectation. It seems two camps have emerged in the Chuck Palahniuk fandom world - the group that's tired of that "Chuck" voice that every main character seems to have and wishes he'd branch out, and the group that's tired of Chuck trying to branch out and do something that doesn't read...