Haunted

This is so nauseating to read that I have a headache, right this instant, only moments after putting down the book. I have been reading this in fits and starts for 6 months, having to reread the short stories to get back up to speed on who everyone is and why they're in there. And then I'd have to put it back down to digest it, and just keep putting it back down for my own health. This was incredible. I love this kind of gore and shock horror that relies on those everyday fears that rumble in this novel. This is what I want from a Palahniuk. This is why I put up with his terrible persona, and why I keep reading his newer work, hoping for this kind of gut-wrenching and saliva-producing work. I want to have to stand up and pace my room to make sure I don't actually have to throw up, I'm just thinking about it. That's what I got.

“Guts” is legendary, so much so that my copy had an afterword regarding the sheer amount of people who pass out at public readings of it. All the short stories are great, I'll say it. The poetry is clever, especially as a way to keep the form and keep you trudging. The genius of interspersing this kind of shocking, random violence and self-harm with such a tight structure is something I dream of being able to write. The expectation of the poems and the short stories coming to act as a really fucked up buoy... wow. Incredible stuff here. 

If you're going to read it, make sure you either have an iron stomach or that you're nearby a bathroom and a glass of water. Good luck.