Invisible Monsters

This book merits four stars because I'm kind of at a loss for words. I was expecting more of the same from Chuck Palahniuk, writing-wise, and that's what I got. I didn't have any expectations of the story. This, I think, is a good thing and worked out well for me. Invisible Monsters is horrifying and its author certifiable, or at least capable of playing it on TV. That said, I had to keep reading to get my next “WTF?!” fix. Now that I'm done with the book, I'm jonesing; I might have to start watching Lost.

Capsule review in the style of a Chuck Palahniuk character:
This is Sartre screaming “hell is other people” into a mirror. This is Bruce Wayne saying “Criminals are a cowardly and superstitious lot” and Jesus replying “Well, you're all criminals in your heart.” This is one of those places that you visit and say “This is a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live here”, when you really mean to say “Get me the hell out of this place as soon as possible.”

You kind of get the feeling the man needs a hug.

Invisible Monsters is a slightly convoluted look at beauty and loss, and self-medication and self-denial. It's cynical and dark, just as the man's work always is, and has the same sort of demon zen god understanding that facing the worst, most empty corners of humanity will convince us that that's all we're capable of.

Like I said, it's a nice place to visit but you wouldn't want to live there.

Palahniuk is a delightful writer as usual. The same type of sarcasm and repulsion that made Haunted such a great read was encountered in this book as well. The action is a bit complicated to keep track of, with all the jumping back and forth in time, but once you get the hang of it its fine. There was also a bit of confusion regarding names being changed continously, but I think that adds to the whole idea of monsters not being visible. The title was perfectly picked, and the idea of deformed people not being noticed in society was ever present in the book. I had a few moments in which I questioned the logic of the book but towards the end they got cleared out, more or less. This is a 3 star, but it's more like a 3.5 stars review. Overall, good read, but if you want to read Palahniuk there are better books than this.

I thought this was an outstanding novel by Palahniuk. I thought the pacing of the story was well and especially liked how a lot of the surprise in the novel came from character's true identities. But not just in the normal sense of a character's motive being different than expected, but due to the fact that many of the characters are addressed by different names throughout the novel, there are moments where we find out that two characters who we think are different are actually the same person. And this keeps the reader on edge and does not allow them to take names for granted throughout the story.

I also thought this was one of the better openings of the Palahniuk novels. It really started with a bang, and even though we traveled back in time to grasp exactly what was going on, it did a really fantastic job of giving you a good “juicy” scene to get you interested in the novel from page one. The ending sections of the novel are everything that Palahniuk fans are to expect from him. The events really start to ramp up and surprises and shocking events are around every corner. In this novel in particular we get to see a scene in the first few pages of the novel, then at the end, armed with more information on the situation, view the event very differently, and this is very effective and interesting.

At it's core this book feels like a story of many people searching for their identity and place in the world, which is something that at one level or not very relatable. The twists and turns throughout the novel mixed with a quirky narrative and some interesting characters make this a very enjoyable read.

This has got to be my top novel by Chuck. I really don't read things more than once unless they're a force and let me tell you this is. The story of a model whom undergoes a tragic event and loses all instance of her beauty (and success as she produced an extensive career fro her looks). Besides the moral “you don't know what you have until it's gone”, this book really dives into the rawness of that feeling. The main character, misunderstood, haunting, and blank after the accident is a complete twist. Basically what I'm trying to say is that the development of character history in this novel is shocking and confusing and fruitful and haunting all at once. The best part is that there so much to take in, reading it for a second time you see things you hadn't before and begin to redevelop your position as the voyeur lead by the spunky narrator. One of my favorites for sure.

I love Chuck Palahniuk. I love his prose, his obsession with the filthy and the gory and the absolutely batshit insane. This is all of that wrapped up in a tale about femininity, beauty, desire, gender, sexuality; and unfortunately, it did not land for me. I was with Chuck for much of the novel. Chuck lost me at the end.
I am willing to acquiesce a lot to the theming, the unreliable and unlikeable narrator, the terrible characters and their terrible ideas and their terrible lives. I do it all the time! This just crosses that fine line of absurdity into nonsense. If this novel was a work of art like some of Palahniuk's other work, perhaps I could look past the absolute gall of Palahniuk to write about trans women the way he does. Yes, it's transgressive. Yes, it's not really about trans women, but about something else. No, it doesn't save this train wreck.
Some of it is very fun in the fucked-up way Palahniuk's bullshit is fun, but not enough of it, and not for long enough.