Survivor - Chuck Palahniuk

I can’t remember the last time I read a novel that taught me so much. Want to know how to clear those stubborn wine stains from your clothes? How to safely clear broken glass? How to eat lobster? Tender Branson, the hero of Chuck Palahniuk’s ‘Survivor’ can tell you all this and more. Home economics, social etiquette and the virtues of the work ethic are all that he knows. Why? Because Tender Branson is Creedish. In fact he is the last of the Creedish, the rest of this Christian sect having engaged in a mass suicide a la the Peoples Temple, Heaven’s Gate and others in recent years. And, as the novel opens (at the last page of the last ...

I'm a sucker for unusual books, I admit it. Whether it's an unconventional size of volume, or an unusual layout of text on the pages, I'm there. So, when I saw the novel 'Survivor' by Chuck Palahniuk numbered the pages in reverse order, I had to buy it. I wasn't particularly worried about the plot, nor about the author, I just thought it was an interesting gimmick, so I rewarded the publisher with a purchase. As it turns out, my purchase was a very rewarding one. 'Survivor' is a very well-written, captivating book, with a lot of fascinating ideas, and a healthy (or unhealthy) dash of pre-millennial tension thrown in for good ...

Impossible to imagine, but 'Survivor' is allgedly being considered as a Hollywood movie. Obviously, if you'd read Palahniuk's 'Fight Club' a few years ago, and someone said that a wholly faithful and hugely rewarding movie would be made from it with big stars, you'd be like, yeah, right. But somehow, I think the story of Tender Branson, narrating his sorry tale as cult survivor and modern-day media messiah is just a little too much (oh, but I'd retain the 'Fight Club' team with Fincher directing and either Pitt or Norton as Tender). 'Fight Club' see society unravelling because of a generation of fatherless men who ...