Survivor - Chuck Palahniuk

Tender Branson is on a plane and it is clearly going to crash, especially now that he has cleared the plane of all other passengers and he is the only man left. Before dying, he wants to tell the world about his life - a life that is very different from most other people. For Tender is Creedish, which means he was brought up in the beliefs of a religious cult. As the second child (his twin brother was born a few minutes before him), he is destined for a life of servitude, and, as soon as he was old enough, he was sent out to make his living. Then the police began investigating the Creedish, and rather than share their world with the outside one, all the Creedish, with ...  Read the complete review

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 ...  Read the complete review

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 ...  Read the complete review

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 ...  Read the complete review

If you haven't heard of Chuck Palahniuk he is an authour who burst onto the scene (literally) with "The Fight Club"; the novel on which the controversial film was based. If you didn't like the film well I don't think this book is for you. A high octane page turner, I devoured it in one sitting and then read it again! It's narrated by Tender Branson the last surviving member of a suicide cult and deals with his sudden rise to fame. Through this device the authour examines society, our place in it and in particular our fascination with fame. Our need to know everything about people in the public eye. We accompany Tender on his rise ...  Read the complete review