Haunted (2005)

Some stories were much better than others but it became repetitive towards the end and I just couldn't be bothered to finish it. It's been a while since I read any Palahniuk, but I feel like you need to be in a particular mood to enjoy his work. ( )

This is the first time I've read Palahniuk and probably the last time. Though at first I was intrigued by the modern casting of Bocaccio's Decameron in a gruesome Creepshow-like setting, the thrill (and gimmick) quickly wore off. The prose felt rushed and ill-considered, the literary allusions devolved into trite little illusions of deeper meaning, and eventually, the shock value of each story got tiresome. I was finished with the book after about three quarters of my way through it. Perhaps there are better examples by this author, I'll allow for that based on the movie version of Fight Club. There were occasional brush strokes of narrative that alluded to a more masterful author but these moments were quickly eclipsed by superficial parlor tricks and vague, lazy storytelling. ( )

This is the first time I've read Palahniuk and probably the last time. Though at first I was intrigued by the modern casting of Bocaccio's Decameron in a gruesome Creepshow-like setting, the thrill (and gimmick) quickly wore off. The prose felt rushed and ill-considered, the literary allusions devolved into trite little illusions of deeper meaning, and eventually, the shock value of each story got tiresome. I was finished with the book after about three quarters of my way through it. Perhaps there are better examples by this author, I'll allow for that based on the movie version of Fight Club. There were occasional brush strokes of narrative that alluded to a more masterful author but these moments were quickly eclipsed by superficial parlor tricks and vague, lazy storytelling. ( )

I guess I liked it, but the way Palahniuk made a kind of umbrella story of a bunch of characters locked in a hotel in order to turn what should have been a book of short stories into a single novel was almost always just irritating. ( )

Every so often, I try to read Palahniuk, but a lot of the absurd and graphic sexual situations in his writing just put me off. I couldn't get very far on this book because of the very first story. I suppose I should be grateful that the first incident was early enough in the book that I could put it down right away without having invested more time, but still, I found it disappointing. ( )