I loved this book. The only thing I didn't like about it was the Duke of Vandals' story as it seemed a bit recycled (as readers of Diary will know) I liked the story Obsolete but think it was wasted as a short story as it would make a great novel. Although I did find it shocking and at times disturbing I can't really understand why people fainted during readings! My favourite characters where Saint Gut Free and Comrade Snarky. ( )

Hauntedby Chuck Palahniuk is the stories and poems within a bigger story that is the shadow of the truth. It is the camera behind the camera behind the camera, as is often said in the book. It’s the story of a collection of strangers who have all answered an ad about a writer’s retreat, but find it’s a lot more than they bargained for. Mr. Whittier, the operator of the “retreat” tells them that they’ve promised to write and, for the next three months, he intends to hold them to that promise. However, there is an unfortunate hiccup in the plan when Whittier dies from a busted gut after eating the equivalent of 10 freeze-dried turkey dinners. Now the strangers are on their own, locked in an abandoned hotel/theater, each with their own guilt and story to haunt them.

From a psychological/sociological point of view, this book is fascinating. It’s a bit like Lord of the Fliesin that it is the witness of the de-evolution of society. How depraved can people get? How little humanity will be left at the end of the three month period? When food runs out (because they’ve all sabotaged the supplies) what will they eat? That they are all there as writers and artists, what will they do with this time they are given?

It is a dark look into the human soul. The Missing Link states that it is how we treat the animals around us that shows our humanity… the cat disappears shortly after he says this. Director Denial makes a statement again and again that people turn each other into objects, then turn objects into people. Points are made that humans have a low threshhold of tolerance to boredom, that we seek out a villain to blame all our troubles on, and that we thrive on chaos, drama and disaster. There’s no joy like the joy found in another’s suffering. That all this drama and difficulty is to prepare us for our final act, our own death.

While these are the concepts that drew me to this book, I found the book itself a bit on the boring side. I kept falling asleep… though, that may have been because I couldn’t nibble while reading due to the nauseatingly disgusting content. Haunted has more canabalism in it that the Donner Party was ever accused of. The graphic descriptions of the toilets backing up, the cooking of a baby, and decomposition were enough to make me gag.

This is only my second Palahniuk book, Rant being my first, and I’m aware he can be a bit disgusting and warped. One review I read said that Hauntedwas for the true Palahniuk fans. I’ve got a few more of his books on Mt. TBR, but I think I’m going to wait for a while before reading another by him… let my stomach settle. It’s definitely NOT for the faint of heart.

Click for full review and fun video with Palahniuk: http://thekoolaidmom.wordpress.com/20... ( )

This was not my favorite book by Palahniuk. The stories were not tied together in any way that made sense. Aside from the brute force inanity of the characters self destruction, I never got a clear idea of what the author wanted to communicate. ( )

Disgusting and hilarious- but then again you knew that as soon as I said "Chuck Palahniuk. The frame story (19 people trapped in a hell of their own making) didn't really work for me. Both the story and the moral seemed pretty forced. But the individual short stories ran the gambit from unrelentingly funny to sickening and were mostly unforgettable. Which in the case of "Exodus" is enough to make me want to punch our friend Chuck in the throat. If you do nothing else this year, check out the final tale "Obsolete". ( )

Oh... it's disgusting, obscene... revolting. And a bit over-the-top.

Guts was a good story, but my favorite was Exodus. Both are disgusting and disturbing... in fact, most of the stories were quite engaging and very uncomfortable to read.

What I didn't like was all the "filler" that joined the stories together... I know this was part of the "moral" of the book, but... it was just too many names, names that were too long, and the author having people doing things just for the shock value alone. And the poems? Whatever... I didn't even read them.

If it was just a straight up short story collection, I'd have rated it a star higher. ( )