A reporter discovers a poem published in a children's anthology is actually a "culling song," and will cause the death of whoever hears it. This is definitely an interesting premise, and executed cleverly, but I didn't end up really connecting with or caring much about the characters--whether by my own fault or the authors--so I can't say I enjoyed this one as well as some of Palahniuk's other work. I'd say skip this one, and pick up a copy of his Diary or Haunted instead. ( )

Probably the most high-quality writing by Chuck P and also one of my favorites. ( )

I liked this book because it had a very good scifi feel with the Chuck touch. ( )

This was weird because it jumped around in time quite a bit and it was also somewhat preachy. The ecoterrorist guy was clearly created so that Palahnuik could have someone’s mouth in which to put all of his ecological beliefs and rants. As a character though, it made Oyster thoroughly unlikable.

The sub-plots were more entertaining than the main plot though. I liked the haunted house broker. What a scam! She could keep on turning over the couple dozen or so houses she had because no one could live in them for more than a few weeks. Excellent.

I also kind of liked it when Streator simply killed off the people who got him angry (mister mcgee, don’t make me angry, you wouldn’t like me when I’m angry). Oh how wonderful a power like that would be sometimes. Although, I’m not sure I would have the necessary control to avoid becoming a mass killer!

Another sub-plot is Streator and a character named Sarge are tracking down all kinds of purported ‘miracles’. Like a talking cow that tells people not to eat meat. A roadside jesus who brings roadkill back to life. A flying holy Mary type woman. It turns out that Sarge is really Helen the real estate lady. She found some master book of spells and she took over the body of this old cop. She had to do this because Oyster also got a hold of one of the spells and took over her body and made her drink drain cleaner. So to escape death, she transported over. Now she and Streator are after Oyster and the Wiccan chick. Oyster wanted to make everyone his slaves and if he finds the culling song, they’re screwed. But I couldn’t tell that this was really the conclusion of the book interwoven with the rest of it. By the first person point of view it was obvious that Streator lived in the end, but I couldn’t figure out who Sarge was until near the end when Helen first took over his body in order to spring Streator from jail. He was brought in because of a string of killings (all his fault of course) and he really wanted to be locked up an stopped because he couldn’t control it anymore.

Helen, as it turns out, knew about the culling song all along. She lost a son to it and then killed her husband because he blamed her. Yeah, it was her fault but she didn’t knowingly kill her kid. So she begins to work as a killer for hire. She kills drug lords and evil dictators and assassins, all for different governments. She figures if you do something for money, a lot of money, you won’t do it for free. It almost works.

Chuck Palahnuik cannot seem to write a bad book. The 4th book of his that I've read, I'm continually impressed by each novel. The man really knows how to write an ending..this one does not fall short. ( )

How does one rate this book? It is not really a fantasy, though the premise is fantastic (as in "ridiculous", not as in "terrific"). If I had to pick one word to describe this story it would be "insane". The book is a spoof/satire of modern life and has very little grounding in reality so you really have to suspend your disbelief from the start or you'll never make it through the story.

There were several points I was about to give up because, well, the story is ridiculous, but then there are some parts that are absolutely hilarious. I don't recall any other book that caused me to waffle between laughing out loud (naked wiccan meeting anyone?) and throwing it out.

It is certainly a book you'll either like or really really REALLY dislike. The author goes off on long tirades of made up words (noiseoholics, silenceophobes, etc) which gets rather irritating after awhile.

This was the first I'd heard of Palahniuk and while I liked his writing enough to read Haunted, the long winded tirades were just too, well, long winded and the ridiculous a little too ridiculous. ( )

A bookclub choice - I think it will make for really good discussion about power, good vs. evil, loss . . . the pacing and characterizations were good. 'The details about X character are...' was clever. ( )

I love all books by Palahniuk, but this one was weirder than I had anticipated. With his main charecters, I can usually end up likeing them, just because I feel like I've gone through part of their lives with them, but with the anonomys main charecter (Carl Streator), he doesn't really have much of a personality to me at all through out the book. ( )

My favorite book by Chuck, even better than FIGHT CLUB. More moving, without the over-abundance of gore that mars his later efforts. ( )

This is the second Palahniuk novel I have read, thus far, and I am starting to see his style of prose. I really like the selective use of repetition and simple form. I previously read Fight Club, and I have to say, this book is much better, much stronger, and much more interesting than that. It makes sense, as this was written after he had a little more experience.
The story was very interesting. Mr. Streator finds a culling song, a song that when simply thought, could kill. It turns out it is a focus for a witch's spell. He finds another woman, Helen, that had control of the spell for some time, using it to her advantage. They set out on an adventure, accompanied by her assistant/secretary Mona and Mona's boyfriend, Oyster. Mr. Streator, who Oyster calls 'Dad' is a very run of the mill kind of guy, but the song gets to him. He wants it stopped, so they try to find the original source of the spell. Each of the four characters are on their own agenda. Oyster stands out in particular as he very much reminds me of Tyler Durdan from fight club, and his ideals. Mona just wants to help people and be more natural. Helen wants to rule the world. Mr. Streator wants to destroy the source and end the carnage.
The ending was particularly powerful. It wasn't quite the same kind of twist as finding the truth of Tyler Durden in Fight Club, but it has a curiously odd and interesting plot point. This review really doesn't do the story justice. The book is a short read, just under 300 pages. It goes very quickly and I enjoyed it thoroughly from start to end. 4.5 stars. ( )

Another apocalyptic morality tale by Palahniuk. It's gross and disturbing, yet elegant and deep. This time the idea explored is noise pollution. We drown ourselves in sound. ( )

Classic Palahniuk...lots of philosophy, crazy plot twists, and his perpetual lists. Contains sensitive subject matter (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) that might make some readers uncomfortable. Other than that highly recommended. ( )

My review is here: http://moosplace.blogspot.com/2008/04... ( )

http://12frogs.com/reading/reviews/20... ( )

Journalist Carl Streator is assigned a series on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and sets about collecting the details of every scene. When a pattern emerges, he finds himself in possession of an ancient secret that could wipe out the human race.

As always, Palahniuk creates a host of strange and quirky characters.- caricatures, really. Mona, the young wiccan with her psuedo-dreadlocks loves to do primitive crafts while she watches tv, "they put you in touch with all sorts of ancient energies and stuff." Her boyfriend Oyster teaches us that Johnny Appleseed was a biological terrorist. Nash the greasy ambulance attendant gives us the skeevies. And Helen Hoover Boyle, Realtor extraordinairre, is the hero of the story, or so we're told.

I enjoyed reading this book. It was bizarre in a way that held my attention. Some of the lectures became a tad bit tedious, intentionally, I think, to drive home a bigger point. If I have a complaint, it is that -- there's not much subtlety here. Otherwise it was a fast fun read. ( )

This is a review! ( )

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This is a social commentary on the abuse of power. It was just OK. ( )

This book is a haunting portrait of...ah, who cares. It's a signed copy. Otherwise I'd get rid of it. ( )

This book is so far set into a fantasy world, but it still seems to stay grounded on Earth. The crazy notion that a culling song used to kill people in Africa hundreds of years ago is still killing people, especially infants, as a lullaby sung to babies. The characters are so colorful and different, and present such strange and conflicting personalities, that their faults are inherently human. The story is very supernatural, and as strange as it gets, Chuck Palahniuk puts normal characters to contrast with the other, weirder ones, making funny situations occur. If you can suspend your disbelief well, you will really love this novel

This is a nice book but I think it's not as good as other books of Palahniuk like Survivor, Invisible Monsters or Choke. There is nothing new in it and quite a bit easy reading compared to others.

After all definitely worth a read, don't expect a lot. ( )

http://bogdanphd.blogspot.com/20... ( )

Easily Palahniuk's best work, this book is dark, funny and philosophical. Helen Boover Boyle is a perfect Palahniuk hero: cynical and world-weary and yet capable of change and redemption. The narrator, by comparison, is a bit of a mope, but he can still be incredibly funny. The road trip provides for some great dark riffs on the American family. Palahniuk's wry satire on media saturation is wonderful.

Admittedly, this is not the great horror novel it would like to be. Doesn't really freak you out the way a good horror story should, and the premise is a little silly. (If the Zulus really had developed a killing song, 19th Century African history would be quite different.) The grimoire is even sillier, for a variety of reasons. ( )

This is probably my favorite book of all time. It kept me turning pages and writing down great quotes. ( )

This is one of the first Palahniuk novels I read, and it has remained one of my favorites. There is something about the way he writes that makes his work extremely compelling, even though you know he’s working up to something grotesquely tragic. You can’t help but keep going. Like picking at scabs. Extremely satisfying. ( )