Snuff (2008)

Easily the worst Palahniuk I've read. Some have been hit-and-miss (though Rant was excellent), but this is almost all miss. ( )

Mi sembra che ormai se penso ai libri di Palahniuk, li sento veloci e basta. La trama sembrava una buona idea ma si sviluppa un po' troppo scontata. In definitiva avrei dovuto tenermelo per l'estate, si legge rapido e leggero in una serata piacevole, e poi tutti in spiaggia. ( )

This is a novel about a record-breaking gang-bang featuring one legendary porn queen and six hundred obliging men. Except... it's not. Because Palahniuk's never as simple as that. Told from alternating and often conflicting viewpoints - Numbers 72 (a young man), 137 (a shamed TV star) and 600 (a porn veteran), and the 'talent wrangler', Sheila - this is actually a novel about the seediness of the adult entertainment industry, the vacuity of Hollywood and the deceptive nature of screen beauty. At the opening of the book, everyone looks good and has a reputation to uphold; by the end their secrets have been revealed and the layers of makeup and ego and personal history have been peeled away to reveal something uglier, smaller and deeply sad. It didn't rock my world like Rant, which I still occasionally find myself mulling over nearly a year on - but if you're not easily offended it was a relatively quick read and still pulled me on at breakneck pace towards the inevitable bizarre finale...

Favourite part: Palahniuk's trademark devotion to throwing in loads of pithy little facts about his subject, the more offbeat the better - I stopped every few pages to Google something, only to find it was actually true and not just part of his fiction. If nothing else, this novel has been an excellent source of genuinely interesting trivia to throw at people over the last few days! ( )

An okay story. The twists and turns typical of Palahniuk's other work are glaringly obvious in this book. The subject matter itself is at first shocking but becomes gross and mundane throughout the tale. He hits home with some good points about the industry and the titles he makes up are hilarious. As a whole the book is okay but the more you read through it, the less exciting it becomes. The finish isn't at all interesting as the resolution happens much before hand which makes reading to the end a chore rather than an enjoyable experience. ( )

Snuff is a novel I shouldn't admit to having read. I remorsefully read it in less time than I'm comfortable admitting. My third Palahniuk novel and certainly not my last. One has to admire the level of research required for such a topic. ( )