Haunted

Devin I can totally see where you're at on a lot of what you said. Though I don't know if it will give a different perspective or not, but Chuck Palahniuk h I can totally see where you're at on a lot of what you said. Though I don't know if it will give a different perspective or not, but Chuck Palahniuk has said on different occasions that almost every story in the book is based off of true stories. Personally, I think even if some things in the book might not be that likely to happen, it's a good exercise through the human psyche and how some people truly go to extremes and do bizarre things.

I can see some people doing a lot of the things in the book, I mean just look at the news, there are always outlandish stories happening in reality. But that's just me and I respect everyone's take on the book. Jeffrey That makes it even sadder, because the stories are mostly worth reading. The connective parts are the worst.

So over the top ridiculous that they don' That makes it even sadder, because the stories are mostly worth reading.

Bloody Disgusting!

So over the top ridiculous that they don't fit with the interesting ideas in the stories. The fact that the stories are based on true events makes me want to give even less credit to Chuck as a writer. Sep 19, Cynthia rated it really liked it Recommends it for: Instead of reviewing the entire novel, I will just be focusing on my personal favourite chapter "Guts".

Needless to say, this short story will have you thinking twice about creeping that wondering hand down your pants at night. All the while submerged under water. In a desperate attempt to reach the surface for air, he gnaws through the innards with his own teeth. We have all studied anatomy and know that human waste passes through the small intestine before happily plopping down in your toilet. Now, when asked why he is oh so heroinly chic thin, Saint Gut -Free can only smile.

His six inches of remained small intestines don't allow much room for weight gain. Thus he is "Gut-Free". Not only did this tale send shivers down my spine, but a suppressed chuckle in my throat as well. I found Palahniuk's writing style to be unique and innovative. What captured me the most was the straight-forward, bare-all tone that was conveyed through the narrator.

He, a self diagnosed compulsive masturbator and sex addict explains his experience all too vividly. It makes the reader feel as if they too are chowing down on feces infested intestines in a swimming pool. And of course I mean that in the best way possible. View all 14 comments. Nov 08, Paul Nash rated it it was amazing Shelves: This book fucked me up! King was the first writer to scare the shit out of me. Robert Heinlein was the first to make me gaze at the stars. Dan Millman was the first to make me want to be a better person. JK Rowling was the first to make me actually pay attention to YA fiction.

View all 11 comments. Dec 31, Marvin rated it it was ok. The cover of this edition glows in the dark. Do not place on your bed stand unless you want to have a heart attack. I speak from experience. There are 21 short stories in Haunted. Some of them are amazing such as the notorious "Guts". A couple of them are just boring.

All of them are written to shock yet the brevity of the tales keeps both writer and reader focused. If this was a short story collection, I would rate it a strong three stars. Unfortunately it is not. Palahniuk has fashioned this book into a novel. The 19 protagonists are revealed from the beginning as vicious and stupid and we are never given a reason to care about them.

Page after page they make insane and idiotic decisions that have no basis in any logic or reality and no purpose but to shock. Some may say that is the point, the author has created a bizarre and surreal horror setting as an analogy. That's fine but what is the author saying? My conclusion is absolutely nothing. Palahnuik's cynicism is so over the top it destroys any attempt at meaning. Perhaps I don't get "it". Yet anyone who perused my book list knows I'm not easily offended.

This is the third book by this author I've read.

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The only reason I read three is because Pahalnuik is one hell of a writer at least technically. And from the short stories in this book I know he can pack a punch when he wants to. But this will probably the last Palahnuik book I will subject myself to. View all 13 comments. Aug 16, Rachel rated it did not like it Shelves: This is chuck's worst work. It pains me to say that, but its just true. The stories are all basically gross for the sake of being gross with little to no redeeming value. One infamous story involving a pool was so hard to get through I had to take 3 breaks.

Its so descriptive and disgusting I had to take a breather for fear of vomiting i am not alone in this, he read this particular story at signings and This is chuck's worst work. Its so descriptive and disgusting I had to take a breather for fear of vomiting i am not alone in this, he read this particular story at signings and people would have to leave the room, some even threw up right there I guess if you judge a story's value by how much of a physical response it can incite, then this is Grade A material. Otherwise I would say to avoid this one until you have read a good amount of his earlier work so as not to taint your judgement.

May 30, Jeremy rated it it was ok Shelves: People who are just trying to be gross can't help but be entertaining, no matter how see-thru their intent. You can't ignore the little boy who's trying to wipe his boogers on you, and when his parents have finally collared him, with anger and gag relex fully suppressed you have to admit the whole thing was actually pretty funny.

Chuck Paloonyhoonyhookiak is just trying to wipe his boogers on you. When he's done with that, he'll gladly exhaust whatever other bodily fluids happen to be available People who are just trying to be gross can't help but be entertaining, no matter how see-thru their intent. When he's done with that, he'll gladly exhaust whatever other bodily fluids happen to be available to him.

His novels seem to have been steadily leading up to this: This is the one that's apparently been making people faint at readings though how anyone can actually lose consciousness simply listening to someone read something fictional, no matter how shocking, is beyond me , and it really is genuinely disgusting. Yet fun to read, a vomitrous tale well told.

Unfortunately, the rest of the stories simply don't latch onto this gory glee, and, apart from a surprising and amusing tale of a hospice patient who is and isn't what he seems to be, the book becomes more and more of a slog, with a wraparound narrative peopled with irritatingly-named victims I can't hope to adequately express how thankful I am that I'm unlikely to ever again encounter a character in literature named "Comrade Snarky" meeting their inevitably vile ends. It's ultimately a letdown, but do check out "Guts", if you're into this sort of thing.

View all 5 comments. Feb 16, April Cote rated it really liked it Shelves: Without supernatural monsters or magic. This would be a book you wouldn't want to keep next to your bed. A book that would be a trapdoor down into some dark place. A place only you could go, alone, when you opened the cover. Because only books have that power. You don't want to get up in the middle of the night and see is covet glowing at y "My goal was just to write some new form of horror story, something based on the ordinary world. You don't want to get up in the middle of the night and see is covet glowing at you.

Reminding you instantly of the horrors you read before bed, making your stomach churn. This is a book you can't read while eating, or when your wanting to relax. This isn't a book that will take you away from the real world. This book is a bitch slap in the face reminder that some of these horrors that you will read happen in the world around you, and will make you nauseous and shift around in your seat from discomfort.

This book will make you glance up nervously, wondering if the others in the room with you can sense that your reading something so horrifically sick. You will feel like you need to shower after reading some of these stories, that your brain needs deep cleaning. But it won't help.

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These stories are going to stick in your brain. You're going to feel guilty for enjoying this book. This sick, sick horrific book. Sep 20, Edward Lorn rated it really liked it Recommends it for: First off, this is not the short story collection I was expecting. It is actually a single-author antho-novel hybrid fulla leprechaun jism and other awesome rainbow flavors. No, I mean to say, never write reviews while on Norco, Soma, and about 2 hours' worth of sleep outta I've been trying to catch some Zs since I got home from my latest hospital stay and it's not going so well.

So what's better than fighting sleep? Raise the roof and down the proof! Standou First off, this is not the short story collection I was expecting. Standout favorites herein have to be "Guts", "Hot Potting", "Swan Song", and the uber-disturbing gender-role swapping of "Speaking Bitterness". The latter actually made me physically uncomfortable while reading it. One powerful goddamn story, friends and neighbors. In fact, if it wasn't for the poetry the poetry might be awesome and perfect in its poetry goodness, but I haven't a fuck to find for fancy verse this would have been a five-star read for me.

All the poems felt repetitive, the exact same in style and structure. I stopped reading them halfway through, and then went back and read all the ones I skipped. Didn't feel like I missed anything. Then again, I'm not into Overall, I think they were filler. Not sure why they were needed because this book is almost twice as long as Palahniuk's most popular novels. You have to enjoy high-class low-brow humor to dig this one. I'm all for anal carrots and cream-filled CPR dummies. Bring on Make Something Up! Glow-in-the-dark covers are rad. My God, what to say about this one? Haunted was messed up and engaging to the fullest.

I'm always floored when an author serves up something genuinely different. In a book market where so many offerings are so goddamn painfully similar right down to the titles It's even more rewarding when My God, what to say about this one? It's even more rewarding when such a different drummer has the chops to blow your mind. Haunted is a collection of stories and characters that will absolutely make your skin crawl, and it's mind-boggling how much territory it covers, almost all of it located in left field.

It's doubtful that you've ever read anything quite comparable that goes for most of Palahniuk's other work too. The way Chuck can expand an idea or create a plot from the most unexpected places, then making it compelling and riveting and Like the tale of man who literally lost his guts, or the sociopath with a bowling ball, or the cross-dressing terrorist, or the DIY porn couple gone wrong, or the foot masseur turned assassin It's sick, twisted, funny, sad, shocking; hell it's practically a trigger for every intense feeling humans are capable of having.

It's well-written and engaging and beyond all else it is different. And today's storytelling landscape definitely needs a lot more 'different'. View all 6 comments. Jan 24, Patrick rated it it was amazing Shelves: I was really excited about this one after being disappointed with "Lullaby" and "Diary.

Trapped in a house and running out of food, they write, record, and videotape their experience, certain that when they are finally rescued, they will all become media darlings destined for reality tv fame, if any of th I was really excited about this one after being disappointed with "Lullaby" and "Diary. Trapped in a house and running out of food, they write, record, and videotape their experience, certain that when they are finally rescued, they will all become media darlings destined for reality tv fame, if any of them survive, that is.

The first story, "Guts," had a reputation for making listeners pass out when Pahlaniuk read it aloud at book signings. My friend Jim and I also took great pleasure in reading that story aloud to oblivious victims. I think he even read it to his mom. My other favorite story is the one about the life-like dolls at the police station, just totally unbelievable. One critic complained that this book was "too over the top," and it's like, dude, what the fuck do you think the point was? This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Sometimes in the humor section of the bookstore you can find a spoof of a popular book or writer.

That's not what Haunted is, but it's the first thing that comes to mind. While the cover promises that Haunted is "A Novel," the innards tell a different story: This frame is supposed to evoke storytelling parties of the past, such as the Canterbury Tales or the Decameron, in which the participants each tell a story. He Sometimes in the humor section of the bookstore you can find a spoof of a popular book or writer. Henry James' "Turn of the Screw" was structured similarly.

In Haunted, each of the semi-anonymous characters from the frame "novel" tell a story and have a poem told about them. The problem with this approach is that every character tells their story as if they were Chuck Palahniuk, and about halfway through bits of the framing device start slipping into the stories. The novel itself is narrated in first-person although the narrator never participates in any of the activities of the others.

And oh, the activities! The basic hook for the novel here is that a group of aspiring writers have gone off on a weird "Writer's Retreat" in which they hole up in an abandoned movie theater somewhere for 90 days. The dust jacket tells us this is "a satire of reality television" -- and sure, the group of strangers locked in a house together is a common reality TV trope. But if this were a satire of Chuck Palahniuk, what would happen?

What would happen is that the writers would all have horrible personal problems, would begin worshiping at the First Church of Self-Destruction, they would start talking like coroners and doctors with jargon littering their dialogue, they would repeat themselves with a chorus, and they'd throw up a bunch of plot twists. And that's just what happens. For no reason at all, except that the participants of this "Writer's Retreat" think they can cash in someday if they suffer enough, start chopping off fingers, starving themselves, sabotaging the environmental controls, and consuming human flesh.

Palahniuk is best when he's right at the edge of absurd. Fight Club was there. Survivor and Choke were at the precipice. Even with its flaws, Rant toed the long drop. But Haunted hurls itself into the abyss, and I understand how Chuck writes and I understand how Chuck wants you to feel when you're reading his books, and this isn't it. This book makes you exclaim aloud "This is fucking ridiculous.

Would a story involving dressing in drag and getting your ass kicked lead to fundraising for crashing planes? You bet it would. Haunted is an obnoxious mess that fails to get any reader buy-in to the things the characters are doing, and Chuck's signature style is turned up to eleven -- to the point that you're constantly reminded that you're reading a book by an author with an identifiable style.

Would a Chuck Palahniuk satire be written that way? So Haunted is, at best, a self-satire by a writer who maybe recognizes his own tropes and wants to poke a little bit of fun. At worst, it's an unsuccessful experiment at creating a compelling anthology novel. The stories themselves are mostly really good, but as presented it feels like Chuck cleaned out a file named "Novel Ideas" and threw them into this stew instead of developing them individually.

Of stand-out note are "Guts," which Chuck read aloud on his "Diary" tour and was previously published in Playboy. It's plotless but has a decent punch to it. Many of the others are simply average, and a few are completely forgettable "Ritual", "Green Room", "Speaking Bitterness".

The attempt to add context to them with the weak writer's-retreat frame doesn't work. View all 4 comments. Dec 17, Kelly and the Book Boar rated it really liked it Shelves: Find all of my reviews at: Leave behind everything that keeps you from creating your masterpiece. Your job and family and home, all those obligations and distractions — put them on hold for three months. Live with like-minded people in a setting that supports total immersion in your work.

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Gamble a small fraction of your life on the Find all of my reviews at: Gamble a small fraction of your life on the chance to create a new future as a professional poet, novelist, screenwriter. A group of strangers responds to this advertisement and find themselves locked away — literally. This is Palahniuk at his best.

Family bonding at its best. Oh Chuck, you sick bastard. Kelly and the Book Boar. This book is more of a 3. A group of people agree to participate in a "Writer's Retreat". Three months, food and lodging included, while you complete your masterpiece. The stories begin with probably one of the best, most shocking short stories I've ever read-called Guts. You just have to see for yourself on that one. Some of the stories the people share are more interesting than others. That's why the 3.

The thing that amazed me about this book was the way This book is more of a 3.

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The thing that amazed me about this book was the way people act. The chapters that told what was going on in the house had me like this. Humanity at it's basest is what you will see. There are some queasy moments and I have a very stong stomach. Sep 03, Danielle. Stopped on page 25 I can't finish this. I decided to read this book because I read in a group comment that it was the weirdest thing they've ever read. So I decided to give it a try The storyteller jacking off in a pool hovering over th I The storyteller jacking off in a pool hovering over the pool's suction shit so it's basically eating his ass whilst he jacks off and next thing you know it's sucking up his guts and he has to eat his asshole out to save himself.

Occasional sentences about doing what the French do or some weird shit This would be a book you wouldn't keep next to your bed. I get you wanted horror without supernatural monsters or magic, but these stories are not it! Read some of Stephen King's works for some real ordinary world horror -- Misery, for example. That's some nerve-racking stuff. My eyes felt as though they were about to pop out my head whilst I was reading. Excuse me, going to brush my eyeballs and brain to remove the images and thoughts I've just read.

The author was right about one thing: This is a book I will not be keeping next to my bed. Mar 27, Travis rated it really liked it. The book was a difficult read. Even more difficult to review. I struggled with how many stars to give it to the point where I've waited a few weeks to even write a review. It wasn't my favorite book by any means but I didn't hate it either.

What it did do was stir so much visceral emotion that I haven't been able to pick up another book since. A reaction that intense warrants recognition so I reluctantly opted for 4 stars purely on its dark influence over my joy of reading or lack there of now The book was a difficult read. A reaction that intense warrants recognition so I reluctantly opted for 4 stars purely on its dark influence over my joy of reading or lack there of now.

Any book that could turn me off from all other books for a while is a book that I'll be talking about for a long time. This novel is not a book I would recommend lightly. It is not a book that I would recommend to many people at all in fact. The reader is going to require a specific taste in entertainment to be able to, first of all, finish the book and, second, do it and still consider me a friend afterwards.

The overall disturbing and disjointed nature of the novel takes an attention span and an iron stomach. The twisted black humor will be lost on most but the few able to see it will enjoy the social commentary on a society obsessed with fame at any cost and the overwhelming selfishness that can drive seemingly ordinary people to climb over one another's lifeless corpses to achieve it. Do not pick this book up if you're a light reader. Do not pick this book up if you are not prepared. Do not pick this book up if you have a weak stomach.

Do not pick this book up if you are easily offended. Do not pick this book up if you do not enjoy exploring the darker side of human nature.

Wilkie Collins - The Haunted Hotel

Do not pick this book up if you don't stifle a smile at the misfortune of your enemies. Do not pick this book up. I'd just go ahead and skip it. May 22, Sentimental Surrealist rated it did not like it Shelves: The literary equivalent of belching the alphabet. Aug 19, The Dark Krystal rated it it was amazing. Don't be fooled, I may have chosen 5 stars for this novel, but not because I loved it.

This book is dynamic. This novel looks so innocent and harmless, sitting there with it's ghostly lavender and white cover and "Fight Club" was great, I'll give it a read. This novel will stretch you to breaking point and beyond what you have ever read before. To give an example, when Chuck Palahniuk gives a public reading of the short story "Guts", the ambulance shows up before the end of it.

People have fainted Don't be fooled, I may have chosen 5 stars for this novel, but not because I loved it. People have fainted, vomited and moaned in disgust over this story. I was not able to read through the whole chapter, I felt very dizzy. A decrepit old well in the basement connects a young boy to the spirits of three dead children who implore him to come down and play. Check out IMDb's Streaming Guide to see what's new on Netflix, find out if your favorite streaming show has been renewed or canceled, and more.

Visit our Streaming Guide. A chilling glimpse into the first-person accounts from people who have witnessed horrifying, peculiar, extraordinary supernatural events and other unexplained phenomenons that continue to haunt them. This show just seems so exaggerated that you immediately think that it isn't real. These are people making up stories who trying to make a quick buck. I'm only two episodes in but if any of these events occurred, some newspaper or someone would have tried to make it known.

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You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Edit Cast Series cast summary: Haiden's Mother 1 episode, Tomas Adlof Jacob 1 episode, Petra Buckova Haiden 1 episode, Erika Guntherova Jason's mother 1 episode, Oskar Hes Teenage Jason 1 episode, Michael Pitthan