Price: $16.47

December 14, 2008.

supremely odd and unapologetically Chuck.

Rating: 4
Oh, Chuck, is there any cluster of circumstances that you can't craft into a confusing collection with a barely recognizable storyline? Rant is a historical account of the protagonist's life told by those around him, friends, parents, lovers...etc. Throughout the first half of the book the narrative revolves around Rant's childhood and his various oddities that serve him in the future of the book. As a child, he starts by stuffing his arms any hole in the ground where it appears that an animal might live. Cramming his arm into the dark spaces and petting the soft dark fur, or the smooth scaled skin until he feels the teeth sink into his wrist. In these endeavors he contracts rabies, but also experiences his first adrenaline rushes. The bites and venom become a drug for him. Of course he invariably contracts rabies, and becomes a carrier.

In the second portion of the book, the narrative switches to the future and the story takes a drastic and confusing turn. In the future he lives in a segregated society consisting of daytime dwellers and the working class night time dwellers. Rant meets fellow night dweller Echo Lawrence and learns how to find joy and a new adrenaline rush. The nighttimers partake in an activity called Party Crashing, or the intentional act of roadway demolition derby. Party Crashing is a lifestyle, and Chuck teaches us all of its nuanced rules. We ride along in cars with Christmas trees glued to the roofs, and Just Married cars packed with Party Crashers wearing thrift store tuxedos and wedding dresses. Like any animal suitors in the wild, the more elaborate the car design, the more Crashers it seems to attract.

In yet a third turn, Rant spreads rabies as though it is a venereal disease and the whole book takes a twist into time travel. Perhaps the oddest and most interesting hypothesis posed in the book comes when Rant discovers that if he can travel back in time (of course by Party Crashing in a blaze of fireball glory) and stop a former version of himself from having less than honorable relations with his mother, then he can prevent his birth and therefore become a God without a beginning or an end. An odd way to attain a supernatural existence and a distinct turn on the usual concept of, if you go back in time and accidentally kill your grandfather then you will have never been born and will disappear on the spot.

What I liked: Party Crashing. Reading about it totally made me want to be a part of this non-existent lifestyle, akin to the way that reading Fight Club made me want to find an underground fighting league. Chuck has an amazing way of creating these little collectives of people that are odd in their own right, but also amazingly free spirits that you just want to be a part of.

What I didn't like: Ok, so the way this book was formatted was confusing to say the least. Each section of the story was told by accounts or recollections of various characters. While this was at first confusing, once you get the hang of it, it really seems to work. Also, the storylines...oh the storyline..., just trying to recount what happened in this book, I left out a few arcs. There was just too much here...it seemed like about five Books instead of one.

Last word: This book is good. While it is no Fight Club, no Choke, no Diary, not really even a good Invisible Monsters, it is all in itself supremely odd and unapologetically Chuck.

Reviewed by Scott

December 02, 2008.

Very Enjoyable.....

Rating: 5
I really enjoyed this novel and have read others by Palahniuk... I'd put it up there with Survivor. A little choppy at first, but it all came together nicely. Would love to see the challenge of making this into a movie!

Ben

December 11, 2008.

Great.

Rating: 5
I thought the book had everything this modern-day cultures needs to help people see outside the box.

December 06, 2008.

Thanks.

Rating: 5
The book was in great condition and came a little late but I think it had to ship pretty far so no biggie.

December 23, 2008.

An Amazing Book!.

Rating: 5
To put it simply, I loved this book! When I first started to read it I was a little put off by how the author had the story narrated but I came to love it. The book has different people telling different accounts connected to the main character Rant/Buster Casey. At first each person would bring up some event that doesn't make sense but when the other accounts from different people were read you understand what is going on. The imagination the author must have to think of such a story! I didn't even know he wrote Fight Club when I picked up the book but I will definitely be looking for other Books of his. I enjoyed this book and will tell others about it and the author.