I have often said there is no reason to read fiction as life is far stranger and more interesting and it is this premise that leads award winning and best selling author Chuck Palahniuk to write this compilation of real life oddities and bizarre observations.

Organized into journalistic sketches, Palahniuk describes such things as:

out in the open pornography
wheat field combine demolition derbies
the art of American castle building (there is a castle near where I live that hosts a Renaissance festival every year)
fun with anabolic steroids
the secret, hidden sex life of submariners
the politics of solitude
modern philosophy of Marilyn Manson
the applied, visionary genius of Ira Levin and many more.

All the sketches are good and frequently Palahniuk hits a chord and becomes very good.

I mean, Classic Chuck. As with any collection of short stories, there were some I didn't love; however there were not any that I would call a dud. Hilarious, witty, satirical, reflective, its all in here and I powered through in two sittings. Absolutely loved the interview with Juliette Lewis.

Appunti sparsi (.... molto sparsi) di vita vissuta. Dall'America della provincia piu' profonda alle luci di Hollywood, sempre ai confini dell'assurdo. Alcuni stralci di quasi poesia in un contesto, per il resto, piuttosto piatto.

Though this is Non-fiction, it still delivers the best of  Chuck Palahniuk

We all know Chuck Palahniuk right?

Even if you haven't read him, you probably know what he represents.



That's not him, that's Henry Rollins, but you get the point.

Palahniuk is the white male that has found a way out of a life of corporate unfulfillment. He is the fellow captured soldier who escaped past the POW fence one night.

Even though you are still in the cage, you cheer him on with your fellow captured soldiers. You wish him well, and tell him not to come back.

Why?

He offers you the hope for escape yourself - just by letting you know it is possible.

He left behind an extensive escape plan for you to read, and to one day make your own plan.

And of course, there is the chance that he is coming back with an army, so that everyone is freed.

Though this book is Non-fiction, it distills the best of Palahniuk and gives it to you straight

Palahniuk gets into rarely-visited situations as a journalist - he visits wrestlers in their element, or explores the world of combine-demolition derbies.

He is not  Gabriela Wiener - she finds insane situations and then enters them.

Palahniuk will just witness a combine-demolition derby. He will not drive one of them in a competition.

But still - every page holds insight.

If anything, this reminds me of  Jonathan Franzen's  The End of the End of the Earth - just a collection of a contemporary fiction author's best non-fiction. Each one is short, and each one can change you.

This book was strangely good, I didn't like Haunted by him. I'm setting the bars high for Fight Club, and glad I gained a better perception of him. His writing is really good, and interesting. Some of the chapter/story/essays were better than others. In my honest opinion, the first story/essay/chapter was complete utter nonsense, testicle festival? please. The murder of his father, ghost stories, confessions in stone, and introduction were my absolute favourite. It was so intriguing to read about these things, that aren't really thought about.
Personally, the portraits were also just okay.
I still really liked the book, it's something I would re-read and like to have an intricate discussion about. It's... strange.

I think at 26 years of age I am finally over the phase of my life where I enjoy Chuck Palahniuk books.

I wanted to like this way more than I did, as I love stories about the things and the people who occupy the margins of society. Unfortunately many of the essays read like collections of notes, rewritten as to form a cogent narrative, but really lacked that certain something that makes them readable. There were a few times I nearly dozed off during an essay - never a good sign.

HOWEVER. There were two really wonderful pieces that I think made the whole experience worthwhile. The first was about the writers at a writer's conference, you know, one of those deals where a writer pays $75 in exchange for the opportunity to pitch her story to agents and publishers. It was so sad and yet so poignant, to think of all of the people out there hoping they can peddle their story into something bigger, some recognition or some money, perhaps. He took it beyond that, and talked about the way writers mine the world around them for material, to the point where sometimes they get so wrapped up in thinking about how they will turn this thing or that person into fodder for their latest story that they lose the ability to take life on its own terms. I really loved this essay.

I also loved the final one, which mostly pivoted around the murder of his father by some jealous lunatic ex-husband of a woman he had just started seeing. Very powerful.

But aside from those two essays I didn't really like much about this book.

Well. This is the most trouble I've ever had with a Chuck Palahniuk book. Palahniuk is my favorite author so I've read *most* of his books (I think I just have three to go?) and this one has been sitting on my shelf for years. For this nonfiction November, I decided it was finally time to give it a go. Well. I did not have a good time.

The first section of the book was all stories about stuff that I just... didn't care about? Wrestling and monster trucks and how to build castles???? (I was ranting to my boyfriend and he said it's because those are all incredibly male subjects honestly that could've been the problem.) They also just... weren't written in an appealing fashion either? I just found the first section so boring?

After that, it did pick up though and about halfway through, I did start to really enjoy this book. A lot of the later stories in this collection (particularly the ones specifically about the author's life and about Fight Club), I found really interesting and really enjoyed reading. But, unfortunately, with these types of books, you do have to review the book ~as a whole and there were only a few standouts in the whole collection.

So I've now read all of Palahniuk's nonfiction and, unfortunately, I only liked one of the three. What I did like about this was seeing how many true stories influenced his fiction. It was really fun to see what thread created something I loved from one of his fictional books. So that was my biggest takeaway. But, unfortunately, most of this just was not for me? But I'm glad to say that I've read it and now I'll go back to catching up on his fiction.

Alot of fun little true story's. Some of the inspiration for fight club and anecdotes. He's the kind of creator that loves the craft and doesn't care what others think. Stay weird buddy.

This non-fiction short story collection is divided into three sections: People Together, Portraits, and Personal. As I finish each section, I'll briefly review each short story separately because the problem with short story books is that they can so easily be hit and miss every few pages. Some of it can be gold and some of it can be shit. This is the only way I'll ever remember how much of it was which type. The score next to the title of each story will be on the same five-star scale GoodReads uses for books as a whole.

Testy Festy (2/5) - Chuck's experience at what is essentially a weird orgy in the Midwest. Very graphic, but well written. Still not my cup of tea. Weird way to start a book.

Where Meet Comes From (4/5) - Chuck attends a wrestling competition for Olympic hopefuls. It's a very interesting look into a world I never would have thought about, but very painful to read about in the places where various injuries are discussed.

You Are Here (4/5) - Short piece about pitch-conferences where people pray to sell their story as a movie or book to a producer (or less than that) who they've paid $20-$50 to listen to them for seven minutes. Incredibly well written. Moderately sad or disheartening.

Demolition (1/5) - Chuck goes to a demolition derby that uses tractors insead of cars. I'm sure would be a blast to watch, but it was not particularly fun to read about.

My Life as a Dog (5/5) - Chuck and a friend dress up in animal costumes and walk around Seattle. Mostly stupid and pointless, but a very fun, short read.

Confessions in Stone (1/5) - Chuck talks to people that build castles as a hobby. Sounds interesting as a blurb. Very long and boring in reality.

Frontiers (4/5) - Chuck tries steroids. That's a really over-simplified explanation of this very short story, but it was still interesting and educational.

The People Can (5/5) - Chuck spends some time on a Navy submarine. Incredibly interesting stuff. Mostly educational, but I loved every word.

The Lady (5/5) - Chuck's thoughts on the supernatural and some his own personal experiences with it. My favorite story in this whole section of the book. Highly recommended for anyone, even if you just pick it up and read it there in the library without ever worrying about the rest of the book.

Most of these are very enjoyable. The biggest problem is that the two stories I hated were the longest stories by FAR and they were just really outrageously boring to the point that I struggled to push through them. Like I said, hit and miss. Just major major misses.

The second third of the book is title Portraits and is a series of interview with individuals of varying fame and profession. It was an odd section because the assortment is so random, but I think overall it was a more consistent segment than the first.

In Her Own Words (3/5) – Chuck interviews actress Juliette Lewis. She talks about various parts of films she’s been in and things she believes about work and life. It’s a consistently interesting interview, but not about an actress I’ve ever found myself wanting to learn more about.

Why Isn’t He Budging (1/5) – A series of quotes from Andrew Sullivan, a gay political blogger. The quotes themselves aren’t bad, but there’s no story here. No context. No structure. It’s basically just a one-sided type-up of things a guy said over the course of a few hours. I would’ve learned more from reading his Wikipedia.

Not Chasing Amy (4/5) – Chuck gushes over author Amy Hempel’s body of work. He succeeded in both making me curious to read these book’s I’ve never heard of and making me terrified to read them since he claims once you’re done with it “you’re ruined”. “You go beyond this point, and almost every book you’ll ever read will suck.” Those are direct quotes. That’s a scary sales pitch. Very well written piece though.

Reading Yourself (5/5) – Chuck interview shock-rocker Marilyn Manson. The interview is structured around Manson doing his own Tarot card reading. Some of it delves into his history, his future, his plans, his relationships, and beyond. I don’t listen to Marilyn Manson, but I find him intriguing. Between that and the equally interesting and educational lesson on Tarot cards, I loved this entry.

Bodhisattvas (5/5) – Chuck interviews a woman named Michelle Keating who trains dogs to find bodies in the aftermath of horrible natural disasters. I was biased for this one because I love dogs so much and will happily learn about anything involving them that you want to share with me. Due to their primary duty in this situation is to locate dead bodies, it wasn’t super uplifting, but I still was hooked on reading it.

Human Error (5/5) – Chuck interviews Brian Walker, aka Rocket Guy, aka the guy who wants to be the first person independently launched into space (or at least 50 miles up) by his own invention. Walker is quite the character. I wasn’t bored for a single sentence of what was one of the longest Portraits of the bunch. It’s difficult to explain the draw, but it was fascinating as soon as it started.

Dear Mr. Levin (5/5) – Chuck writes a veritable love letter to Ira Levin, the author behind Rosemary’s Baby and The Stepford Wives among others. The analysis of his work was spot on and very enjoyable to read.

The final section of the book is called "Personal" and recounts some of Palahniuk's personal experience, most of them revolving around the success of Fight Club as it became a movie. The whole section was very interesting, but every story was too short and not different enough to bother rating individually. I give the whole section a (4/5).

There were times when I thought I would regret agreeing to read this book, but in the end I'm really glad I did. The lows are very low, but all said, they're few and far between and the rest of the material solidly ranges from Good to Very Good.

I've long been a fan of Chuck Palahniuk's writing style. His terse descriptions, his liberal peppering of random facts and hard data, his repetition of key lines for poetic resonance, and his infusion of intelligent thought into lurid and pulpy material all combine to make one of my favorite storytelling voices. He may not have been the first to do any of them, or maybe even the first to do them all together, but what I find so appealing is that he's a skilled raconteur who knows how to spin a good yarn, or at least an entertaining one. Yeah, I've long been a fan of his style ... but I've only ever seen it applied to his fiction and never even considered that it could also be applied to writings based in real life. Then again, truth is ... you can fill in the rest.

The book is called Stranger Than Fiction, but a look at the selections may be a bit underwhelming for those who are used to his actual fiction. Chuck's stories explore the nasty and seedy underbelly of society, the parts that "decent people" don't like to talk about. His main characters have survived doomsday cults, provoked spiders to bite them as a fetish, and infiltrated normal American families so they could secretly engage in acts of terrorism. The book has a promising start with "Testy Festy," a real attention-grabber that describes, in graphic detail and clinical prose, a festival of public sex acts. However, it's a Trojan horse: in these articles, Chuck profiles amateur wrestlers, submarine crewmen, and Americans who build castles as a hobby. A profile of Marilyn Manson seems promising, but his frightening reputation is, like many images in the music business, intentionally cultivated. Chuck is so edgy in his stories, but he's pretty tame in the real-life subjects he chooses to write about.

Sadly, some of these stories aren't even all that interesting. For example, much of the "Portraits" section - nestled between the first section, "People Together," and the last section, "Personal" - is weak compared to the rest. I didn't find much of interest in his interviews with actress Juliette Lewis and political commentator Andrew Sullivan, though maybe that's because I didn't know them. But then, I'm more familiar with Marilyn Manson, whose own article is also forgettable. Another example is "Demolition," a story about destruction derbies featuring farm combines. Sounds exciting, until Chuck insists on providing precise play-by-plays that readers can't even picture in their minds.

But by far, my least favorite piece is definitely "Confessions in Stone" - it describes three dudes' obsessions with making castles and extensively details their processes for insulation and sewage and other homemaking stuff. It's extremely tedious, and the worst part is that it goes on for a full *thirty pages,* longer than any other story in the book. I've started and stopped Stranger Than Fiction a couple of times since I first got it, and when I finally committed to reading it all the way through, I knew I had to skip this one for my own sake. Thanks to that choice, I made it from Page 1 to 100 in a single evening.

That should actually indicate why I still gave this book four stars: other than the snoozes and the goddamn castle-building, Stranger Than Fiction is, for the most part, an entertaining and intriguing read. His subjects don't seem as promising as the plots of Survivor or Fight Club, but Chuck proves that he doesn't have to be lurid to be interesting. For example, reading about an Olympic Trial for wrestling may not sound all that exciting, but "Where Meat Comes From" is one of the better pieces in the book for how strongly it humanizes the competitors of a sport that is generally dismissed for negative stereotypes. This story stands out because it showcases the personalities and motivations of the participants, but the way he details the rituals and philosophies specific to the wrestling lifestyle is common to plenty of other stories in the book.

If there's one reason to read this book, it's the articles that let him discuss reading and writing. Like I said before, I greatly admire Chuck's writing style, and I was absolutely ecstatic that this collection provided greater insight from the man himself about how he constructs his writing. "Consolation Prizes" shows how he combined many disparate elements of his life, from his disappointment with his father to the speaking habits of a foreign friend, to write Fight Club. "Not Chasing Amy," an essay/tribute to author Amy Hempel, retells the lessons he learned from his writing mentor Tom Spanbauer. "You Are Here," perhaps my favorite article in the entire book, uses the occasion of a writer's conference at a hotel to expound, in all conceivable directions, on the state of writing in the modern world. For the purest example of Chuck describing his writing process and philosophy, look no further than his introduction, which no reader should skip.

I acknowledge that I'm naturally drawn to those articles and others like them because I'm an English major with a concentration in Creative Writing. Talking in depth about reading and writing is my whole shtick, it's what I'm racking up tens of thousands of dollars in student loans to do. But I really can't help seeing this book as an excellent opportunity to think deeper about what makes Chuck's writing style hit - and occasionally, miss. For example, when he starts mentioning that he graduated with a degree in journalism and wrote most of these articles as magazine or newspaper features before hitting the big-time with Fight Club, many aspects of his writing style fall into place. It's not just that his mentor was big on minimalism: terse descriptions and the integration of hard data into a narrative are key skills for any journalist. His narrative voice for his novels is as detached as a journalist is required to be when writing news articles. When I realized that, I gained a much greater appreciation for Chuck and for this book.

Stranger Than Fiction isn't always interesting, but when it hits, it's fascinating. Anyone interested in reading it and avoiding the lamer pieces can find single-sentence summaries of each on the Wikipedia article for the book. However, those premises don't all do their stories justice - "Now I Remember..." is way funnier than its description suggests. I would strongly recommend trying the whole book from start to finish and finding what you specifically like, because I'm sure that for some people, castle-building is the coolest thing in the world.

Quotes 'n Notes:

- "Thank you for the best fucking part of my whole fucking career!" Chuck quotes Brad Pitt as saying this upon meeting him on the set of Fight Club. I'm inclined to agree.
- "In the new and politically corrected Navy, the dark-blue coveralls crewmen wear while on patrol are no longer called 'poopie suits.'" That's a pity.
- Chuck talks about Fight Club in at least five of the seven stories in the "Personal" section. On the one hand, sudden success can provide plenty of material for up-and-coming writers. On the other hand, you can only mention that you've met Brad Pitt so many times before it sounds like you're name-dropping ...
- I hate to accuse Chuck of fabricating his stories, but as a tarot reader myself, I'm a little skeptical that Marilyn Manson just happened to get a whopping ten Major Arcana cards in his self-reading. For reference, there are only 21 Major Arcana cards total in a standard deck of 78.
- Thanks to this book, I finally have a word for my terrible habit of waiting until the eleventh hour to finish any work I have: brinksmanship. That word's typically used to refer to the arms race in the Cold War, but this new definition is way more convenient.
- Amy Hempel is now on my to-read list. I love Chuck's sense of minimalism, and for him to say she does it best means her work must be worth checking out.

Adoro Palahniuk, e in questo libro è interessantissimo scoprire da cosa gli sono venuti alcuni degli spunti poi confluiti nei suoi libri.
Situazioni assurde della vita reale, raduni di gente che trova un proprio scopo in un'attività e fa in modo di ritrovarsi con altri suoi simili. Sia questa attività il sesso esibizionista, la lotta, gli scontri tra mototrebbiatrici, la costruzione di castelli in pietra.

Interessante anche la parte con i brevi aneddoti tratti dall'esperienza personale di Chuck, prevalentemente dedicati al periodo in cui Fight Club era all'apice della notorietà, con il film in produzione.

Non mi sono piaciuti i "ritratti".


Ma i racconti non mi piacciono, e questi non sono nemmeno racconti.
Interessanti, ma nulla di più.