Tender Branson, the last surviving member of the Creedish death cult, has commandeered a Boeing 747, emptied of passengers, in order to tell his story to the plane's black box before it crashes. Brought up by the repressive cult and, like all Creedish younger sons, hired out as a domestic servant, Tender finds himself suddenly famous when his fellow cult members all commit suicide. As media messiah, he ascends to the very top of the freak-show heap before finally and apocalyptically spiralling out of control.
Some say that the apocalypse swiftly approacheth, but that simply ain't so according to Chuck Palahniuk. Oh no. It's already here, living in the head of the guy who just crossed the street in front of you, or maybe even closer than that. We saw these possibilities get played out in the author's bloodsporting-anarchist-yuppie shocker of a first novel, Fight Club. Now, in Survivor, his second and newest, the concern is more for the origin of the malaise. Starting at chapter 47 and screaming toward ground zero, Palahniuk hurls the reader back to the beginning in a breathless search for where it all went wrong. This time out, the author's protagonist is self-made, self-ruined mogul-messiah Tender Branson, the sole passenger of a jet moments away from slamming first into the Australian outback and then into oblivion. All that will be left, Branson assures us with a tone bordering on relief, is his life story, from its Amish-on-acid cult beginnings to its televangelist-huckster end. All of this courtesy of the plane's flight recorder.
Speaking of little black boxes, Skinnerians would have a field day with the presenting behavior of the folks who make up Palahniuk's world. They pretend they're suicide hotline operators for fun. They eat lobster before it's quite... done. They dance in morgues. The Cleavers they are not. Scary as they might be, these characters are ultimately more scared of themselves than you are, and that's what makes them so fascinating. In the wee hours and on lonely highways, they exist in a perpetual twilight, caught between the horror of the present and the dread of the unknown. With only two novels under his belt, Chuck Palahniuk is well on his way to becoming an expert at shining a light on these shadowy creatures. --Bob Michaels
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
Chuck at his finest...:
Definitely one of his better books. I've read Survivor multiple times. I can't say that for his other titles. It has wonderful cooking and cleaning tips as well as that trademark Chuck Palahniuk style. You will never look at a dashboard Jesus the same. I highly recommend it. Whether you're already a fan and just stumbling upon his work. It's a quick and fun read so read it already.
Chuck Does it Again:
I read this after tearing through "Choke," another masterful novel. Admittedly, I'm not much of a novel reader. I gravitate toward non-fiction, but Palahniuk is a great writer that can really pull me in to his story. After choke, this story took a little longer to get into, but I enjoyed it very much. There is something about his writing that strikes me as very profound: he either writes about what you already know in a way you hadn't been able to express before or convinces you that you think the same... more info
A rollercoaster with few surprises...:
I've been on this ride before, I think, as I strap myself in and open up to the first page of "Survivor." You'd really think that it would be impossible for a novel by a writer as fiercely original as CP to be formulaic--but write enough of them quickly enough at the pace that today's publishers insist to justify their marketing budgets and make their millions and you end up with Danielle Steel...and now, not quite, but almost, and still a lot more interesting, Chuck Palahniuk. In this one, a... more info
we're all conformists:
This book deftly shows what the difference is between groups like Jonestown, the Amish and those within the mainstream culture: nothing. We are all fated to be just alike the only difference with groups such as the Amish, etc., is that at least they are aware of their conformity. Brilliant little piece of work.
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