[quote]Ambugaton wrote:
I’m about half way through “Absalom, Absalom” right now. I think Faulkner deserves mention in this thread. Any Faulkner fans who have read more than “The Sound and the Fury”?[/quote]
Almost ashamed to admit this as an English major, but the only Faulkner I’ve read is the short story “A Rose for Emily.” That was pretty dark.
[quote]BobParr wrote:
[quote]Ambugaton wrote:
I’m about half way through “Absalom, Absalom” right now. I think Faulkner deserves mention in this thread. Any Faulkner fans who have read more than “The Sound and the Fury”?[/quote]
Almost ashamed to admit this as an English major, but the only Faulkner I’ve read is the short story “A Rose for Emily.” That was pretty dark.[/quote]
Homework for you. Go read Light in August. Seriously, it’s probably my favorite thing he’s written. A Rose for Emily is a great short story though. Did you know that “Oh Brother Where Art Thou?” is actually based as much off of one of Faulkner’s short stories as it is off The Odyssey? I believe the story is called “The Flood”
I didn’t care for the Deer Hunter, but I was never into buddy comedies.
Stole that from Down and Out Rambo who is pretty hilarious on twitter.
Anyone mentioned Murakami yet?
Not disturbing in a graphic way, but in a mentally, subtle, dreamlike way. Which to me is more disturbing than deliberate attempt at the grotesque.
[quote]digitalairair wrote:
Anyone mentioned Murakami yet?
Not disturbing in a graphic way, but in a mentally, subtle, dreamlike way. Which to me is more disturbing than deliberate attempt at the grotesque. [/quote]
On that same note … Yotsuya Kaiden? The Ring by Koji Suzuki?
http://news.yahoo.com/pinkberry-founder-young-lee-arrested-assault-171049892--abc-news.html
Real life Patrick Bateman.
[quote]Vicomte wrote:
http://news.yahoo.com/pinkberry-founder-young-lee-arrested-assault-171049892--abc-news.html
Real life Patrick Bateman.[/quote]
More like this guy.
I am surprised Palahniuk isnt mentioned more. No one has read Haunted? I set that book down 2x for 3 months each. He fucked with a lot of fans at readings of that book. People passing out and throwing up during the readings.
Chemical Pink is interesting about a female bodybuilder.
Porn star ashley blue just wrote a memoir that seems good.
Knockemstiff was good, some distrubing things.
Bateman never killed anyone. If you read carefully it says so. Ellis is so detailed its hard to read word for word.
Screwjack by Hunter S thompson is strange. Bad acid trip and so much love for his cat he wants to fuck it.
Go Ask Alice is fucked up.
Ah fuck, I killed the convo 
We Have Always Lived In the Castle.
Bit of a sleeper, but it’ll do the deed.
[quote]hipsr4runnin wrote:
I am surprised Palahniuk isnt mentioned more. No one has read Haunted? I set that book down 2x for 3 months each. He fucked with a lot of fans at readings of that book. People passing out and throwing up during the readings.
Chemical Pink is interesting about a female bodybuilder.
Porn star ashley blue just wrote a memoir that seems good.
Knockemstiff was good, some distrubing things.
Bateman never killed anyone. If you read carefully it says so. Ellis is so detailed its hard to read word for word.
Screwjack by Hunter S thompson is strange. Bad acid trip and so much love for his cat he wants to fuck it.
Go Ask Alice is fucked up.
[/quote]
I think Palahniuk is a bit of a hack, to be honest. He’s in the same vein as the guy who wrote “Everything is Illuminated,” wherein the story is carried by small, relatively original ideas which fail to add up to anything more than the sum of their parts.
In other words, reading Palahniuk is like riding one of those horror-theme rollercoasters; things pop out and startle you, and you remember some of the details, but nothing carries through to the end of the novel in such a way to make it truly important. Of course it’s possible that this void in his work is indicitive of a deeper problem in the worth of the times for which he is writing, but I don’t care to go that far.
[quote]Ambugaton wrote:
I think Palahniuk is a bit of a hack, to be honest. He’s in the same vein as the guy who wrote “Everything is Illuminated,” wherein the story is carried by small, relatively original ideas which fail to add up to anything more than the sum of their parts. In other words, reading Palahniuk is like riding one of those horror-theme rollercoasters; things pop out and startle you, and you remember some of the details, but nothing carries through to the end of the novel in such a way to make it truly important. Of course it’s possible that this void in his work is indicitive of a deeper problem in the worth of the times for which he is writing, but I don’t care to go that far. [/quote]
Agreed. Is there any way that he could write the same damn book once again and sell a ton of copies just because he’s got a goofy memorable Ukrainian name? Probably.
If using the same few tired narrative devices and pointless trivia inserts (seriously, does this guy just walk around and keep a journal filled with trivia) constitutes award winning literature then I better start building another mantle on my fireplace. I’m not saying it’s all bad, but I think his style of writing is more than a bit redundant and self-indulgent. Mainly I think it is undeserving of serious literary awards.
Without a doubt the most distrubing book I have ever read. True testament to the fact that real life will always be that wee bit more freaky deaky
Tropic of Capricorn- Henry Miller is pretty much an insane nihlist that writes beautiful, though disturbing prose.
The Original Solaris by Tarkovsky is a pretty cool and unique sci fi movie.
Journey to the End of the Night - Celine writes with such disgust and detachment regarding his character’s journeys from WW1 to african colonies, then to America. His satirical musings on human nature are poignant enough to make you put down the book and etch his words into your skull.
[quote]Ambugaton wrote:
[quote]hipsr4runnin wrote:
I am surprised Palahniuk isnt mentioned more. No one has read Haunted? I set that book down 2x for 3 months each. He fucked with a lot of fans at readings of that book. People passing out and throwing up during the readings.
Chemical Pink is interesting about a female bodybuilder.
Porn star ashley blue just wrote a memoir that seems good.
Knockemstiff was good, some distrubing things.
Bateman never killed anyone. If you read carefully it says so. Ellis is so detailed its hard to read word for word.
Screwjack by Hunter S thompson is strange. Bad acid trip and so much love for his cat he wants to fuck it.
Go Ask Alice is fucked up.
[/quote]
I think Palahniuk is a bit of a hack, to be honest. He’s in the same vein as the guy who wrote “Everything is Illuminated,” wherein the story is carried by small, relatively original ideas which fail to add up to anything more than the sum of their parts.
In other words, reading Palahniuk is like riding one of those horror-theme rollercoasters; things pop out and startle you, and you remember some of the details, but nothing carries through to the end of the novel in such a way to make it truly important. Of course it’s possible that this void in his work is indicitive of a deeper problem in the worth of the times for which he is writing, but I don’t care to go that far. [/quote]
I do think Chuckie tends to write the same book over and over again, but I still enjoy him. Also, my brother in law Jake wrote him a letter and he wrote back, enclosing a beaded bracelet that spells out “Chuckie P <3 Jake”, so he’s a creepy winner in my book.
I like Chuck. Fight CLub was a game changer for me, personally but I was like 13 when it was written. He is a bizarre individual who has some crazy rumors that float about him. During Fight CLubs upcoming he was interviewed and as he greated the reporter outside his door he started beating the shit out of himself and they finished the interview in the hospital (I remember reading). A like that a lot of his stuff is “based on actual events.”
I dig his trivia, and yes, he has storage spaces where he keeps facts he collects in filing cabinets. Some times the authors become more intriguing than the stories they write. Hunter is a good example.
[quote]hipsr4runnin wrote:
I like Chuck. Fight CLub was a game changer for me, personally but I was like 13 when it was written. He is a bizarre individual who has some crazy rumors that float about him. During Fight CLubs upcoming he was interviewed and as he greated the reporter outside his door he started beating the shit out of himself and they finished the interview in the hospital (I remember reading). A like that a lot of his stuff is “based on actual events.”
I dig his trivia, and yes, he has storage spaces where he keeps facts he collects in filing cabinets. Some times the authors become more intriguing than the stories they write. Hunter is a good example. [/quote]
I also read Fight Club at a young age, and really loved it. With a few friends we formed our own club and tried to kick the shit out of each other, luckily we were too young to really hurt each other seriously. But ooh those split lips really sting…
I think Chuck is (like you said) a pretty simple case of the myth becoming larger than the man. My issue is with his writing and not him. This is the only context in which your Thompson analogy is valid. Thompson would often complain in his old age that too many people wanted to meet Thompson the character and not the man. I believe that was a small contributing factor to him offing himself. But he could write well, really well in fact. I think we are totally in agreement though.
For me it boils down to Chuck P. having too few tricks in his very tired bag. The fact that much of his writing is ‘based on…’ doesn’t make it good, and while it may make it more interesting (for me it does, I like non-fiction/memoir) I too often find myself wondering just how ‘based on…’ it really is. The trivia thing is a totally different matter. I think that’s just poor lazy naive writing that coming from a Portlandier can’t help but come off as pretentious. There are good ways and bad ways to include very interesting stuff into stories. Honestly, I have a bias against him just for being from Portlandia. For the same reason that I left the twin cities, and for the same reason that I left the quad cities, and for the same reason that I’m now regretting living in Colorado the home state of the Kerouac school of writing. After being on the editing staff for a non-fiction arts and lit journal it’s funny how every wanna-be memoir starts to sound a lot like every other wanna-be memoir, and who was going around 20 some years ago telling every kid that they will need to write down all their dumbass stories so they can try to publish them when they grow up even though their life will otherwise be totally insignificant???
/end rant
[quote]Vicomte wrote:
[quote]Ambugaton wrote:
“American Psycho” by Bret Easton Ellis. I’m sure most of you have seen the movie, but the book is infinitely more disturbing.
As far as McCarthy is concerned, I think “Blood Meridian” is far superior to and darker than “The Road.”
I thought “The Gunslinger” was a good book, but just about everything after that in the Darktower series was increasingly campy.
The last thing I want to mention is a movie called “Antichrist.” I have not seen a film that left me so chilled for so long in years. It’s not what it sounds like, either. [/quote]
I’m reading American Psycho right now. Bout a third in. I like how casually Ellis includes the crazy bits, which seems like how an actual psychopath would think.
But having to skim every other paragraph because it’s just a list of who is wearing whom gets old.[/quote]
That’s what makes the book amazing to me, especially as a fashion and fragrance head.
The insane ammount to detail the Ellis had, how authentic it feels to fashion and fragrance fans, and how it completes capture the spirit of that era is what makes it so amazing.
[quote]Nards wrote:
^^SPOILERS FOR AMERICAN PSYCHO
I think I read somewhere that Patrick Bateman is not really a killer at all but just fantasizing because he’s stuck in such a meaningless job/life.[/quote]
The Mary Harron movie kinda leaves it up to interpretation like that, but the book is pretty specific and straightfoward about it, where Bateman even mentions killings throughout his childhood
Ryu Murakami. In the Miso Soup