Chuck Palahniuk, �Survivor�
Have you ever had an affinity for a certain product, only to have it pull some sort of gimmicky crap that makes you want to stop buying it? For instance, I like Coke better than Pepsi, but I hate coke commercials (though come to think of it, I hate Pepsi commercials as well). The point is, I like Coke because it tastes better than most other colas (though I must admit I�m drinking Whiskey and Simply Soda right now), not because they have cool commercials or interesting art deco designs for their label.
I bring up this rather lame example because Palahniuk is an incredibly gimmicky writer. His plots for the four books I�ve now read by him follow a certain pattern � man (and one woman) involved with support group for the wrong reasons, hooks up with a partner from said group who is even more messed up then they are. In a twisted sense of self-righteousness, they do things they probably shouldn�t do.
But the gimmicks seem to work. We get people asking for his books all the time (though nobody, myself included can pronounce this guy�s name). When we do get his books in, he is one of the few authors that we will charge higher than the normal half of the cover price.
Survivor, Palahniuk�s second novel, is the most gimmicky of them all. From having the chapters unfold backward, putting the near end take place at the very beginning, never putting the main character�s words into quotations and having the page numbers unfold in reverse, this entire book is an exercise in hipster style. Though I did like the page number thing � it showed me how much I had to go, rather than how much I had read already. All too often I will stop and check how many pages I have left. I didn�t need to do that in this case.
My book has no page numbers. How�s that for a gimmick?
The thing is, I don�t think he needs these bells and whistles. His writing is strong enough to stand on its own, even if it is derivative of his other books.
Anyhoo, the character this time around is a surviving member of a Jim Jones like cult. His support group this time around comes from a counselor from the federal government and his therapist. Afraid to kill himself as his church doctrine dictates, he starts a suicide hotline whereupon he urges the callers to off themselves instead. A woman calls his hotline, one whom he�s spotted before and has a crush on, and he surreptitiously arranges for them to meet.
Chaos ensues amid a lot of gimmicks.
Though perhaps I�m being a little harsh. After all, I did like the book. But I felt like I was being thrown a lot of catchy commercial jingles and flashy artwork rather than just letting the story unfold, and I resented it. If the book had less concentration on the bells and whistles, I would feel it was more honest.
Still, I bought the book, and thus the commercials must be serving their purpose.
