The Monkey King's Used Primate Emporium and Book Reviews

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Chuck Palahnuik, �Lullaby�

Started January 27 � Finished January 28, 2004; 262 pages. Posted 01 March 2004

I don�t like �What if� scenarios. What I mean by that, is people when presented with something fictional, wish it could happen to them. Flights of fancy are all well and good, but all to often, it�s just somebody co-opting somebody else�s idea. Examples:

You go to a movie that features time travel and the fat fucks sitting in front of you won�t shut up. �Ooh what if you and I could do that? That would be so cooooooool!� or people who play live-action role playing games: �Vampires are sooooo cool! What if we were vampires? Let�s run around in black at night and wear fangs and quote morose poetry!�

That being said, Lullaby has a story line where a reporter accidentally comes across an ancient verse that kills the people it�s read to. The reporter soon learns he only needs to do is think the eight lines of the poem, and the person he�s thinking of drops dead before the next morning.

Unconsciously, he kills a half-dozen people, simply because they�re annoying. The guy who bumps him on the sidewalk. The kid with the stereo that is turned way too loud. The asshole boss.

And I�m thinking if I could do this, it would be so cool.

The first 120 pages or so of this book are great, a throwback to the earlier supernatural thrillers that Stephen King wrote when he was a fairly decent writer. But Palahniuk likes his gimmicks and wacky characters and subplots, and they all start to collide toward the end, so much so that I was wishing I knew the words to the damn poem so I could kill Palahniuk.

Along with the guy who kept honking his bicycle horn this morning to alert everyone in the neighborhood that he has tamales to sell.


Rating: Worth Used.

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