Used to be Diary's weren't so entertaining to read, unless it belonged to your wife, and you found out her mom wasn't sick at all and she's been in actual fact foolin' around with some blonde from out of town. Then there were the odd one or two "celebrity" journals, like The Journals Of Kurt Cobain by Kurt Cobain, or The Journals Of George Orwell by, I think, George Orwell.
Still, unless you're a superstar or a hussy, chances are you fill your little black books with stuff about how you and Sally made cake for some old folks earlier, and how you're gonna meet Bobby for a game of chess later. Fuck, that Bobby is one hell of a player.
Trust Chuck Palahniuk, then, to shake things up a tad.
Some of you may have read Mr. Chuck's earlier works, like Ed & Brad Go Punching, or Survivor, or Lullaby, about a children's rhyme that ends up killing folks what hear it. If this is the case, it's possible that, like The Duke, you noticed a few annoying occurrences.
Like how every novel seemingly followed an identical path to the one preceding it. Like how the same characters appeared in every damn one, albeit with different names so as the reader wouldn't get confused and say "What the hell is Brad Pitt doing in this one?" These characters would be terribly jaded, and would say things like, "Everything you own, one day it's gonna turn to shit", or, "Once T-shirts were cool. Now folks wear jackets." And then, just so as you didn't miss how profound these statements were, they'd repeat them over and over.
Because repetition means it's extra profound.
Diary, however, manages to avoid the self-parodic hellhole Chuck was in danger of falling into, by toning down the ever-so-hip Gen-X clichés, and being genuinely touching and funny, even when it's talking about a kid drowning, or a bloke sticking pins through his nipples. For sure, these are never the most hilarious of subjects at the best of times, and yet Diary has one chuckling and even on occasion giggling, and generally feeling quite jolly despite the relentlessly bleak spiral of depravity it eventually succumbs to.
Because repetition means it's extra profound.
Anyway, the book takes the form of a diary written by one Misty Wilmot, as her husband Peter lies shrivelled up in a hospital bed. Peter, y'see, tried to kill himself, but succeeded only in putting himself into a coma, on account of the gas running out before he had inhaled the required volume of toxic fumes in his car.
Article comments
1 - Chris Kent
lol....excellent post Duke. We all swim in thy wake. I have not read Ol'Chuck, but will have to pick up a book (or two).....
2 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
Thank you Chris.
If you're thinking of giving Ol' Chuck a chance, Diary is actually as good a place as any to start. I forgot to mention Choke in there, about a bloke who works at a theme park and who is addicted to wanking or something, and so goes about sex therapy groups shagging all and sundry. It's very funny. Fight Club is fantastic, but the film is very VERY faithful, so it might feel like you're just reading the screenplay.
Again, thanks for the kind words!
3 - Eric Olsen
Excellent review Duke, I haven't read the wanker either, but I may have to now, and it's your fault.
4 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
lmao eric! Dont blame me, man! Actually, i ahve a notion you might enjoy ol' mr.chuck. He's one of my fave writers as i mentioned above in the bit that has the review. (note the "that" lol) This Diray malarky is probably his best thus far, although Invisible Monsters and Choke are great too. Just a bit repetitive if taken all at once. Best to read a couple books inbetween in each one. or each chapter.
5 - Tom Johnson
I'll second Choke. But then it's the only book of his I've read. And, yeah, I haven't even seen Fight Club yet. I know what you're thinking - "heathen!" Maybe someday I'll get around to that, maybe right after I start giving a crap about Quentin Tarantino (which means likely never.)
6 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
Tom, i wouldn't go so far as to say "heathen", but to be honest, I'm getting mental images of weird pagan rituals. Is that a big man made out of straw on the hill there?
Anyhow, besides your loony heathanism, don't feel bad about not seeing Ed And Brad Go Punching yet. In fact, it's probably best you waited, since you can catch it late night on telly sometime, and see it as it should be, i.e, removed from the "this is the greatest thing what i ever did see" hyperbole. Sometimes if folks like something they should just shut their yap about it. Nothing can live up to that much yacking about how great it is. I mean come on fellas, best movie of all time? He was looking for a sled! Hows that the best film ever? Didn't you see The Killing Of Bill Part 1? That had folks getting cut in two and you want me to watch a film about a sled?
Anyway, same applies to Fight Club, except theres no sleds. Its best to se these things through chance in some cases.