You know the old saying about how such-and-such is so good a writer that, hell, even if they published a recipe book folks would still read every word.
Well, it turns out that all those literary critics have got their wish, since one can find plenty of recipe's for various mouth-watering dishes within the bindings of Fugitives And Refugees by Chuck Palahniuk, author of The Punching Society.
What Fugitives And Refugees concerns itself with is being a non-fictional tour-guide type affair with regards Portland, Oregon, which is not only the best song on Loretta Lynn's latest record, but also a place in its own right.
And what a place.
Chuck has no time for the usual tourist guff about souvenir stores and where can you find a good B&B and what not. Chuck, in fact, is much more concerned with stuff like where one can get a decent hand-job whilst watching hardcore pornography, and where the best places are to find ghosts.
And he also has a few pages of recipes.
What other best-selling novelist would fill their latest book with stories from residents, recipes from residents, and directions to locations in a place most folks have no intentions of ever going to? As much as Stephen King likes Maine, he's yet to offer any substantial text regarding the best way to cook meatballs according to Maine residents, or how to get to the cinema where one gets naked whilst the film is on.
That's a downright lackadaisical approach, Stephen King.
This Palahniuk fella is one of The Duke's favorite authors of writing, a fact which will be readily apparent to anyone who studied The Duke's Analysis Of Diary By Chuck Palahniuk, and this book about the city what he loves does no disservice to his motherfucking prodigiously good oeuvre. Who knows, maybe every book ever written about Portland, Oregon is filled with tales of stale semen and mini-riots, and if any of you in the web-net literary cognoscenti are reading, then feel free to correct me, since I'm guessing that most of them lack any reference to oral sex or even prostitutes. But then, I have never read any other literature relating to this area of the U S A of America, nor indeed much travel literature in general, although I did attempt to read McCarthy's Bar, and I'm sure it's very good if you like that sort of thing.
Chuck P has gone ahead and crafted this little diamond of travel-literature like he would one of his novels about folks that punch each other on account of the disenfranchisement, or women who shoot themselves in the face or lullaby's what kill you when you hear them. He fills the pages with characters both bizarre and fascinating, the whole fascination factor upped considerably by the fact that, well, these folks are real. In fact, in most cases there's even detailed directions for how and where to meet them.
Article comments
1 - Chris Kent
I personally believe any great writer should create at least one ode to his/her hometown, to include recipes, places to masturbate at the movie, sites where sods lost their marbles and began randomly firing uzis, vacant lots where serial killer homes once stood, homes of Presidential assassins, graves of voodoo priestesses, hangouts of Bonnie & Clyde and empty warehouses where Robert Johnson supposedly recorded that lost song.
While I have never been to Oregon, I do have a happy-go-lucky cousin who lives in Portalnd with his girlfriend. They manage an art gallery and undoubtedly head to the great masturbation theatre now and then. If I ever visit them (I rather doubt it), I will have to give Chuck's hometown tribute a read.......
Great authors taking a turn off the familiar path to examine their lives almost always create something fascinating (Ellroy and McMurtry both come to mind). Sounds like Palahniuk's work is more fascinating than most.....
2 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
Chris, thanks for the comments.
Yes, i heartily reccommend Chuck without fear of contradiction. He is one of the most original writers i've encountered in years.
And i agree with the sentiments that every great writer should have an ode to their hometown somewhere amongst the canon. I'm planning my own mondo irlando-based jaunt around my hometown as i type, although mine will have less nice paragraphs and great words, and probably more motherfuck's.
Thanks Chris!
3 - Eric Olsen
This is a very fine, almost striaght review - what has befallen you El Duque? If it wasn't for the one "motherfucking" I'd have thought I was reading the NY Times Book Review. In a good way.
4 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
Eric! Slander!
Hehe. Thanks for the kind words, and i can only assume that some kind of literary-based witchcraft was hurled in the direction of The Duke whilst typing this here piece about Chuck P.
Who knows, maybe the NY Times Collection Of Recent Writings About The Books will be reading this here and saying, "y'know what, we really could have used a few more motherfuck's in that review of Salmun Rushdie's latest offering. Maybe we should contact The Duke via electrical email."
Thanks Eric.
Thanks NY Times