Haunted

By: Chuck Palahniuk

Narrated by: Various

Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk is a novel made up of stories: Twenty-three of them, to be precise. Twenty-three of the most horrifying, hilarious, mind-blowing, stomach-churning tales you’ll ever encounter—sometimes all at once. They are told by people who have answered an ad headlined “Writers’ Retreat: Abandon Your Life for Three Months,” and who are led to believe that here they will leave behind all the distractions of “real life” that are keeping them from creating the masterpiece that is in them. But “here” turns out to be a cavernous and ornate old theater where they are utterly isolated from the outside world—and where heat and power and, most important, food are in increasingly short supply. And the more desperate the circumstances become, the more extreme the stories they tell—and the more devious their machinations become to make themselves the hero of the inevitable play/movie/nonfiction blockbuster that will surely be made from their plight.

Haunted is on one level a satire of reality television—The Real World meets Alive. It draws from a great literary tradition—The Canterbury Tales, The Decameron, the English storytellers in the Villa Diodati who produced, among other works, Frankenstein—to tell an utterly contemporary tale of people desperate that their story be told at any cost. Appallingly entertaining, Haunted is Chuck Palahniuk at his finest—which means his most extreme and his most provocative.

Critic reviews

“Reading a Palahniuk novel is like getting zipped inside a boxer’s heavy bag while the author goes to work on you, pounding you until there is nothing left but a big bag of bones and blood and pain.” —The Miami Herald“To Palahniuk’s credit, there is something here to appall almost every sensibility. The author has a singular knack for coming up with inventive new ways to shock and degrade.”—The New York Post“Frequently entertaining [and] often appalling. . . . There are paragraphs here—entire pages, in fact—that are as disgusting as anything I’ve ever read. Truly vivid and harrowing (and often quite funny).”—Minneapolis Star Tribune“Summer reading for people who like their lit doused in bodily fluids.. . . Haunted has an anarchic sensibility that hurdles over the top.”—Time Out New York “Chuck Palahniuk is one of the most intriguing writers of our time. [Haunted ] is a blend of stories that are among the most horrifying, stomach-churning and mind-blowing tales ever encountered.” —Tucson Citizen“Chuck Palahniuk’s rightful place is among literary giants. He combines the masculinity of Ernest Hemingway, the satirical bent of Juvenal and the attitude of Lenny Bruce.” —Greensboro News & Record “To Palahniuk’s credit, there is something here to appall almost every sensibility. The author has a singular knack for coming up with inventive new ways to shock and degrade.” —New York Post “Funny, always on the edge of reality and bloodied by the profound horror of narcissism.” —Playboy “Place this bet in your time capsule: Chuck Palahniuk’s novels will be required reading in American literature classes 100 years from now.” —The Fort Myers News-Press “Palahniuk is as unique and colorful as ever.” —The Onion “Searing and honest. ...His nasty detail and unimaginably horrible scenarios will give some people nightmares. This creepy ?ction masterpiece could be the de?nitive novel of our time for its genre.” —The Cincinnati News Record “Chuck Palahniuk appears to be going around the bend. ...A satire of reality television–an effective one–but also an homage to horror stories and a meditation on pop culture.” —The Seattle Times “The most original work of ?ction this year.” —The Guardian (London) “Chuck Palahniuk is up to his old tricks. ...His prose is, as always, gorgeous.” —Entertainment Weekly “One part Canterbury Tales, one part Lord of the Flies, and 100 percent classic Palahniuk. ...[His] grisliest book yet.” —Broward—Palm Beach New Times

A must for Chuck fans . . .

. . . because we have the stomach for it. After reading the reviews I have to wonder if they have ever read any of his other books. I mean really . . . no one who has read Choke, Fight Club or Lullaby could say that this book is stomach tuning. I only gave Haunted 4 stars because it lacks the flow of his previous works (Stranger than Fiction excluded). It's choppy in parts and briefly slow. It is however, a cunning way to package your short stories in an original setting. I read "Guts" when it was first published and am happy to see it surface in this collection. If you love Chuck, you'll love this book, but if you're a Koonts/Bush fan it will probably be more than your mind cand handle.

R.I.P. H.S.T. 7/18/37 to 2/20/05

Ahh...

Although, the main story is over the top in it's believabilty, it puts the reality of the individual stories in a bright light of insight to everyday life to the reader(listener). I find myself looking for the beautiful play on words/suggested phrases that makes one question the "haunted" reality of everyday life. This is not for the prude or narrow-minded reader by any means, and therefore must be taken with a grain of salt to interpret the author's inferences. This book is a refreshment for those who look(listen) from outside the lines of "everyday" reading.

Some what good

I love Chuck Palahniuk's books. The gore and stories where graphic and unexpected with some Halirous sceens in it. The narrators were awesome, but the story just didn't make enough sense and all flow together in the end. I was slightly dissapointed.

Not as horrifying as I thought it might be

I read reviews when I was considering this book, and, due to the perverseness of human nature, I bought it anyway. When enough people tell me how horrifying and disgusting something is, I just naturally have to check it out for myself. It was not the kind of thing that gives me nightmares, nor did I find in it anything more disgusting than I've seen in other C.P. novels. I guess maybe it being all pulled together in one book is what disturbs some people.

I don't think I'm any more twisted than any other Palahniuk fan. I do have the ability to remind myself that I'm only suspending my disbelief, so I can hear and read things that I really would never want to see or know about--hear without really taking it on board, if that makes any sense. For me, this was a collection of horror stories held together with a hilarious "glue."

I think another reviewer said something about not caring about the people at this workshop. Right. I don't know who could care about this bunch of nincompoops. I think that's partly the point. How can you not laugh when you think of the situation they've gotten themselves into and the things they are doing about it and why? I'm about three books down the road from this one, and I'm laughing right now.

This may not be the book for people who are sensitive or squeamish and can't turn it off. I don't think C.P. fans can be in that group, though. I found it thoroughly entertaining.

Do you like ickiness?

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes - but only those who like to get down and dirty with their morals!

Who was your favorite character and why?

I don't think you can go past St Gutfree and the opening story. Listen and squirm! The story about the anatomically detailed dolls runs a close second - I almost had to pull my car to the side of the road at certain parts of that story - its hard to drive, squirm and cringe at the same time!
The one thing I would add to this is that there are really no "likeable" characters in this book, and as a group they become despicable. Thats what makes it fun ;)

What about the narrators’s performance did you like?

Narration was excellent - probably the best I've heard in an audiobook. Perfect.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Icky!

Any additional comments?

I really enjoyed this book, and intend to go on a "Chuck-a-thon" over the next few months!