Just finished reading Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk. Most people know him as the guy who wrote Fight Club. Invisible Monsters is so full of twists and turns that I feel that I’d give important plot points away with even a brief summary of the book. But basically, it’s about a fashion model who gets her jaw blown off, and ends up going on a physical and psychological journey with some, um, interesting characters.
The style of this book sets it apart from most others. It’s written like a fashion magazine; that is, it uses too many adjectives, the paragraphs are short, and it jumps around from topic to topic so that you feel like you’re never getting the whole story at one time. I actually found that this made it more enjoyable to read, rather than less, though perhaps that just says something about my attention span.
The content is loud, shocking, hilarious, and campy. Easily disturbed or easily disgusted people will probably want to avoid this (though if you really wanna throw up in your mouth while reading, check out his short story Guts (click to read the whole story)). The themes running through Invisible Monsters will be familiar to anyone who’s read Palahniuk’s other novels, or seen Fight Club.
I’ve heard rumours that Invisible Monsters was being worked on as a movie. I find it hard to picture this as a movie, though. Without giving much away, let’s just say it would have to employ some “unique” actors and/or actresses. I enjoyed the book from start to finish, though, so I’d recommend it to anyone with a strong stomach looking for a fun read.
Phronk.com 
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26 responses to “Book Review: Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk”
[my apologies – unrelated to your post :P]i saw < HREF="http://www.michaelbach.de/ot/fcs_face_in_beans/index.html" REL="nofollow">this picture<> on the interweb today and immediately thought of the picture you use for your header. are the two related? or am i looking too far into it? takes a while to see the face though.
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[my apologies – unrelated to your post :P]i saw this picture on the interweb today and immediately thought of the picture you use for your header. are the two related? or am i looking too far into it? takes a while to see the face though.
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You got that from Digg, didn’t you? 🙂I saw that site too and bookmarked it. And wanna see something really weird that I just noticed as I went back to the site just now?< HREF="http://www.michaelbach.de/ot/cog_rotations/index.html" REL="nofollow">this illusion<> is even more related to my blog – today’s post specifically. What a strange coincidence that not only did I post this book cover, but that your comment had a link to a site which I had already bookmarked earlier in the day, without knowing that it contained something directly relevant to the post which you thought it was unrelated to. Which caused me to go back to the site and notice that it had the book cover on it. Weeeeeird. I might have to devote a post to this.My header isn’t related to the coffee one, though. It’s just a random picture of coffee beans that went nicely with the colours. 🙂 Although maybe I’ll insert my head in there someday and see if anyone notices.Weird thing about that coffee “illusion” is that I’ve seen it once before, and although I have no conscious recollection of where the head is, I immediately found it when I clicked your link (but had trouble the first time). I guess that “one trial learning” stuff is true.
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You got that from Digg, didn’t you? :)I saw that site too and bookmarked it. And wanna see something really weird that I just noticed as I went back to the site just now?this illusion is even more related to my blog – today’s post specifically. What a strange coincidence that not only did I post this book cover, but that your comment had a link to a site which I had already bookmarked earlier in the day, without knowing that it contained something directly relevant to the post which you thought it was unrelated to. Which caused me to go back to the site and notice that it had the book cover on it. Weeeeeird. I might have to devote a post to this.My header isn’t related to the coffee one, though. It’s just a random picture of coffee beans that went nicely with the colours. 🙂 Although maybe I’ll insert my head in there someday and see if anyone notices.Weird thing about that coffee “illusion” is that I’ve seen it once before, and although I have no conscious recollection of where the head is, I immediately found it when I clicked your link (but had trouble the first time). I guess that “one trial learning” stuff is true.
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hahaha… i didn’t even notice the book cover. man, now i feel like a retard. i was just thinking earlier too, “gee, i wonder if i have an illinois coin”.
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hahaha… i didn’t even notice the book cover. man, now i feel like a retard. i was just thinking earlier too, “gee, i wonder if i have an illinois coin”.
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How does she loose the jaw? Gun?Sounds fun : )
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How does she loose the jaw? Gun?Sounds fun : )
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sounds like a good read, i will have to check it out.
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sounds like a good read, i will have to check it out.
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so yes, i’m a self-confessed sickiehead, and that short story rocked my wee and antiseptic corporate world. thanks. must go check out invisible monsters soon.p.s. got to you via mitz, btw.
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so yes, i’m a self-confessed sickiehead, and that short story rocked my wee and antiseptic corporate world. thanks. must go check out invisible monsters soon.p.s. got to you via mitz, btw.
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I’ve seen someone without their lower jaw. It’s something I’ll never forget. I hope there is a prosthesis out there for these people.-Jason.
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I’ve seen someone without their lower jaw. It’s something I’ll never forget. I hope there is a prosthesis out there for these people.-Jason.
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Yeah, gun.The book explains what can be done about losing a jaw…in graphic detail. It isn’t very pleasant.
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Yeah, gun.The book explains what can be done about losing a jaw…in graphic detail. It isn’t very pleasant.
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Is it anything like the dentist bit in “Million Little Pieces”? Ugh. I may have to give this a try, and if it makes me puke I’ll think of you while I hurl.
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Is it anything like the dentist bit in “Million Little Pieces”? Ugh. I may have to give this a try, and if it makes me puke I’ll think of you while I hurl.
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Yeah ive seen pics of people who lost jaws. In war, or from Phossy jaw sepsis, etc. Its bad. Not as bad as the guys who lost a face however. Those are the worst of all I think.
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Yeah ive seen pics of people who lost jaws. In war, or from Phossy jaw sepsis, etc. Its bad. Not as bad as the guys who lost a face however. Those are the worst of all I think.
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That’s good to know. It’ll require some thought though. And here is my site, you can check it. < HREF="http://penis-enlargement-techniques.kagai.net/" REL="nofollow">http://penis-enlargement-techniques.kagai.net/<>
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That’s good to know. It’ll require some thought though. And here is my site, you can check it. http://penis-enlargement-techniques.kagai.net/
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Thanks Calories First! I will definitely check out that site and enlarge my schlong!
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Thanks Calories First! I will definitely check out that site and enlarge my schlong!
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Jump to me on the train, missing my stop because I was so lost in this book.Jump ahead to me staying up way past my bed time because I can’t put it down.Give me amazement, baby.Flash.Give me gratitude for a great tip.Flash.
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Jump to me on the train, missing my stop because I was so lost in this book.Jump ahead to me staying up way past my bed time because I can’t put it down.Give me amazement, baby.Flash.Give me gratitude for a great tip.Flash.
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