I'm a junkie-- he is so brillant., wicked, talented...he is a blistering writer. Epotimizes Gen X. I love his rabid deconstruction of 'pop culture'. He is the other man- aside from Elliott- that makes me go a bit weak in the knees. Oddly, he is gay. I just love the irony of that.

I've only read 2 books of his..namely, Choke and Invisible Monsters.

I love, love his style.

Quirky and yet, ponderous.

Those are great -- what am I saying? Everything he writes is pure genius.

I've heard horror stories about the stuff Chuck writes, I must say, a few of them have deeply disturbed me. I AM a BIG fan of the movie Fight Club, I must have watched it a gazillion times, I intend to read the book when time permits.

Yup loads of them...the most famous being one of his short stories....
This is how he relates one of the stories:

He wrote it way back 93 or 94.......and he read it at a his writer's workshop and although nobody fainted one person locked themselves in a room and couldn't stop crying. He then submitted it to Playboy........they rejected it because it was too disturbing......
meanwhile he did a reading of the new unpublished story called "Guts" and during the reading I believe 1 or 2 people fainted, the story leaked and suddenly Playboy wanted to publish it.

Since then he has number a number of readings of this story...as of the printing of Haunted (in which it is included) 78 people have fainted at readings over the years.

So yes, they are very disturbing--

Fight Club is brilliant......his tone/style has changed in a very subtle way since 9/11 so I would definitely recommend reading them in order.

My son told me a girl in his Freshman English class in high school did a book project on Haunted, I was shocked – I am pretty liberal when it comes to reading material but all of Chuck’s books (which of course I have read and re-read numerous times) are off limits to my kids until they at least 17 – there is just no way a young teenager ought to be reading this stuff. It’s beyond dark, especially given the very real black humor that drives all of his stories forward.

Thanks for the info lisas3!

I have both Haunted and The Fight Club somewhere in my stack of books...but haven't read them. I started reading Haunted..maybe read 2 chapters..but stopped for some reason. Loved what I read! It creeps me out, but I like it in a twisted kind of way :D

I hope to start reading it again this week..honestly, Ive forgotten that I have this particular book. Thanks for refreshing my otherwise, E-filled memory.

Anytime....... :D
Haunted is so delightfully sick and twisted........my best advice would be just let go completely.....surrender youself to the maddness.

You are all making me wonder about this writer and whetting my curiosity big time. Are the books really gory or just a little wierd?

Gory yes, but not horror in the Stephen King sense.

It's really hard to explain, its an experience really. Incredibly unique writing style. Chuck brings you to the dark side of human nature; making you laugh at the deviance of it and be appalled at the same time. He pokes fun at the status quo, but makes you laugh even when you do see yourself in it. (IKEA anyone?) Stuff like that. Very brilliant, but beware: it is the blackest of black comedy. I have found people either love his style or hate it -- very little gray area.