Jillian Cecchini
OP-ED EDITOR
“All God does is watch us and kill us when we get boring. We must never, ever be boring.”
Chuck Palahniuk, the man who wrote those words, is anything but boring.
As I sit on the subway and submerge myself in yet another one of his highly controversial, almost uncomfortable-to-read novels, I look around to see if anyone is giving me cut eye.
The book is called Snuff – an absurd dark comedy about damaged people. More specifically, based on a porn star trying to break a world record for serial fornication, by having sexual intercourse with 600 men on camera.
Not your typical read, but completely typical for Chuck Palahniuk, author of Fight Club.
Some would argue that his style of writing is ripped off of Steven King. Some would say that his ideas are too extreme, with outrageous and outlandish scenes. Some would call him a literary genius.
I find myself on the fence. But his passion for writing, and his reasoning behind his words is what gets me.
Palahniuk said as he ages, he wishes he had done more as a young man besides take drugs and drinking. Recognizing that, he states that he doesn’t hesitate to use the most shocking and most upsetting ideas as they occur to him.
“It’s not that I’m getting braver. I’m simply caring less about how people might perceive my work or me.”
A feeling of discomfort fills my body as I read further in each novel.
Snuff for example, is one of the most vulgar, yet comical pieces of fiction I have ever read. But I can’t put it down.
Something pulls me in with each highly creative Palahniuk page I read. Does that prove he’s a good writer? Or that I’m a deranged individual who finds comfort in an uncomfortable read?
For anyone who has read his work, you have to sit and curiously wonder where these crazy and unorthodox ideas stem from.
It’s quite simple: he has stated that his ideas and inspiration come from his own life.
According to his website, several Palahniuk novels feature “biting satire on the fate of the working poor in America and the myth of a classless society.”
It’s hard to distinguish where reality ends, and the storytelling begins.
An interesting fact – his novel Lullaby is a prime example of inspiration stemming from a personal experience. Power is a dominant theme throughout the read.
On record, Palahniuk has stated that writing the novel helped him cope with the murder of his father. It was created by his experience of sitting in a courtroom, in judgment of the man who fatally shot his father.
Part of me feels as though that is what makes a passionate writer – tracking your experiences with a pen and paper. Coping with everyday struggles of life on your laptop. Creativity stems from within. Perhaps Mr. Palahniuk feels that one should always live a life worth writing down.
For those of you who have never picked up a Chuck Palahniuk novel, I urge you to branch out of the ordinary, broaden your horizons, and be daring with your reading.
Books are strictly a relationship between the author, the characters, and yourself.
Let’s just hope no one will judge us for reading this bizarre fiction.