Book Review | Rating – 3/5 | Genre – Thriller
As I said in my review of Fight Club, I wasn’t too sure about reading another of Chuck Palahniuk books. It wasn’t the most comfortable or enjoyable reading exeprience. However, I’m never one to completely ignore a book, or entirely judge and author based on one book I’ve read. So, I looked towards another of Chuck’s books which had been part of my collection for a while, “Invisible Monters. Here is what I thought…
She’s a catwalk model who has everything: a boyfriend, a career, a loyal best friend. But when a sudden motor ‘accident’ leaves her disfigured and incapable of speech, she goes from being the beautiful centre of attention to being an invisible monster, so hideous that no one will acknowledge she exists.
Enter Brandy Alexander, Queen Supreme, one operation away from being a real woman, who will teach her that reinventing yourself means erasing your past and making up something better, and that salvation hides in the last place you’ll ever want to look.
The narrator must exact revenge upon Evie, her best friend and fellow model; kidnap Manus, her two-timing ex-boyfriend; and hit the road with Brandy in search of a brand-new past, present and future. (Check it out here)
What did I think?
Well, this is where a book like this is rather tricky for me. I didn’t necessarily hate it, but I also didn’t particularly enjoy it either. One thing I can say, compared to “Fight Club” is that I actually managed to read this book the whole way through with putting it down and never picking up again, so I guess thats always a bonus Where I found more push to actually read this book came in the more coherent writing. Unlike his more popular book, Palahniuk creates a sense of chaos and intensity without completely losing me to a unique writing style.
One thing for sure, I actually found myself liking the protagonist a lot more than “Fight Club”‘s protagonist. Yes, there were moments where she came across very conceited and unlikeable, but it wasn’t enough to actually put me off her entirely. It was also the mild dislike that benefited the rest of the story and the characters who surrounded her.
Reasons to read Invisible Monsters…
- Interesting collection of characters: One thing you can always expect from Palahniuk’s books, is that the characters are going to be very nuanced and weird. Here I found a like more diversity in the characters that make up this book’s world. Some of them are likeable, while the ones that aren’t, still have features that make them at least interesting to know more about.
- Relevent to today’s society: There is a very obvious message of vanity and the lengths people will go to look the best. It is this desperation for fame and fortune that you can either ralte to entirely, or at least understand and see where celebrities in today’s society fit into this mold.
At the end of the day…
This might be where I hang up my need to read more of Chuck Palahniuk’s books. Yes, I found this book much more enjoyable to read than the first book I tried. There were characters I could enjoy reading about, and a plot that made much more sense, while still making me think about what I was reading about.
However, I just don’t think these are the type of books I want to be reading. There is a very negative and cynical tone that fills every page of Palahniuk’s books. I definitely get what he’s trying to say about the world we live in, but there are some takes on what he writes about that I just can’t deal with.
The Next Big Opinion 
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