Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert, 2006

***½

WASHINGTON, DC, April 30, 2013- I resisted reading this book for the longest time.  I still haven’t watched the movie.  It’s strange how books sometimes come to you when you are receptive.  Had I started this book two years ago, I probably wouldn’t have made it through the first section.  In this autobiographical book, Elizabeth is in her mid-thirties and going through a terrible divorce from her estranged husband and a pretty bad break up with her boyfriend.  She decides to travel for a year, dividing her time between Italy, India, and Indonesia.

During the year and through her travels, Gilbert finds her physical, emotional and spiritual center as each section of her trip provides her with numerous planned and unplanned learning experiences.

I was reticent to read this book, thinking it would be too esoteric for me, but it wasn’t.  I especially loved Gilbert’s description of her four months in Rome, for obvious reasons.   I lived in Rome for a year in 2002, coincidentally very close to where Gilbert stayed.  This part of the book brought great memories of my neighborhood by Piazza del Popolo and other wonderful little places around the city.  I also appreciated how Gilbert described her stay in Italy mostly in terms of food, since that’s the way I remember my travels.

Even though I liked the other two parts of the book, I liked but did not love them.  I thought the ending was predictable.  Enough said, since I don’t want to give anything away to those who haven’t read the book.

I enjoyed Gilbert’s writing style and loved the humor in the book.  I also found many parts of her spiritual journey touching and relatable.  Many of the people she met along the way were memorable and her interactions with them moving.

I was especially drawn to her relationship with Wayan in Indonesia.  Coming from a third world country but living in the US for almost 16 years, I often have similar experiences with loved ones.  I wish, however, that I could say that I handled it with the same grace and wisdom that Gilbert did.

I think that her way of handling such difficult and mixed feelings when someone you love and have done something nice for reacts in a selfish way is another facet of Gilbert’s spiritual growth and maturity.   Of course, the fact that Felipe was there to explain Wayan’s motivations in such a generous way probably went very far in helping Gilbert not to take anything too personally.  Perhaps since it was not her culture, it was easier for Gilbert to understand and forgive than it is to me because it is my culture.

All in all, however, I enjoyed the book, but enjoyed Gilbert’s wit and writing style even more.  Some may have found her self-centered—just take a look at some of the Goodreads reviews, –but aren’t all writers self-absorbed?

 

If you liked this Book, I recommend:

• Under the Tuscan Sun, Frances Mayes
• Dreams of Joy, Lisa See  

 

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El pergamino de la seducción (The Scroll of Seduction), Gioconda Belli

Cover via Amazon

**1/2

Barcelona: Seix Barral, 2005 (Spanish)

WASHINGTON, DC, April 16, 2013 – Gioconda Belli’s The Scroll of Seduction weaves together two stories: the life of Juana of Castile in sixteenth century Spain and the story of Lucía, a young girl in 1970s Madrid.  Perceptive and extensively researched, Belli’s narrative reveals a more human side of the ill-fated queen of Spain through Lucía’s experiences.  Even though Belli does a superb job at redeeming an often-misunderstood historical figure, the story of Lucía and her affair with a much older man does not come across as well.

Juana of Castile (1479-1555), better known now as Juana la Loca, “Juana de Mad,” was a widely misrepresented figure in Spanish history.    The third child of Isabel of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon, Juana was not brought up to inherit the throne.  However, after the death of her older siblings, she became the unlikely heir after her mother Isabel’s death in 1504.  By then, she was married to Philip of Burgundy, known as Felipe el Hermoso, “Philip the Handsome,” with whom she shared a widely chronicled passionate love affair.

Treated as mentally ill from early in her marriage, Juana was never allowed to rule Spain directly.  Blaming her mental health, she was kept confined from the time of Felipe’s death in 1506 until her death in 1555, while her father, son, and other men ruled in her place- a total of 49 years of imprisonment.

Modern historians question whether Juana was truly mentally ill, or whether her natural reaction to forced confinement and separation from her children for decades was used as an excuse for others to assume power in her place.

In the novel, Lucía is a 17-year-old orphaned young woman who has been living in a convent in Madrid since her parent’s death.  Her rich Latin American grandparents have a minor role in her life, as she is raised amid the strict and quiet life of the convent.  On one of the grandparents’ visits to Madrid, when Lucía meets Manuel Denia, a history professor who serves as a tour guide for the family.

Forty-something Manuel and convent-raised Lucía end up forming a friendship where he tells her the story of Juana la Loca.  Manuel, from an old and respected Spanish family has his own connection with Juana: his family was responsible for Juana’s confinement for many decades.

As the story of Juana and Felipe begins to take over her life, Lucía finds herself in a strange and new situation where the actions and feelings of a queen who lived centuries ago are stronger than anything in her present life.

Interpreting her apparent madness as a normal reaction to her unjust circumstances, Belli reveals a different queen Juana from the one depicted in history books.  While her so-called madness was unquestioned in her time and for centuries since, modern researchers and writers have inquired whether she was really as mad as she was made out to be.

In The Scroll of Seduction the reader is presented with a very sane Juana who simply reacts to her situation and the injustices in her life in a way that most people would react to a state of utter powerlessness.

While the author achieves her goal of making readers see a different side of Juana, who maybe wasn’t as loca as history made her out to be, she is perhaps less successful with the story of Lucía and Manuel.  The “modern” love affair lacked the depth and purpose –and propriety- that was so present in the story of Juana and Felipe.

If you enjoyed this book, I recommend:

• Wolf Hall, Hillary Mantel
  
• Fall of Giants, Ken Follet

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The Boy in the Suitcase, Lene Kaaberbøl, Agnete Friis, New York; Soho Crime, 2011, Nina Borg #1

Original language: Danish

Nina Borg is a Red Cross nurse who has trouble saying no when someone needs help- even at the expense of the people she loves most.  In the first book of a series, Lene Kaaberbøl introduces Borg and hurls her into a situation where she will have to face all of her inadequacies and weaknesses to do what she thinks is the right thing.

The story begins with a call from Karin, an old friend of Nina’s from nursing school, with whom she has fallen out of touch.  Karin, frazzled and visibly scared out of her mind, gives Nina the key to a locker in a Copenhagen train station.  Inside the locker Nina finds a young boy in a suitcase.  He is drugged, naked, and alive- and Karin has disappeared.

Afraid the boy is the victim of child trafficking, Nina does not want to involve the police in case they return him to the parents who sold him or some other kind of abuse.  Nina thus begins a journey to find the boy’s identity while being pursued by a mysterious muscled man and subsequently the police.  She knows that she is putting her career, freedom, and family in jeopardy, but still must unravel the mystery of who the boy is and why he ended up in a suitcase in a train station.

At the same time, Sigita, a Lithuanian mother wakes up in the hospital after being drugged and discovers that her three-year old boy has been taken.  Frantic, Sigita must battle unconvinced police and an inadequate system for tracking children and other victims of human trafficking.

A fast-paced novel that reads easily, the authors succeed in creating suspense and empathy for the characters.  With many translated novels that I have read- The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo leaps to mind- it feels like something of the essence of the novel gets lost; the words sound right, but there is something missing…  Perhaps because it is translated by Lene Kaaberbøl, one of the authors, this novel does not feel like a translation.

Taking on both personal and universal issues, this is an interesting read.  From Nina’s struggle between her commitment to her husband and children and her desire to help others to the more general issue of human trafficking, the novel tackles several issues that are relevant in the world today.

This is the first of a two-book series.  I will probably read the second book, but not right away.

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Blood Meridian, or the Evening of Redness in the West, Cormac McCarthty

****

Blood Meridian, or the Evening of Redness in the West

 Author: Cormac McCarthy

First Edition: 1985

Original language: English

I read this book after literally dozens of people suggested it after reading my post on 10 Disturbing Novels.  This book was unquestionably disturbing, but not I can’t put it down disturbing, more like I can’t believe someone could write something so violent disturbing.  I did not enjoy this read.

I actually hated myself for my habit –obsession? – of finishing every book I start, no matter how much I dislike it.  Ok, ok, I did put down Fifty Shades of Grey after about 100 pages, but come on- there is only so much torture I can take.  So at least I liked this book more than Fifty Shades, but that’s not saying much and is an insult to McCarthy- and anyone else who can write a sentence.

The fact that I didn’t like the violence- especially the violence against animals- does not mean that the book was not brilliantly written.  It was just definitely not my cup of tea.  I can, however, appreciate that telling this story in a violent way is the only way to relate the horror of the historic events that the novel portrays.

Through the eyes of “the kid,” a 14-year-old youth from Tennessee, the reader is able to experience the realities and horrors of America’s westward expansion, namely, those perpetrated by the real-life Glanton gang, a group of scalp hunters who terrorized the U.S.- Mexico border in the early 1850s.

By telling the story of westward expansion through a very different lens, McCarthy challenges the often-romanticized world of the “wild west” and westward expansion.

McCarthy employs a unique writing style that has no quotation marks and uses archaic words (thank heavens for Kindle!).  However, it is not off-putting to the reader.

McCarthy’s descriptions of the western landscape and the utter solitude and brutality of nature and the elements were superbly written.  Some of his descriptions made me feel like I was in a Fredric Remington or Charles M. Russell painting- then the blood and guts and gore would start flying and I would remember what I was reading.

There are several reports about McCarthy’s extensive research for this novel. To write it, McCarthy traveled to all the places mentioned and is said to have learned Spanish to give the language more authenticity.

Judge Holden is the character that has garnered the most attention.  Some describe him as a biblical character, the personification of war, Captain Ahab from Moby Dick.  He reminded me of Kurtz in Heart of Darkness, because the members of the gang both revered and feared him, probably because they could not understand him.

Glanton is another interesting character, based on the real John Joel Glanton (1819 – April 23, 1850).   However, while the judge seems to have some albeit strange reason for his violence, Glanton is just a savage who likes to kill.  Throughout the novel, the only creature he shows compassion for is his dog- and even then, he’s not so nice to the dog.

While reading, it is easy to think that the kid is not as bloodthirsty and brutal as the other members of the gang, but he is just as bad, having killed way before he joined them.

Quotes:

“There is no such joy in the tavern as upon the road thereto,”

“Here beyond men’s judgments all covenants were brittle.”

“The man who believes that all the secrets of the world are forever hidden lives in mystery and fear.  Superstition will drag him down.  The rain will erode the deeds of his life.  But that man who sets himself the task of singling out the thread of order from the tapestry will by the decision alone have taken charge of the world and it is only by such taking charge that he will effect a way to dictate the terms of his own fate.”

“It makes no difference what men think of war, said the judge. War endures. As well ask men what they think of stone. War was always here. Before man was, war waited for him. The ultimate trade awaiting its ultimate practitioner. That is the way it was and will be. That way and not some other way.”

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A History of the World in 6 Glasses, Tom Standage

****½

A History of the World in 6 Glasses

Cover of A History of the World in 6 Glasses

Author: Tom Standage

Website: http://tomstandage.wordpress.com

First Edition: 2005

Original language: English

Summary: Following human history through predominant beverages, this book presents history in an interesting and different light.  Highlighting the human need for water, this book chronicles how drinks – beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, and cola- have influenced and shaped the course of history.  From the author’s website, http://tomstandage.wordpress.com “[t]hree contain alcohol and three contain caffeine, but what they all have in common is that each drink was the defining drink during a pivotal historical period, from antiquity to the present day.”

Quotes:

“[S]haring a drink with someone is a universal symbol of hospitality and friendship.  It signals that the person offering the drink can be trusted, by demonstrating that it is not poisoned or otherwise unsuitable for consumption.”

“[w]hen drinking alcohol in a social setting, the clinking of glasses symbolically reunites the glasses into a single vessel of shared liquid.”

“The practice of raising a glass to wish someone good health, a happy marriage, or a safe passage into the afterlife, or to celebrate the successful completion of a project, is the modern echo of the ancient idea that alcohol has the power to invoke supernatural forces.”

“The notion that coffee counteracts drunkenness remains prevalent to this day, though there is little truth to it; coffee makes someone who has drunk alcohol feel more alert, but actually reduces the rate at which alcohol is removed from the bloodstream.”

Opinion:

This book gave me a lot to think about and was an interesting and different way to view history.  I loved the way the author divided periods in human development according to the prominent drink of the time.

I learned so many things that I didn’t know.  Considering this is a book about drinks, half of which are alcoholic, if nothing else, you’ll sound pretty smart at your next cocktail party.  For example, as quoted above, sharing a drink from the same vessel with someone means that the person offering can be trusted; and when glasses are clinked, they are symbolically reunited into a shared vessel.  I love that and never knew what clinking glasses meant.  Drinking to someone’s health or toasting to a special occasion is a throwback to the belief in alcohol’s supernatural powers.

Another fun fact is that despite popular belief, coffee does not make you less, drunk.  It actually makes you more alert, but slows down the rate at which your body gets rid of alcohol.  Finally, Twining’s is the oldest commercial logo in continuous use, first erected in 1787 by Richard Twining as a sign above the door to his tea shop.  There are tons more, but you’ll just have to read the book to learn them all.

I found the discussion of water rising to prominence once again extremely interesting and timely.  Access to water is deemed by the UN to be “a prerequisite for the realization of other human rights,” and it is interesting that human drinking pattern have returned to where they began: water.  The author points out some really interesting issues related to the bottled water craze.  For instance, bottled water sales are highest in the developed world, where tap water is abundant and safe to drink.  This is more interesting when you stop to think that ounce per ounce, bottled water in the US is more expensive than gasoline, AND tap water is more regulated than bottled water.  For these reasons, according to Standage, “safe water has become so abundant in the developed world that people can afford to shun the tap water under their noses and drink bottled water instead.  Since both kinds are safe, the sort of water one drinks has become a lifestyle choice.

‘In contrast, for many people in the developing world, access to water remains a matter of life and death.”  The discussion is interesting because in a country like Greece, the government controls the prices of bottled water to ensure that prices do not rise too high.

The last few sentence of the book sum it up perfectly: “When you next raise some beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, or Coca-Cola to your lips, think about how it reached you across space and time, and remember that it contains more than mere alcohol or caffeine.  There is history, too, amid its swirling depths.”  I will never look at these drinks the same way again…

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The Kitchen House, Kathleen Grissom

****½

The Kitchen House

Author: Kathleen Grissom

First Edition: 2010

Original language: English

Awards:

• Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Historical Fiction, Debut Author (2010)

Summary:

Told from the point of view of an orphaned Irish indentured servant and the illegitimate daughter of a tobacco plantation owner and one of his slaves, The Kitchen House tells the story of slavery in the US through unconventional, female eyes.  Lavinia’s parents die on the crossing from Ireland and she is thrown into the kitchen house and the family of slaves that serves the white family in the big house.  Belle runs the kitchen house, cooking the meals for the captain, his wife and their children.  What the captain’s family doesn’t know is that Belle is his daughter.

As she grows up, Lavinia becomes accepted into white society and is forced to leave her family in the kitchen house.  In her haste to return to a life that she can never have again, Lavinia makes a series of decisions that will have world-altering consequences for everyone connected to the plantation.

Quotes:

“A brilliant sunrise in a cloudless sky threw gold on our small world.”

“What the color is, who the daddy be, who the mama is don’t mean nothin’.  We family, carin’ for each other.  Family make us strong in times of trouble.  We all stick together, help each other out.  That the real meanin’ of family.  When you grow up, you take that family feelin’ with you.”

“Sometimes we got to live it out before we learn.”

Opinion:

Kathleen Grissom says she wrote the novel after she and her husband restored a plantation tavern in Virginia.  The story came to her as she researched the history of the place and as she lived there and felt the energy of the place.  I love it when authors let us in to where there stories and ideas come from…

This book was a wonderful read- the kind of book you want to read slowly to make it last, but can’t resist reading as fast as possible.  “Ok, just one more chapter…”

Neither Lavonia nor Belle fit into the southern society of the times and from their unique vantage point, they speak to certain aspects of slavery and southern society in a different and insightful way.    Both are women that have a change of leaving their subservient positions in life, but neither want to.  Ultimately this choice is their undoing.  In this way, Belle views the captain’s giving her her freedom papers as a way of kicking her out- something that other slaves could only dream about.  Lavinia views sitting up front in church and ultimately her move away from Tall Oaks in much the same way.

The relationships between men and women were also treated in an interesting way, as Grissom explores rape, incest, love, companionship and friendship through the characters in the book and the way they interact with each other.

Perhaps the most poignant part of the book is Mama Mae’s view of life, reflecting the only way life could be endured in a situation of slavery and bondage:  “You look at today, chil’.  You say, ‘Thank you, Lawd, for everythin’ you gives me today.’  Then you worries about the next day when the next day come.”

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Heart-Shaped Box, Joe Hill

*** ½

Heart-Shaped Box

Cover of Heart-Shaped Box: A Novel

Author: Joe Hill

First Edition: 2000

Original language: English

Awards:

• Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel (2007),
• Locus Award for Best First Novel (2008),
• Macavity Award Nominee for Best First Mystery Novel (2008),
• British Fantasy Award Nominee for Best Novel (2008)

Summary:

Semi-retired heavy metal star Jude Coyne is somewhat fascinated by the macabre.  He has a collection including Aleister Crowley’s chess board, several paintings by John Wayne Gacy, a snuff film, and a trepanned skull.  When someone online offers to sell him a ghost, he can’t say no.  This admittedly bizarre but otherwise mundane transaction end up being the worst decision of Jude’s life.

Quotes:

“He was impossible to embarrass.  He didn’t know the meaning of shy.”

“They might have high-speed Internet connections in Baton Rouge, but in the little towns in the swamps north of Lake Pontchartrain, if you wanted a high-speed connection with the rest of the world, you souped up a car and got the fuck out.”

“Danny did not think coke and computers were anything alike.  But Jude had seen the way people hunched over their screens, clicking the refresh button again and again, waiting for some crucial if meaningless hit of information, and he thought it was almost exactly the same.”

Opinion:

I haven’t really read horror for a while, but realized that I love the genre.  I really liked this book and it actually managed to scare me a few times when I was reading at home by myself.  It was dark and spooky from the beginning and some of the images were vivid and creepy.  Even though I’m not a fan of heavy metal, I liked Jude and found him surprisingly relatable.  The heavy metal world was actually a perfect backdrop for the book.

Joe Hill at a book signing. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I also liked how Hill kept the tension throughout the book.  A couple of times I thought to myself, “ok, now what’s he going to do for the remaining ¾, ½?”  But he pulled it off quite nicely and there was actually structure to the novel, something that some horror writers seem to breeze past if not ignore completely.

Of course I read the book because Joe Hill is Stephen King’s son.  He even looks a lot like his father and his books are creepy in the same way.  I liked his style and found it a quick, easy read.   I wouldn’t re-read it, but I really enjoyed it for what it was.  Some people seemed to hate it, but I was entertained- and a little scared.

Divergent, Veronica Roth

*****

Divergent

Author: Veronica Roth

First Edition: 2011

Original language: English

Awards:

• Goodreads Choice Award for Favorite Book of 2011 and for Best Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction (2011),
• ALA Teens’ Top Ten Nominee (2012),
• Children’s Choice Book Award Nominee for Teen Choice Book of the Year (2012),
• DABWAHA (Dear Author Bitchery Writing Award for Hella Authors) for Best Young Adult Romance (2012)

Summary:

In the dystopian world of future Chicago, the population is divided into five factions, each representing a human virtue: Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent).   When members turn 16, they chose the faction they will join for the rest of their lives.  Most young people chose the faction in which they were raised, therefore not severing ties with their family and friends.  However, a few transfer into a different faction.

Beatrice Pryor has grown up as a member of Abnegation, and her father is one of their leaders.  However, after receiving confusing results in her aptitude test, Beatrice faces a choice that will change the rest of her life.

Quotes:

“My father says that those who want power and get it live in terror of losing it.  That’s why we have to give power to those who do not want it.”

“Looking away is submissive.  Looking him in the eye is a challenge.  It’s my choice.”

“We believe that preparation eradicates cowardice, which we will define as the failure to act in the midst of fear.”

“Mom used to say that politeness is deception in pretty packaging.”

“Those who seek peace above all else, they say, will always deceive to keep the water calm.”

Opinion:

I really liked this book and read it in a few sittings.  I can’t resist comparing it to The Hunger Games, because it is impossible to deny that they are very similar books about a girl who finds her strength and courage to lead a revolution against an evil repressive society.  HOWEVER, if you liked Hunger Games you will like this book.  Tris is a great character and I liked how the novel focuses on the theme of fear and courage.  I think this is what makes this book a worthwhile read.  I could relate to Tris and admired the way she ultimately found her courage.

I didn’t love the teen romance bit, but different stokes, maybe I’m just jaded.  I don’t know why it bothered me, but it did not bother me enough to stop reading or to not give it a 5-star rating.  I’ll probably end up reading the series.

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The Last Chinese Chef, Nicole Mones

***½

The Last Chinese Chef

Author: Nicole Mones

First Edition: 2007

Original language: English

Summary:

It has been a year since Maggie’s husband passed away, but she has been unable to rebuild her life after his sudden death.  She has sold their house and moved into a small house boat, and her work as an American food writer is the only thing that keeps her going.  Predictably, she is devastated when a paternity claim arises against her husband’s estate from a young woman in China, where her husband used to travel for work.  Serendipitously, an assignment on a Chinese-American Chef comes up at her magazine and Maggie decides to take it on as she will already be traveling to Beijing to settle the paternity suit.

In Beijing, Maggie is thrown into Chinese culture and especially its food.  Led by Sam, the shy chef, Maggie explores the amazing world of food through Chinese eyes, as well as discovers herself and learns about her relationship with her husband.

Quotes:

“We strive to fool the diner for a moment.  It adds a layer of intellectual play to the meal.”

“The gourmet was as important as the chef.”

“Xian means the sweet, natural flavor- like butter, fresh fish, luscious clear chicken broth.  Then we have xiang, the fragrant flavor – think frying onions, roasted meat.  Nong is the concentrated flavor, the deep, complex taste you get from meat stews or dark sauces or fermented things.  Then there is the rich flavor, the flavor of fat.  This is called yur er bu ni, which means to taste of fat without being oily.  We love this one.  Fat is very important to us.  Fat is not something undesirable to be removed and thrown away, not in China…”

“That’s just flavor.  We have texture.  There are ideas of texture, too- three main ones.  Cui is dry and crispy, nun is when you take something fibrous like shark’s fin and make it smooth and yielding, and ruan is perfect softness – velveted chicken, a soft-boiled egg.”

“It was more honest to take home an animal and slaughter it than to buy its meat in a square, shrink-wrapped package, more honest to keep a fish alive and swimming until the moment you wished to devour it.”

“They were Sam’s generation, and he thought of them as one thinks of far-off cousins, rarely seen but always spoken of with fondness.”

“The high point of a meal was never the food itself, he taught us, but always the act of sharing it.”

Opinion:

This book made me want to visit China just so I could EAT.  I love the descriptions of the foods, dishes, meals, and preparation.  I was transported to the kitchens and dining rooms that Maggie visits on her trip.  I now have a list of about ten dishes that I want to try.  I have always been curious about Chinese food culture, and I think this was a good introduction to some of its principles.  I really liked the descriptions of flavors and textures (quoted above).  I also loved the description of China mainly through its food and food-related customs.  That’s exactly how I would describe all of my trips!

I loved the part about the bamboo flowering.  Apparently, bamboo rarely flowers, sometimes not in 100 years.  However, once one bamboo blooms, all the others begin to bloom as well.  That would be a sight to see!

As far as the plot, I thought it was pretty entertaining, however, the food was the real star of this novel.  I did love the uncles and father, as well as the cousins.  Mones’ description of the Chinese family and their connection to food was great to read about.  Great book for foodies!

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Choke, Chuck Palahniuk

*****

Choke 

Cover of Choke

Author: Chuck Palahniuk

First Edition: 2001

Original language: English

Website: http://www.randomhouse.com/features/palahniuk/

Author Website: http://chuckpalahniuk.net

Twitter: @chuckpalahniuk

Summary:

Sex addict Victor Mancini works in Colonial Dunsboro by day.  In the afternoon he cruises sex addiction meetings for dates.  By night he pretends to choke at restaurants so that a stranger can save him and be a hero.  These “heroes” then send him cards and money, which Victor uses to pay for his insane mother’s hospital bills.  On Saturday he visits his mother.  So goes another sordid tale from Palahnik…

Quotes:

“It seemed that moment would last forever.  That you had to risk your life to get love.  You had to get right to the edge of death to ever be saved.”

“Art never comes from happiness.”

“Picture anybody growing up so stupid he didn’t know that hope was just another phase you’ll grow out of.”

“Part of meeting these jail girls is it’s so sweet to look at your watch and know she’ll be behind bars in half an hour.”

“Beauty Industry Terrorism”

“humiliation is humiliation only when you choose to suffer.”

“Because nothing is as perfect as you can imagine it.”

“Just to stir the turd…”

“Tantric Architecture”

“Because sponges never have a bad day.”

Opinion:

Ok, even though I loved this book, I felt like I needed latex gloves to handle it sometimes.  It was that gross.  Who thinks of these things?!

But what I really love about Palahniuk is that this is gore, but it is also superb writing.  I love how everything kind of “fits.”  His books are always tight little boxes where every word and image (ok, almost every word and gory image) has a purpose that the reader finally understands in the end.  Everything leads to something, builds something, ties back to something that came before.  I love Palahniuk’s use of leitmotifs- he is really the master! And the leitmotifs actually mean something and are not just used as a superficial literary device, even though it may not seem like it at first blush.  What the reader first perceives as something superfluous always ends up developing thematic importance by the end.

Of course, the characters were bizarre and fantastic.  Ida and Denny the rock junkie were a trip.  I didn’t like Paige Marshall until the end when she says something extremely funny.  Don’t worry, I won’t spoil it…

Another thing that many people don’t notice is that this book is in second person.  It’s subtle, but especially in the beginning, there is a distinct “you” that the narrator is speaking to.

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