Rant by Chuck Palahniuk
Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey is disturbing, often distasteful (e.g., sniffing soiled menstrual pads, incestuous rape), and rather creative. It moves Palahniuk pretty deeply into speculative fiction/sci-fi territory, although you won’t realize that’s where it’s going from the beginning. I haven’t read many of his books — just Fight Club and Haunted before this — but I’d guess that Rant weaves together a more diverse set of ideas than any of his earlier works, although themes like his skepticism about mass culture and fascination with the human drive toward self-destruction continue. The story is told as excerpts from many interviews with people about the life of Buster Casey, and yes, you’ll eventually figure out the notation used to introduce each person.
Needless to say, Rant is the kind of book that would be almost impossible to review, since figuring out its twists and turns is part of the challenge. I recommend it to those of you with high squick thresholds.
drupagliassotti @ May 18, 2007