Beach City Haphazard

Best known for his award winning novel Fight Club, author Chuck Palahniuk has brought readers another exciting creation. Palahniuk brings another often criticized figure to life in his most recent novel Snuff.

Cassie Wright is a famous porn star who would like to end her legendary career with a bang, a massive gang bang of 600 that is. Her plans are to set a world record and die gracefully in the “flesh-on-film” industry. Hence the name of the title, Snuff.

The setting of Snuff takes place in a green room full of 600 men waiting around in the underwear for their number to be called. The story is narrated from four different perspectives. The thoughts and voices of the talent wrangler, number 137 (an ex tv anchor), number 72 (Wrights possible son), and number 600 (the pornstar who made Wright famous). In the novel each of these people explain their reasons for being a part of the pornography priestess’s last film.

Palahniuk bases Wright off of Annabel Chong, a former pornographic actress who set the first world record as “the stud” with 251 sex acts with about 70 different men in 10 hours. A bit of the random information found in this novel.

Expect to have pages full of shock, crude humor, and words that only those with untamed and indignant imaginiations will understand. The novel is full of twists and turns, which is a typical style of Palahniuk. As soon as you think you know what’s going on, each narrator brings more and more information to the table that puts you in a completely different direction. There are about three different twists that lead you to believe you know the conclusion. However, you will never know the true ending until reading the very last page.

Palahniuk writes from the talent wrangler’s (Sheila) point of view saying, “Do you respect someone’s right to seek challenges and discover their true potential? How is a gang bang any different than risking your life to climb Mount Everest? And do you accept sex as a form of viable emotional therapy?” Just a little tid bit of the thought processes throughout the novel.

Palahniuk clearly demonstrates his thorough research in this novel. Not only was I able to learn a lot of random facts about porn that could possibly come in handy when in need of sparking a conversation, but I also took in interesting information, only somewhat relevant to the main subject of pornography, that left me questioning. For example, did Hitler really commission a blonde hair, blue eyed inflatable sex doll for Nazi troops to prevent the spread of venereal disease? Or was Frank Sinatra really burried with a bottle of Jack, a pack of Camels, a Zippo, and ten dimes??

I will admit, I have not been lucky enough to read all of Palahniuk’s novels, however, after the joyride Snuff took me on, I will definitely take a look at the ones I have missed out on. Forewarning to those of you ready to endulge in Snuff, if you are a visual person, it takes your mind into a very graphic new world.

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