REVIEW: 'Damned' by Chuck Palahniuk

"According to my wristwatch I've been dead for three months, two weeks, five days and seventeen hours. Subtract that from infinity and you get some idea why loads of doomed souls abandon all hope."

Meet Madison Spencer, the thirteen year old narrator of 'Damned' by Chuck Palahniuk, who takes you with her on a journey of self-discovery as she finds herself wandering around the depths of Hell after a marijuana overdose. At first glance, 'Damned' seems like a coming-of-age story that borrows satirically from our coming of age favourites: Judy Blume's 'Are You There God, It's Me Margaret' and 'The Breakfast Club'.

It's not an easy book to get into: it took me a few months, reading a couple of pages every now and then, wondering if I'd ever progress or come to warm to this teenage girl, who's the product of rich parents who love her in your stereotypical 'we have no time to love you, and aren't quite sure if we know how, having kids seemed like the right things to do for our image' kind of way, and thinks she's a lot more clever than she actually is. At some point, I wondered if I disliked her because she's clearly what a white male author thinks a thirteen year old girl is like. Maybe it's meant to be satire. Who knows.

Luckily, the book picks up about two-thirds in, and becomes rather difficult to put down as the plot begins to thicken and point of the book starts hitting you in the face with each turn of the page (I found myself having a few 'oh, so that's what that was all about moments'), and you're getting all excited that the book is finally as interesting as the amazing covered promise and then - BAM. You fall off the edge of a cliffhanger, screaming 'DAMNIT PALAHNIUK - HOW DARE YOU MAKE IT INTO A SEQUEL' Basically, it ends much better than it starts, and the plot (and its twists), rather than the characters, leaves you wishing for more. 

On Goodreads, I gave this 4/5 stars, which was probably (definitely) too generous. Chuck Palahniuk is one of my favourite authors, so the writing itself is enjoyable, the cultural references are a nice way to give yourself brownie points when you understand them, and I think I might have let out the odd chuckle here and there, but it took me bloody ages to get into, Madison is about as annoying to read as you imagine annoying thirteen year olds to be, and once I finally got into it, it ended in a bloody cliffhanger. The chances of me rushing out to buy the sequel 'Doomed', are currently very low.

Overall, I give this 3/5 stars, and would recommend it to people who like their fiction peppered with culture references, and sitting somewhere between satire, humour, horror and 'I'm not sure if that scene was entirely appropriate'. Definitely not Palahniuk's best work, but he could do worse. 

Have you read Damned? Are you a Chuck Palahniuk fan?

Books That Marked My 2014

I feel like this year has gone insanely quickly, especially these past couple of months! But as we say goodbye to the last of 2014, it's a good time to reflect, and in today's post I look at the books that marked my year in some way.

Not That Kind of Girl: A Young Woman Tells You What She "Learned" by Lena Dunham 

I did not want to read this book. I have a love/hate relationship with Lena Dunham (though I suspect it might have something to do with being unable to differentiate her from her character Hannah from Girls) and reading this book - out of sheer curiosity might I add - did not settle anything for me. I'm still not sure whether I like her, or even if I like this book at all (there were moments where I physically cringed) but it taught me something, and I can't hate on a book that teaches me something. Not That Kind of Girl taught me that it is okay to be unapologetically you. Lena Dunham is unapologetically herself in this and that is something to be admired.

#GIRLBOSS by Sophia Amoruso 

I feel like this is one of those books that is on every female creatives 'must reads' list. I was swept up in the hype of the #GIRLBOSS movement and I am happy I did. It's just one of those books that if you read it at the right moment, it spurs you and makes you feel like you can conquer the world - and that you will. The story of how she founded Nasty Gal and the nuggets of wisdoms peppered within are what spurred me to stop wishing about starting a blog and just do it. 

The War of Art by Steven Pressfield 

This was on my Amazon Wishlist for ages before I finally cracked and bought it to see if it lived up to its Amazon reviews. I was disappointed. At least after the first read; it was shorter than expected and I didn't feel particularly inspired to go out and 'fight the Resistance'. However, over the next couple of days after reading it, I started spotting patterns in my behaviour that Pressfield highlights as obstacles to creativity. When I read it a second time, I found I made good use of my Kindle highlight feature, and now reach for it every time I feel the creeping tendrils of 'writer's block' or other creative blocks. 

Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

This is another book that I'd heard a lot about, and I thought 'why not' before adding it to my car. I have not looked back since I first read it about six weeks ago. It's one of those books that you either get or you don't, depending at what point you are in your personal journey, and if you get it you have a 'mind blown' moment. I feel like if I had read this book a year ago I would have been like 'What is this old man from an other era talking about? How is this stuff from the Great Depression applicable to me?' but at stage I'm at, I can see the 'secret' he's getting at. This books lays down the basic principles to success and leaves it up to you to figure out how to set them into place in yrur own life, and I love that.

What books marked your year? 

The Book Edit #1

Another day, another post that I hope to make a regular feature on my blog! When I was younger I was an avid reader but then something happened when I started university and all of a sudden reading for fun went out of the window. However I've recently started reading with fervour again, and want to share with you what I've finished reading, what I'm reading and what's on my reading wishlist. H

Read

The Romantic Movement : Sex, Shopping and The Novel by Alain de Botton

In the Romantic Movement, you meet Alice. Alice meets Eric. They date for a long time. And then, for reasons they end. Alain de Botton uses their relationship to expose theories on the nature of love with chapter titles such as ‘In love with love’ or ‘Diving, Rousseau and Thinking Too Much’ that merge philosophy, psychology and fiction to create, what I think, is a truly fascinating thought-provoking read. I can’t find fault with de Botton’s writing style – in fact he’s fast become my favourite contemporary philosopher because of his way of sharing his thoughts without making it seem stuffy, academic and pretentious. I highly recommend this book if you’re a hopeless romantic like me and would like to see some of the questions you’ve always asked yourself about your relationships answered in an interesting, entertaining way. 

I don’t often find books I would re-read, but I’ve read this three times now and I daresay I will again. 

Rating: 5/5

Currently Reading

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

If you’ve not heard about this book which has recently been adapted into a film starring Ben Affleck, then we are chilling in two very different corners of the world. Like ‘The Fault In Our Stars’ by John Green, the hype surrounding it made me want to pick up a copy just to see what the fuss was all about. But unlike TFIOS, I actually find myself enjoying this story, and I just really, really need to find out where Amy is. Go pick up this book – now! 

Not That Kind of Girl: A Young Woman Tells You What She “Learned” by Lena Dunham

Err…I’m not sure why I picked up this book. I’ve not even decided whether I like Lena Dunham or not and this book is only marginally helping because I think I like it when I really wanted to hate it, so naturally I'm angry at it for defying my expectations of crap-ness. I’ve wanted to write a memoir since I was fourteen and had done nothing of importance at all, so I applaud that she’s written one (we should al write memoirs). And it’s not terrible. But it’s terribly Lena. So if you can’t stand Girls, don’t read this. I cringe at the show, and I physically cringed at parts this book, but I’m apparently a masochist. 

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

Am I the only one who always has a book for when I’m on the toilet? This is my current bog-book. Mainly because I want to read it – I’m a fan of Criminal Minds and Capote’s journalistic style, analysing everything about the family, the criminals and the repercussion of their murders in a sleepy Kansas Town in 1959 gives me that in book form – but it’s not one of those books that calls at me to rush it. So far, so good, though it did take me awhile to get into it.

Want To Read

Dear John by Nicolas Sparks

I never read The Notebook and I’ve only just finished watching it after years of telling myself I would. I’m not sure why I feel that I’ll like Dear John any better, but I like letters and love stories and I haven’t read or watched something soppy in awhile. This needs to be remedied. 

Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

It’s a classic, it’s referenced in The Romantic Movement and it’s probably one of those books you should read before you die to find out why people were so scandalised in 1857 when it came out. Needless to say, I'm intrigued. 

Currently Reading #1: Alain de Botton, 'The Romantic Movement'

I used to be a self-professed bookworm. After a particularly haunting incident involving my favourite Barbie during childhood, I turned to books, and we started a tumultuous love affair that under the pressure of adolescence and heavy university work load I thought had come to an end. But thankfully, it isn't so, and lately I've been getting back into reading which has made me a particularly happy bunny. I love reading. It's slow going compared to the speed I remember I used to devour books when I was younger (anyone else read Harry Potter on the same day it was released?) but it's no less enjoyable.

I'm currently sinking my teeth into 'The Romantic Movement: Sex, Shopping and the Novel' by Alain de Botton. It's not my first reading of it, but I hadn't read it in so long, and personally I think it's one of those novels that reads like the first time if you've let enough time elapse so that you've inadvertantly grown as well. 

The thing I like most about 'The Romantic Movement' is the way that de Botton manages to mix fiction with a philosophical and psychological analysis of a relationship from the meeting to break up. The ordinary becomes extraordinary, and the extraordinary becomes understandable. Alice and Eric's relationship isn't particularly interesting in itself, but is brought into new light by analysing it though the prism of the likes of Plato, Freud and Madam Bovary, who are casually dropped into the analysis without making the reader feel like he's being pretentious. 

It's a light, enjoyable read that I can just pick it up and read a few pages, mull it over and read a few more the next day. All in all, it's the perfect book to ease me back into reading.

Have you read 'The Romantic Movement'?