Can I just spew here for a second and say how great of an author I think CP is? I'll be the first to say I think Fight Club is his weakest novel by far. It barely fits with the rest of his work, to be quite honest. Beyond that, I see the arguments people have about how formulaic his books can be, in some kind of twisted sense. But to be blunt, I don't give a shit. I dig the characters and how they end up, and the plots are somewhat secondary to that. It's like looking into the sickest, most depraved situations imaginable...like Amsterdam, but with crazy shit behind the glass instead of naked women.

I'm a few books shy of catching up with what he's written, but so far I'd say Choke and Survivor have to be the best he's put out. It's like a really bad car accident. You don't really want to know what's going to happen to the guy with anal beads stuck up his ass thinking he's the offspring of Jesus, but god dammit, you're going to find out anyway.

What do you guys think of him? If I remember, the consensus around here wasn't very positive in the past.

He has his moments but for the most part I don't like his work. I haven't read Choke but Insivible Monster and Diary were enough for me. I think his books start off great in the beginning and then just devolve into this muddled pile of shit. If that's the effect he was aiming for, then he succeeded.

All of his books are exactly the same except for Diary, which sucked. Knock them all out on a lazy Sunday then move on.

I enjoyed survivor and diary, but they were just fun reads more than anything.

edit: actually, I enjoyed the books way more than at the "fun reading" level. Granted, I read them in the 2003 and so was quite a bit younger, but I bet they'd still hold as good novels now.

I don't care how popular or cliche he becomes or has become, I absolutely love this man. I've gone to book signings and all, and he is always amazingly hilarious. His sense of humor never gets old to me, I love his non-fiction stuff too. Stranger than Fiction is a fun read.

I think I liked the latest one more than most people, I'd put Haunted in my top 3 with Survivor and Choke.

I used to be a total CP fag, but honestly after Diary I just don't care anymore. Survivor and Choke for the win.

Also, I thought it was just a rumor that he's gay. Is it true?

Yeah, he's gay. He was outed by Entertainment Weekly when they published off-the-record comments. He got so pissed off at the writer that he recorded an audio clip of himself and revealed to his site that he was in fact gay, and then took the liberty of making personal attacks on the writer and her family. Good times indeed.

Thank you.

Way to read the OP, guys.

SPTV gave a shit--my post was for him.

Bahahaah. Thanks for saving me the time to write that.

I read Survivor a long time ago, it was okay. I never really fealt compelled to read anything else by him though.

I've started reading choke and it's alright, I can't seem to get into his writing.


And as for the gay thing, wow you guys didn't know? I looked at his picture on the back of the book and instantly knew he was gay. (Honestly. I'd never heard it before then)

I just finished Lullaby, and it was the first book I ever read by him. I thought the plot itself was weak as all hell, but his writing style and characterization kept me interested. He kind of has an air of "artsy, shocking and experimental strictly for the purpose of being artsy, shocking and experimental" about him, but I enjoyed it none the less.

Most importantly, though, the book made me think. On the surface it's just a dumb little story, but on the deeper levels it's about if the concept of good and evil exists as we perceive it and if we really have free will. Cliché as those both are, a well-written story about them can still be great.

I'm digging his stuff so far. I read fight club and started invisible monsters, so I can't comment if everything he writes is the same yet, but he seems unique enough so far.