- CD-ROM
- Publisher: Blackstone Audiobooks; MP3 edition (Oct 2006)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0786174609
- ISBN-13: 978-0786174607
- Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 13 x 1.5 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (58 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 5,332,512 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Survivor
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Survivor, the second novel by Chuck Palahniuk--whose debut novel The Fight Club was widely received to critical acclaim--is a deranged comedy of nightmares, a groin-kick at Western society's worst excesses. This is satire at its best, and Palahniuk handles it all with a distinct, engaging prose style and with plot devices that keep the pages turning long after your tea break should have finished.
From the very opening of the book Palahniuk lets us know that his narrator, Tender Branson, the last surviving member of a religious death cult, is on a path to self-destruction. The tension in this book lies not in the outcome, because like Tender's soothsaying friend Fertility, we can see it coming 289 pages away, instead it lies in the intricate plot that takes Tender from farm boy to media celebrity and ruin.
This is a novel that examines what happens when religion meets the overindulgences of our consumerist society. In the world that the author envisages, which is all too real in the light of tragedies such as Waco and the Heaven's Gate suicides, the only acceptable religions are those that can be successfully marketed and controlled at a corporate level; the small separatist models of religion are superfluous, and self-destruct. This is also a look at religion itself, at how it can enslave as many people as it appears to liberate. A comic novel that deals with the most serious issues of society, Survivor places Palahniuk among the most daring and technically able writers of his generation.
Adam said the first step most cultures take to making you a slave is to castrate you ... the cultures that don't castrate you to make you a slave, they castrate your mind.--Iain Robinson --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Amazon.co.uk Review
Tender Branson is the last surviving member of the Creedish Death Cult and finds himself suddenly famous, at the epicentre of a vast freak-show. In response, he commandeers a 747 jet, empties it of passengers and flies it on a collision course for the Australian outback. However, before the kamakazi landing, he decides to dictate his entire story to the flight's black-box recorder. Palahniuk offers a heady mix of startling satire and deadpan humour, with Branson moving from a mindless, obedient servant to a high-gloss media mogul. Survivor seeks to record one man's mental undoing and the result is an unnerving yet hilarious observation on cult life and media obsession with the outlandish. Whether Branson's apocalypse is fulfilling his belief's obligations or the media circus is, the harshest truth of all is "… the only difference between suicide and martyrdom is press coverage." --Danny Graydon
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
If the opening of the book doesn't get you, then give up. It opens at the end... There's a guy (Tender Branson), in a plane, that's going to crash, and he's inevitably going to die - and he knows it. Look at the page numbers - they count down i.e. the last page is page 1. So what you get is Tender's painful life, recorded onto the black box recorder of the plane, in a race against time before he and the plane crash into the Australian outback.
Tender Branson is born into a Deliverance Day Cult, sold into servitude, and there he stays until one day the whole cult commits suicide. As all cult members (inside and out of the cult village) have been programmed to do the same, the government sets up a survivor programme whereby they try and stop the remaining members following suit. This is fairly unsuccessful as Tender ends up as the only one left alive. This is where the books takes a turn and he is swept up by a media agent who turns Tender into a pre-packaged, TelePrompTed, made-for-TV messiah.
Other reviewers have already covered the subjects that this book touches upon. It's angsty, it's nihilistic, and it's got a couple of good one-liners. It's quite far-fetched but it's based in enough reality to keep it interesting. It's a pacy read, it raises questions about modern society and it's well written. Don't know what else I can say other than I really enjoyed it.
Tender Branson is born into a Deliverance Day Cult, sold into servitude, and there he stays until one day the whole cult commits suicide. As all cult members (inside and out of the cult village) have been programmed to do the same, the government sets up a survivor programme whereby they try and stop the remaining members following suit. This is fairly unsuccessful as Tender ends up as the only one left alive. This is where the books takes a turn and he is swept up by a media agent who turns Tender into a pre-packaged, TelePrompTed, made-for-TV messiah.
Other reviewers have already covered the subjects that this book touches upon. It's angsty, it's nihilistic, and it's got a couple of good one-liners. It's quite far-fetched but it's based in enough reality to keep it interesting. It's a pacy read, it raises questions about modern society and it's well written. Don't know what else I can say other than I really enjoyed it.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Whenever I review a book I try to rate it compared to the authors other work. This book would have got 5 stars if it weren't for the seminal "Fight Club". It's really that good.
The story concerns Tender Branson, the last surviving member of the "Creeds" (a religion not too dissimilar to that of the Mormons or Amish) all of whose members have committed suicide as part of an ancient pact. Living in the outside world, Tender decides not to conform to his religions decree and becomes a superstar as a result. In his state of religious (media) messiah he begins to deteriorate by taking drugs to improve his physique or hair or skin until he becomes hooked on a whole range of highly damaging substances. His only friend comes in the shape of Fertility Hollis, a mysterious woman who sees the future in her dreams. The book ends with Tenders death in a plane crash.
For everyone who thinks I just spoiled the story, you're wrong. In a brilliant stylistic stroke, Palahnuik starts the book on Chapter 43 and ends it on 1. This is because Tender is telling his story into the black box flight recorder on the plane, so as a result, you are aware that Tender is going to die from the first few pages.
Overall this book reeks of style and class. Palahniuk uses the book to comment on the misuse and commercialisation of religion in our society and the way in which any principles that once existed are mutated, reformed and packaged - just as Tender is during the book. In my opinion this is a thought provoking, well-written and ultimately excellent book.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Tender Branson is the last surviving member of the Creedish Death Cult, a radical religious group that have committed mass suicide simply because the Elders, or ruling men and women, have ordered them to do so. We all know that this is not entirely fiction - the same thing has happened several times around the world. And why hasn't Tender Branson joined his peers? Because, like the main character from the excellent debut novel Fight Club, he wants more from life.
If this short description sounds interesting to you, wait until you experience the various twists and turns that the plot takes. Palahniuk provides these in abundance - although there is no one real convention-defying plot twist as there was in fight club, that forces you to re-read the entire thing.
Also, it is sometimes difficult to understand just what Palahniuk is trying to get at in the story, and the plot is not always as engaging as you might expect from the excellent author. But regardless of this, if you enjoyed Fight Club, this one is definitely worth a read. If you haven't read Fight Club, if you are a fan of Kurt Vonnegut or Don Delillo, Palahniuk's highly original writing style should appeal to you.
If this short description sounds interesting to you, wait until you experience the various twists and turns that the plot takes. Palahniuk provides these in abundance - although there is no one real convention-defying plot twist as there was in fight club, that forces you to re-read the entire thing.
Also, it is sometimes difficult to understand just what Palahniuk is trying to get at in the story, and the plot is not always as engaging as you might expect from the excellent author. But regardless of this, if you enjoyed Fight Club, this one is definitely worth a read. If you haven't read Fight Club, if you are a fan of Kurt Vonnegut or Don Delillo, Palahniuk's highly original writing style should appeal to you.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A ride I couldn't get off.
I've read a few of Palahniuk's books and this is my favourite, just. It centers around a survivor and his confession. The story and the telling of it is utterly gripping. Read more
Published 12 days ago by B. Salavati
very good
loved the book, it came in a day from the day of purchase and is new (even though I got it as a second-hand).
Published 6 months ago by krekra
Where do I start? It was BRILLIANT!
This was the second book of Palahniuk's that I read, Fight Club being the first. I didn't think he'd be able to follow with anything nearly as interesting, but I was surprised and... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Law
Survivor
This is not exactly a Booker Prize winner, but not a bad read. I've read better, but, in all fairness, I've also read worse.
Published 19 months ago by Leslie A. Heaps
Living backwards
Despite the dark themes -- a suicide cult, a serial killer, the manipulative nature of the mass media -- Survivor manages to be a witty and uplifting book. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Little Green Alien
Splattered with irony and edgy insights ....
The plot line sounds gloomy. He is the (almost) last survivor of the Creedish Death Cult. Tender Branson hurtles beyond celebrity to notoriety and, as he heads for terminal... Read more
Published on 16 Mar 2010 by bressons_puddle
Amen
A cult decides to kill themselves. One of the members, Tender Branson, decides not to. He goes away to make a life for himself but finds out that someone else survived from the... Read more
Published on 19 Jan 2010 by Sam Quixote
Vintage Palahniuk
Survivor, along with Fight Club, is Palahniuk's best work in my opinion. It maintains exactly the right level of absurdity to be humourous but somehow believable, the correct... Read more
Published on 13 Sep 2009 by amazonian117
Great book
Something I never expected really. You can see some of the Fight Club tones coming through into this book but the story was unexpected and very enjoyable- a definte good read.
Published on 31 July 2009 by Mr. J. Evans
Compelling, to say the least!
Survivor is the first novel of Palahniuk's I had the good fortune to happen upon, and in my opinion it's his best work. Read more
Published on 25 April 2009 by Mr. Cobalt
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