Diary (Paperback)

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Review
Palahniuk's latest novel is centred around the mysterious island of Waytansea and its enclosed, eccentric community. Among them is Misty Marie Kleinman, a hotel worker and failed artist whose insane husband now lies in a coma. Naturally all is not well on this strange island, and Misty is plagued by her unexplainable automatic writing and painting abilities, strange clues left for her by previous artists who lived and died on the island, and the messages hidden for her by her husband before his collapse. The islanders are holding a secret - and Misty discovers she is part of an age-old masterplan to ensure that the secluded community stays that way.... As we would expect from the author of Fight Club and Choke, this tale is genuinely unsettling from the start. Diary gives us a cast of strange, inbred islanders; Misty's husband boarded up people's rooms and hid cryptic messages behind the wallpaper, and her grandmother keeps a diary whose entries predict Misty's every move. The tension rises as we realize Misty is a prisoner not just of the island, but of a cosmic cycle from which she cannot break free and which will sap her life. For Waytansea Island, the belief that the artist should suffer for her art is the key to salvation. Given his success at creating an ominous setting, Palahniuk rushes the finale somewhat, and the story of an enclosed, secretive island with a mysterious past is hardly original. The idea that Misty is somehow the inheritor of the essence of the world's greatest artists and their suffering also falls slightly flat. This is a highly competent horror story, but ultimately it cannot escape the shadow of Twin Peaks and the Twilight Zone. (Kirkus UK)

Product Description
The bestselling author of Lullaby and Choke continues his twenty-first century reinvention of the horror novel in this homage to Rosemary's Baby. Diary takes the form of a 'coma diary' kept by one Misty Tracy Wilmot as her husband lies senseless in hospital after a suicide attempt. Once she was an art student dreaming of creativity and freedom; now, after marrying Peter at art school and being brought back to once quaint, now tourist-overrun Waytansea Island, she's been reduced to the condition of a resort hotel maid. Peter, it turns out, has been hiding rooms in houses he's refurbished and scrawling vile messages all over the walls - an old habit of builders but gone nuts on his part. Angry homeowners are suing left and right, and Misty's dreams of artistic greatness are in ashes. But then, as if possessed by the spirit of Maura Kinkaid, a fabled Waytansea artist of the nineteenth century, Misty begins painting again, compulsively. The canvases are taken away by her mother-in-law and her doctor, who seem to have a plan for Misty - and for all those annoying tourists...A dark, hilarious and, this time, poignant act of storytelling from America's favourite, most inventive nihilist.

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13 Reviews 5 star:  (9) 4 star:  (1) 3 star:  (1) 2 star:  (2) 1 star:    (0)           Average Customer Review 4.3 out of 5 stars (13 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews   14 of 14 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars He writes like a pro, 8 Nov 2007 By  Cheres Negedelu (Compton) - See all my reviews This review is from: Diary (Paperback) Chuck Palahniuk is one of those writers who, after you've read one of his books, you have to read all the others. It's the same way with the works of David Sedaris and Jackson McCrae; Christopher Moore, too. And so I came by way of Diary through Fight Club and Survivor. Palahniuk's works are dark and disturbing, but there's a wry, cynical humor there also. He obviously owes a debt of gratitude to Kurt Vonnegut and the likes of even Oscar Wilde, but he's made his style his own and it's one heck of a style. As usual, the author wraps his books around some theme (infanticide, choking, etc) but the ideas go deeper and more complex than you can imagine. Much in the same was as McCrae's Katzenjammer does with its odd twists and turns. Or the way Martin Amis convolutes his plots in his Money and Success. If you want a book like no other--if you want a lot of them--then read Diary and all other C.P. books. Comment Comment (1) | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)   17 of 19 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars Chilling, 23 Dec 2004 By  Iain Mcginniss - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)    This review is from: Diary (Paperback) This book is the most darkly compelling novel I have ever read. I would read, disgusted, almost unwilling to continue, but nevertheless unable to stop; something that I share with the main character of the book. If you enjoyed Fight Club, and Chuck's perfect little narrative soundbytes, you will love this book as much as I do. Here is a classic example: "Just for the record, the weather today is bitter with occasional fits of jealous rage". The book is graphic, gritty, and overwhelming. Chuck's repetition of phrases throughout the book such as the one above give it an almost hypnotic quality. You will see where the story is going long before the main character, you will scream for her to stop, to run, praying that she will evade the inevitable. Books this involving may just save us all from illiterate damnation :) Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)   3 of 3 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars "Everything is a self-portrait", 9 April 2007 By  M. J. Pucci "Big Riff" (Milton Keynes, UK) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)       This review is from: Diary (Paperback) Chuck Palahniuk's sixth novel takes the form a 'coma diary' written by Misty Wilmot, a washed-up art student whose husband, Peter, has been left unconscious after a botched suicide. Long-time readers of Palahniuk will immediately recognise the author's distinct, so-called nihilistic style, and like Fight Club and Lullaby before it, Diary is both blackly comic and astoundingly original. Take for, example, the opening line from the book's second entry (June 22): "By the time you read this, you'll be older than you remember." In the four pages that follow, Palahniuk succeeds in identifying Peter as a rather despicable character and eliciting sympathy for the long suffering Misty - all by way of a simple science lesson about the movement of the facial muscles. In truth, there is nothing pretty about Palahniuk's writing, and his 'informative', minimalist style - not to mention a cast of rather bizarre characters - will turn off as many readers as it will attract. The author makes little attempt to hide the fact that he is trying to deliver his own message; indeed, sometimes he seems at pains to get his point across - to the slight detriment of the narrative's flow. And while the numerous artistic and historical references scattered throughout clearly serve a purpose, there is occasionally a sense that ol' Chuck is being a bit smug. For example, the name of the island on which Misty has wound up - the place that still, in spite of everything, holds the key to her dreams - is called Waytansea. Geddit? And yet this is a beautiful book; an intricate, well executed piece of fiction-writing with a plot that unfolds in an intriguing and twisted manner, as Misty makes one unpleasant discovery after another about her senseless husband. Once again, Palahniuk manages to take the reader and show them a world beyond life's little tragedies, wherein his characters find inspiration from the most unlikely of sources and discover the true strength of the human spirit. Diary is an ambitious, transcendent and inspiring book, and as such, it's one that I highly recommend. Matt Pucci Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this) Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review › See all 13 customer reviews...		Ad feedback   Most Recent Customer Reviews 2.0 out of 5 stars Unbelievable, repititive but readable The novel takes the form of a diary written by former art-student, Misty, as she finds out some less savoury facts about her estranged husband and the community in which she... Read more Published 9 months ago by gm33 2.0 out of 5 stars Half baked pseudo-philosophy This book really did not live up to its reviews. I was expecting great things after reading several of Palahniuk's other novels but the plot line and writing style of Diary left... Read more Published on 12 Dec 2006 by Hannah 4.0 out of 5 stars Wrong side of a different track... Diary is another of Mr P's extraordinary books, which will enthral and exhilarate readers from the first to the last page. Read more Published on 5 Sep 2005 by Mr. S. Bowman 5.0 out of 5 stars This is how we know what we don't know... This was my first stab at a Palahniuk novel, and initially, I was preparing myself to be let down. The blurb on the back cover didn't really sell the plot to me, and the opening... Read more Published on 12 Jul 2005 by bangbangshootshoot 5.0 out of 5 stars subvert Chuck spews out more ideas on one page than most writers do in a lifetime. Published on 13 Dec 2004 by motiss 5.0 out of 5 stars Chuck Palahniuk genius of the obscure From the second I finished invisible creatures I knew that Chuck Palahniuk was an author whose books would continue to captivate and interest me, and Diary is prove that nobody... Read more Published on 19 Oct 2004 by prozac_porn_princess 5.0 out of 5 stars One of Palahniuk's best Chuck Palahniuk's latest offering takes the form of a diary kept by Misty Marie Kleinman. The text of this diary, while personal, is directed at her husband, Peter Wilmot. Read more Published on 20 Aug 2004 by Joe Sherry 5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant Chuck Palahniuk really is a supreme writer. His books are the kind that, once you're halfway in, you can't physically put the book down. Read more Published on 6 Feb 2004 by Joe Bradfield 5.0 out of 5 stars Chuck D-livers As usual I read this Chuck's latest in like 1 day, he is the only author who i actually get excited about and really anticipate the publishing date. Read more Published on 8 Sep 2003 by Andrew Cottier 3.0 out of 5 stars tense if not thrilling Chuck Palaniuks characteristicly nihilistic take on American society and relations between individuals is evident here, though not as strongly as in his earlier books. Read more Published on 5 Sep 2003 by smelldr Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews › See all 13 customer reviews...

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