Chuck Palahniuk Damned Pdf Download Free

Chuck Palahniuk
Damned
Doubleday, 256 pages, $14.82
October, 2011

Even if you haven't heard of Chuck Palahniuk, you've likely heard of his novels, or at least the movie versions of his most famous ones: Choke and Fight Club. Before his writing career, the Oregon-based author dabbled in everything from hospice care to truck mechanics to anarchic societies. Over time, his work has acquired a religious following; his official website was even started by a fan and is called The Cult.

Palahniuk's latest novel, Damnedis a postmodern traipse across the landscape of Hell told through the eyes of recently-deceased Madison Spencer; a sort of 21st century Inferno. She is the prepubescent, overweight, socially awkward daughter of billionaire Hollywood moguls. The book chronicles daily life in Hades by following thirteen-year-old Madison and her unlikely group of afterlife acquaintances—leather-clad Archer, promiscuously dressed Babette, nerdy Leonard, and athletic Patterson. Occasionally, the story flashes back to pre-death Madison, developing a subplot used to enrich an otherwise linear narrative. As these two stories are interwoven throughout Damned, a coming-of-age tale unfolds that gives readers a humorous first-person look into the difficulties of adolescence. While Madison struggles to come to terms with her own death, she begins to reinvent herself in the afterlife by making friends, flirting, getting a job, and confronting demons—both literal and metaphorical. At the same time, the story jumps across diverse locales in both real- and underworlds, including upscale Swiss boarding schools, the Great Plains of Broken Glass, red carpet award shows, and the Dandruff Desert, while providing a pointed cultural critique of modern America.

This book rests comfortably within the Palahniuk canon of oddities. The author elucidates: "Imagine if The Shawshank Redemption had a baby by The Lovely Bones and it was raised by Judy Blume." Much like his previous work, humor, and a nihilistic romanticism abound in this book which is an entertaining and fast-paced read. There is something conspicuously different, however, about this project than his prior novels. This likely stems from the fact that Damned was conceived as a way to deal with his mother's death from cancer in 2009. While his intimate attachment to the work makes the novel unique, the resulting book is not his best work.

As far as the plot is concerned, it exhibits both points of mastery indicative of a great author as well as amateurish shortcomings. Most problematic is the story's pacing. Some parts drag on far longer than necessary. Additionally, certain thematic elements, like the superiority the living feel over the dead, are repeated so many times that they become preachy and meaningless. Other episodes feel brief and rushed, as if they were uncomfortable to write and the author hurried through them simply to fill a plot hole.

Still, there are multiple glimmers of Palahniuk's creative brilliance. From Hell's solitary movie choice, The English Patient, to its lackluster employment options—one can only be a telemarketer or internet pornographer once they are damned—his writing is sharp, despite occasionally slipping into cliché. The parody of American life present throughout the book is similarly smart. Progressive parenting, consumerism, humanitarianism, religion, morality, cultural relativism, and the very ideas of life, death, and eternity are all mocked, undermined, and reinvented by Palahniuk.

While Damned isn't without its flaws, it is an entertaining read with flashes of brilliance and hilarity.

Brian P. Kelly is the Assistant Arts in Review Editor ofThe Wall Street Journal.

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Source: https://newcriterion.com/blogs/dispatch/fiction-in-brief-chuck-palahniuks-damned