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What are readers saying about Haunted?
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-09-22 08:05:08.
(Language: English)
  
Eighteen people respond to an offer to live in complete seclusion for three months in order to complete the novel they have always wanted to write. The writer's retreat turns out to be a sinister experiment that unlocks the participant's baser natures and reveals them in all their horrifying inhumanity.Their host shuts off the power, heat, and leaves them with an empty pantry. Then he waits to see what will happen. No one actually writes anything, but each participant does share their personal stories--each one more gross and disturbing than the last. Instead of actually writing, each "writer" envisions the made-for-TV movie that will result when the story behind the writer's retreat is sold. Each person plays little tricks on the others to make their situation more horrifying (so it will play better on TV). The revelation of the real reason for the writer's reatreat made me gasp and then made me think. So, even though this book was over-the-top gross, both in sexual and gore-factor descriptions, I can't stop thinking about it. I recommend it, but beware if you are squeamish or easily offended. 
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-09-23 11:13:08.
(Language: English)
Aside from Mother Nature and Ms. Clark, I found it difficult to tell one character from the other. It took me a very long time to read this book because I just didn't care enough about the outcome. I guess the short stories were interesting enough, but the poems were forgetable. I have never read a book from this author, but I can say that if I am to expect the same kind of writing from him in his other novels, I will opt out. However, I do like the message he attempts to get across about how attention starved and money driven our society has become, but after a while I just wanted to yell "I get it!" and toss the book back on the shelf.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-03-10 11:22:48.
(Language: English)
I had head a lot of intresting stories about Haunted, being a fan of Chuck’s fight Club (I know, I know) I was very excited about it, but also a little sceptical when I saw that it came with a “Parental Advisory” sticker attached to the front cover. I reamember leaving the book store believing that there is NO WAY this book can live up to it’s hype. I have never been more wrong. By he end of the first chapter I was laughing so hard that tears blinded me from reading for a while. I have never laughed so hard in all my life. I have now read Haunted a number of times, and still find some of the stories comical. This book is a triumph for anybody who is a fan of psychological horror to read, it is gripping, entertaining, (and for some people) disturbing enough to turn anybody on (or off) the genre.Another success from one of my favourite authors.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-07-28 05:37:09.
(Language: English)
I'm a fan of Chuck. I like his always quick, entertaining, I'm-having-a-conversation-with-you writing style. It doesn't get caught up in trying to impress people with a massive vocabulary where you have to look up every second word. Really, the only person I've read that beats him in this is Vonnegut (my favourite author). I love Fight Club and Invisible Monsters and enjoy everything else I've read. This is my least favourite book by him. I didn't find the short stories that interesting, and it seemed like he just wanted to out do himself. The actual plot wasn't that interesting either, seemed like a parody of himself. The themes he explores aren't nearly as interesting or as in depth as some previous works. This just seems shallow in comparison. But I still read it anyway because it's Chuck and he deserves to be read, no matter what literature snobs say.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-01-07 11:50:20.
(Language: English)
Now, this book is an odd character. Chuck finds a way to frame a bunch of short stories within a weird narrative about the characters who authored all of the stories. The book's narrative is less interesting to me now than the stories themselves. The edition I am reading now is changed around from the original edition, my copy of which I lent to my friend Mitch and have yet to recapture. Again with the lending business. Chuck's masterpiece, "Guts," is now the first short story given. "Guts" is legendary and undeniably amazing, and this book is worth the cover price just for the chance to read "Guts." The first time I read "Guts" it was in a copy of Playboy Magazine, and I was living in The Pointe apartments in Ridgeland reading on the toilet. That is probably the scariest way to read "Guts." I very highly suggest reading "Guts," especially to writers. The latest edition of Haunted includes an afterword wherein Chuck talks about the reactions "Guts" received when he read it at book signings. Great stuff. It has made people pass out and freak out. It is the kind of writing that I aspire to, at least in its intensity and audience impact. You should check this out.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-10-14 12:39:27.
(Language: English)
There are books that are hair-pulling bad, but all of them are legible. This is unadulterated crap. Also the title is misleading, it's not a novel. It's a short-story collection that tries to be a novel, but fails as both. I don't know whose brilliant idea was this, but they shouldn't be allowed anywhere near paper, ink or a printer/press. Not to mention that most of the short-story are pretty average, like if Dan Brown targeted pseudo-intellectuals, though the opener "Guts" is exceptional. Of course most of the author's fans say that it's his worst book, even then, it's bad. I wouldn't recommend it as a punishment. In fact, it has turned me off the author.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-07-14 03:23:26.
(Language: English)
It's been a while since I read this one but even after reading "Guts" and no, still no one gets my reference fact to those darned invisible carrots we all seem to hide, I immediatly likened it to Geoffry Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales." Even having not finished off Chaucer's collection, it still evokes in me a wonder if this is what Palahniuk had in mind. Perhaps not, but the plot of overarching story reminds me also of the movie Seven. Our friends may not be atoning for any of their sins, or even in a state of attrition, whether any of them are contrite I can not remember. It's quite interesting though to think of the stories and how each haunts it's teller, the experiance has scarred each in some way, enough to be the subject of the infernal old man. Happy Reading...
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A Reader posted a review at 2011-08-04 03:47:56.
(Language: English)
Very Very Very Good!!! At times, so repulsive that my stomach turned and I had to skip paragraphs. I have to appreciate the capacity of doing so through the written pages of a book. Most of the times, absolute genius outside of the box critic of American and Global Society and basic human nature. Brilliant!!! It was the first book by Palahniuk I read but I will read more for sure, possibly starting with Fight Club! Thank you for writing for us Chuck!!!
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Tyler posted a review at 2011-09-19 07:54:26.
(Language: English)
My first introduction to the writing of Chuck Palahniuk was a disappointment. He seems to lack style and just go for the obvious shock value. A pretty cool concept of 23 writers in one place to come up with 23 short stories. I liked maybe 2 of the 23 stories though. Stay away from this one and it is going to be a long time till I can stomach another one of his books.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-05-28 04:41:39.
(Language: English)
Graphic, funny and satirical, Palahniuk's Haunted is a collection of character portraits, short stories and warped poems, all tied together with a thread of desperate celebrity aspiration. There's much here to offend, with a number of chapters bordering on Grand Guignol horror. The pieces are written with such skill, however, and laced with diabolical humour that it's impossible to dismiss as pure exploitation. Indeed, this is a book with a lot to say about the emptiness of modern life, the parallel addictions of 'reality' TV and food, plus how society seems to make victims of us all. My edition contained a rather pointless afterword from the author, which mainly totted up how many people fainted on his promotional reading tour - a missed opportunity to provide some additional background to a fascinating book.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-01-22 06:51:08.
(Language: English)
There are those books which must be read slowly, savored like a fine wine. There are some books that read as easily as a Fun With Dick and Jane first grade primer: one night of frenzied reading then *poof* it's over. Some books are prurient for the sake of prurience, others with naughty bits sprinkled throughout to move the plot forward. "Haunted" reads like no other. To continue the simile, this book is one to be savored like one would savor a Mason jar of rotgut moonshine; to continue the warm feeling you must keep drinking...but slowwwwwwly, so as not to burn your stomach lining. To say this book is not for the squeamish is an inadequate disclaimer. Imagine the most vile, wretched filth you've ever read, multiply it by 10, and if you can't envision yourself reading it, then don't even attempt this book. Is it prurient for prurience's sake? My contention is no. "American Psycho" would be an apt title for that descriptor. Bret Easton Ellis describes in vivid detail murders committed by a Wall Street "suit" that just instills nausea for no redeeming reason, other than, perhaps, the author's vainglorious attempt to show that he CAN write filth, and you can either read it or not. This is my first stab at a Chuck Palahniuk novel, and WOW what a way to cut your teeth into someone's work. I'll just say this: it's 400 pages of hell. Perhaps the description of a modern-day Dante's "Inferno" could do it justice. It's vile, sordid, sick, filthy, and absolutely mesmerizing. Basically it's an account of 19 people's visit to a "writer's retreat", with about 24 short stories and poems "written" by the protagonists. Many people in this forum have been buzzing about the first story, entitled "Guts" and involving a pool. It is an absolutely sick story, but it's nothing compared to several toward the end of the novel. All of these disparate stories somehow interweave and tie the novel together in a meaningful way that transcends the perverse material and distills it all into a cohesive harrowing tome. I was blown away by it. And if you steel yourself for the shock, you might be too.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-09-25 10:02:22.
(Language: English)
several reasons why i already love this book, and this author (no, i have not read Fight Club...this is my first Chuck Palahniuk experience): for one, i finished a chapter of this book late at night, turned the lights off, and was going upstairs in the dark when i looked down to see that the face on the cover was GLOWING in the dark! scared the crap right out of me, so kudos for the humor CP. two. not only is this a deliciously grotesque read that plays on the human desire to witness torture and the decay of the human spirit in times of (albeit overexaggerated) emergency (urgency for the extremeness of things), all of the characters are perfectly sculpted from some demented, yet incredibly believable portion of the mind of a decaying corpse, somehow resurrected by accidental means. its almost like reading a real life account of a writer's retreat in hollywood, but compressed from several months to one tragic attempt at forcing an absurd story out of the bowels of a fucked-up group togetherness. the donner party meets Clue meets big brother. except the video cameras are on the inside looking out (through a fantastically distorted mind lens). okay, i think this is the most pretentious review of a book i've ever written. but i guess that's how the whole novel makes me feel-like I am amongst the 23? pretentious freaks locked in an old theater thinking of future news-story-worthy ways to kill off people while eating a dead woman's ass for dinner. i LOVE it.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-01-25 04:24:48.
(Language: English)
Palahniuk has created an incredibly dark framing device for an incredibly dark story with only the tiniest glimmer of redemption. A group of writer-wannabes are invited to a writer's retreat. "Leave behind what is holding you back for 30 days and write." But the retreat leader is a grotesque social scientist. He locks them in an abandoned movie theater, feeds them only freeze-dried food, and tells them to write. But these are wannabe writers, and instead of writing, they work on making the most of this horrifying experience in order to sell it once they get out. Sabatoge, self-mutilation, the writers out do each other, upping the scenario for maximum sympathy. Who will be the camera behind the camera, the one who claims the ultimate perspective of the story, and hence the biggest check? This book is hard stuff, and not just because Palahniuk has a bleak view of humanity. It is, simply put, disgusting. He literally rubs our noses in excrement, bodily fluid, roasted flesh and rotting bodies. I'm no weak stomach, but I still felt my stomach turn a number of times. Palahniuk is a serious writer, but this book doesn not come with the comic tone of Fight Club or Choke. You have to take his grotesqueries full throttle. The cumulative effect certainly sours any love of humanity you might have had, which I suppose is the point, but at certain points I felt this was, frankly, getting in the way. OK, I get it, we are rotten and selfish and disgusting, and so is life. Do I need another chapter on how skin slides off the bone when scalded by 300 degree water? So, I caution you. This is a tough read. Palahniuk prose is good, but not great enough to make it "worth it." And while the final tale told offers a view on why we keep living even though life is so awful (to piss off our parents, apparently) I don't know if I needed to suffer quite this mmuch to get that lesson.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-02-14 12:46:01.
(Language: English)
I had a tough time deciding how to rate this book. Parts of it I thought were brilliant, and that's not a word I use lightly. Unfortunately, most of it was NOT brilliant (at least in my opinion). "Haunted" is a collection of short stories which are united by a central narrative. Many of these short stories comprise the "brilliant" bits I was talking about earlier ("Guts" will probably be one of my favorite literary experiences of all time); the central plotline, however, seemed forced and a bit contrived. I know that sounds a bit harsh, and maybe it is. Palahniuk's books are almost always worth reading, if only for the prose; nobody writes like this guy. The odd bits of trivia you pick up while reading Palahniuk are a rewarding experience in and of themselves. As a reader, though, it seems like lately he's gone a bit overboard with the shock value of his work at the expense of narrative.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-01-13 02:00:25.
(Language: English)
This languished on the table for awhile as I stalled out on reading this book. When I picked it up again, though, the pages flew. This is a collection of sorts of horror stories, but not your typical horror. Chuck says that he wanted to create horror around ordinary things. He does just that. Each charcter has a story that brings them to the book, some more unsettling than others. The first story, "Guts", is a OMG breath-stealing cant-read-fast-enough cannonball that propels you into the story full force. Then you collect yourself, maybe for awhile like me, and read on. But read this book, it's a great ride.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-06-11 05:49:07.
(Language: English)
I recommend this book only to those with a strong stomach and who are not offended (by anything). Everyone's favorite modern day nihilist Chuck Palahniuk is at it again with short tales of shock and awe woven together by a dissapointing and contrived story about a crew of people trying to become famous by seeing who can be the most debased as a human being.This is my least favorite Chuck Palahniuk novel for the simple reason that so much of it was extraneous. Many of the stories were good but after starting with Saint Gut-Free most of the rest of this book will simply fail to shock and the rest of it isn't up the par.That said, the best read in the whole thing by far is the foreword where Chuck discusses the state of the book publishing industry (if nothing else pick it up to read that followed immediately by the story of Saint Gut-Free).Worth a read if you absolutely need some Palahniuk, but definately not a good jumping off point for new readers.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-08-02 07:28:55.
(Language: English)
A bunch of fame craving "want-to-be" artists signed themselves up for a freaky retreat in the hope of putting on hold their daily mundane lives for a chance to create some great works. They did, in some ways, each told their stories of how crooked and horrid things can go when you let it so. Extremely explicit and visual in the depiction of gory details. This is the only work of novel so far that when I was bombarded with "what you're reading?" from my already-19-yet-a-bit-naive-students, I actually halted them from flipping; after my honest general description of the storyline they retreated willingly on their own. I have always been a bit of a fan for Chuck Palahniuk, especially since Lullaby. But when I first got hold of a new copy of "Haunted" a few years back, I actually put it back down. I couldn't get pass the boring bus trip (prelude) and was not warmed to the idea of a compilation of short stories. Now, on a re-read (or first reading in truth) of "Haunted", it is actually quite interesting. If the attention can for once not only focus on goriness, then one can see how human behaviour sometimes is more suitable as materials for nightmares then their supernatural counterpart. For the highly controversial "Guts", I didn't mind the corn and peanuts, it was more so the idea of how desperate we can be when we are truly desperate, and hope that I would never put myself to this extent of desperation.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-10-30 01:32:37.
(Language: English)
This is very interesting and original book in terms of literature. A series of short stories within the framework of a larger one. WARNING-This book is NOT for Palahniuk rookies (author of Fightclub) or anyone who is extremely repulsed by graphic details/situations or gets sick at the the thought of such things...I pretty much am never affected by gore but there were parts in this book where I literally could not help squirming when I was reading. I literally had to focus on how I wanted to read this story to get through the "guts" hehe. If you read the epilogue, Chuck talks about how at every public reading at least one person would pass out at the short story in question. Critics of gore-this is still a great piece of writing-the insights and commentary on society are hilarious and always dead on. Save this one for later or last in Chuck's work up 'till now or you might make the poor decision to never pick up one of his books again.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-08-16 10:03:39.
(Language: English)
Palahniuk's books are not the kind of thing one would read for a little rest and relaxation. Dark, disturbing, brooding and intense, Haunted twists seemingly ordinary lives into twisted tales of selfishness, pleasure, humour, revenge and self-righteousness. While Haunted does not rate as one my top favourite books by Palahniuk, it is still a good read throughout, as he takes us on a journey of an almost 'reality tv experiment' gone wrong. But there is no tv production and crew. Instead, the setting is an abandoned theatre, a seemingly old man placing an ad for a writer's retreat, and participants who have abandoned their lives in the middle of the night to get away from it all in order to write their one big masterpiece. becoming victims of their own doing, the individual stories churn something hidden deep inside you, your own hidden horror, although it often ends up being a fascination for a certain kind of darkness more so than an actual experience. read it only if you dare. or if you're willing to abandon yourself to the psychological mess of palahniuk's work. definitely not for the feint hearted.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-10-24 04:46:42.
(Language: English)
Man, this guy knows from visceral. Literally! There was a scene in here that almost made me faint (the story "Guts"), and that has *never* happened, neither from a book nor from a movie. And I have seen and read some *sick* shit in my time. Still, if that were all Palahniuk were good for, I could easily dismiss him. As it is, tendency toward grisly "affect" aside, he's quite the potent storyteller with lots on his mind regarding the state of culture (most obviously pop-culture) and our deep longings as human beings, especially where they tend toward what may be called...the "darker" side of things. So if you like good storytelling and are not afraid of a little grue (but not gratuitous grue), give "Haunted" a try. You won't regret it.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-07-16 07:59:21.
(Language: English)
Not my favorite Chuck Palahniuk book. All of his books are kind of gross and creepy and heavy on the ick factor--but, generally speaking, he turns that around and crafts a really beautiful story (not PRETTY, so much, but beautiful) out of it. Which is what I think makes him brilliant, because an awful lot of real life is kind of gross and creepy and heavy on the ick factor. All of us live intimately with our own bodily functions and internal weirdness; we just don´t talk about it publically all that much. This book, however, is a lot less cohesive than many of the others. Some of the stories are fantastic; others, not so much--and although I think I see where he´s trying to go with the central story, I also think the short stories would have read better without it. I´d give the central story a 2 and the short stories as a group a 4. I´m ignoring the central story in my star rating, because that´s mostly what I did in my most recent reading of the book.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-02-14 01:03:52.
(Language: English)
This book was amazing. I suppose if you can't stay focused for long and don't realize that there are some sick people in the world, then this book isn't for you. Yes, there are short stories, but this book IS NOT a collection of them. Every short story is important and plays a role in developing each character carefully. People are sick and twisted. Palaniuk really captures that in this book. Personally, I believe that you can't really call yourself a Palaniuk fan if you don't enjoy this book. After reading this one, everything else by him seemed so sugar coated. My advice is to dive right in. The only warning I have is: If you really get into this book, you may have some trouble sleeping at night haha It certainly creeped me out.
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A Reader posted a review at 2007-07-11 12:07:22.
(Language: English)
I'd never read a Palahniuk novel before, so his style took me a bit to get used to, but after awhile I was completely engrossed. The sheer creative gross-out factor of the book alone is worth a buy. The characters all kind of molded into one for me, though - except Mr. Whitter and Mrs. Clark, they were all basically the same, and their names, like Chef Assassin and Lady BagLady, only de-personalized them more. Because they all blended into one character, it was that much more unbelievable that they would all be acting in such a despicable way. 16 people all self-mutilating each other in unspeakable ways was hard enough to believe without having 16 people do it. There are several themes that I found quite interesting, though, such as America's obsession with narcissism, our need for conflict to live, and things of that nature that were competently enough explored. If nothing else, this book piqued my interest to read more Palahniuk.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-10-15 04:42:47.
(Language: English)
Haunted starts out strong, especially with the infamous "Guts", but about two short stories afterward the terror and originality seem to drop, staying on a consistent level all the way through. The majority of the stories all involve either death/murder or some sort of sexual crime, which I normally wouldn't have a problem with, but it felt like Chuck was dropping the ball a bit here. Even though the content could've done with more originality, I will say that I mostly enjoyed reading this book; the poetry, the independent stories, and the writers' retreat accounts are all fairly entertaining. The final message of human severity is also something worth salvaging--the philosophy that man cherishes his own suffering. So, overall, a pretty amusing book--but that's all it really is. Not necessarily bad, but easily forgettable (except for "Guts": that one's timeless).
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Elizabeth posted a review at 2011-11-09 04:20:15.
(Language: English)
Profoundly disturbing. As brilliant as it was distressing, this is a book about story and selfhood. The book itself is an overarching novel plot tying together 19 characters, each of whom tells a story about themselves. Thus the book is at once a novel and a series of short stories. This state of being a story about stories is handled beautifully and deftly, adding depth to the characters and resonance to the theme. This book could be described as having any of a number of themes, so densely rich it is, but for me, the theme was about the healing of selfhood (or the inability to do so as the case may be). In life we all do bad things and have bad things done to us. Until we recognise that and reconcile those truths, we will forever see ourselves cast as either hero or villain. And our love for reliving, perpetuating the story of our heroism or villainy will only distance ourselves from ourselves. This, for me, was the main theme of the book. The book is about 17 writers who are taken by a wizened and wheelchair-bound man and his nurse to a 'writer's retreat' and imprisoned there for 3 months. Yeah, so I read that as the book synopsis and thought, "Ooh, a good old-fashioned horror, and done by Chuck Palahniuk, so it's gonna be good". This, friends and neighbours, goes to show just how little imagination I truly have. The writers themselves seek to brutalise their own conditions, realising that by fact of their imprisonment, upon release they will be a media sensation and the better their suffering the greater the compensation will be in book deals and talk shows etc. What then follows is some of the most profoundly disturbing text I have ever read. Palahniuk's style of writing is always very visceral but this is by far the most gut-wrenching stuff I've ever read. I felt physically sick in parts and genuinely worried I might throw up. Which is extremely difficult for a book to do, with no pictures, no sound effects, no close-ups. This is not a book for the faint-hearted. The characters remark repeatedly throughout the book, as the circumstances go from bad to dire, that "something horrifying needs to happen" if they are to fulfil their self-made identities as victims. Variations on this are repeated with the adverb getting more and more extreme, until you fear to read on, at a loss to say how it could possibly get much worse. The characters are possessed by the notion that pain and drama make for good story and that, even when there is none, it must be made to happen for them to be at the centre of it. This is the genius of Palahniuk's treatment of the theme. Because who is the audience for whom they torture themselves? Who is it they suffer to keep the attention of? Who picked up the book with the ominous synopsis and chose to read it in full expectation of "something horrifying" about to happen? In this way, the reader is part of the story, the reader is implicated in the thematic suffering and retelling of suffering. The book, without ever specifically saying so, breaks the fourth wall and makes the reader part of the thematic ingredients. Any one of the short stories is better written than most of the stuff you'll read. This whole novel, as some sort of meta-story, just blows the reader away. It's really something, but not something for everyone - you have been warned.
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