We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler

We are all completely beside ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler is a brilliant depiction of both science and humanity, or rather the contradictions between what we can analyse and what is simply just being.

The story follows the Cooke family: one mother one father, one brother and two sisters. It is narrated by the youngest sister, Rosemary, with its primary focus being on her sister Fern who is, in fact, a chimpanzee. While the novel, like my review, does not immediately reveal that Fern is an ape, it is impossible to review the story, as it is impossible to tell it, without eventually revealing this fact. It is the reluctance, and conversely the need to share this aspect that strikes at the very core of the novel.

Fern is at once a sister, a family member, a loved one -Same and yet also non human, other, an outsider -NotSame. For Rosemary, despite Fern being an ape, there was no other that understood her or that she understood with such certainty as she did Fern.

Fowler expertly combines aspects of the scientific and of case studies - experiments with the grad students, endless notes and theories, with childhood memories and family dynamics inductive of any so-called normal American family. It is with expert skill that she paints Fern as simultaneously subject and family member. It is this paradox that forms the conflict of the novel, and of Rosemary's life in general. While social norms and public opinion portray chimps as simply animals -wild and unpredictable - there is a sense, for the Cookes, that Fern is a vital part of their family dynamic. Truly one of them in so many indefinable ways.

A heartfelt and moving tale, Fowler opens the readers eyes to new possibilities, highlighting interspecies connection without shying away from the devastation, heartbreak, cruelty and confusion that come with bringing a wild animal into a home. Touching on various aspects of behavioural theory - of both apes and humans alike - Fowler challenges our understanding of psychology and behaviour, rights and privileges.

A stunning and emotional novel, We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves is a beautiful take of man's need to know, to understand and our ultimate inability to do so.

When God Was a Rabbit

When God was a Rabbit by Sarah Winman
This book had been one I was hoping to read for years. I'd seen it on book shelves and displays in book stores repeatedly with the vague notion that I would buy it and read it one day. How can the title not intrigue you? pull you in? It did for me, and was a a 'to-read' book that was always at the back of my mind. When i spotted it in my favourite used bookstore Barter Books in Northumberland, it was as though the book gods at bestowed it on me. Hadn't I been meaning to read that all along? And so first began When God Was A Rabbit.

Unfortunately, it was not what I had expected. To be completely frank, I'm not sure WHAT I had expected, but it seemed to me it was if not a different tale, than one with a different voice or tone to it. But, never mind. The main character - a young girl named Elly - was still interesting, and her connection to her brother still paramount. Jenny Penny, Elly's childhood best friend, became both the interest, the heart and the comedy through those early chapters.

But as the novel progressed, it seemed to crumble. Experiences became displaced and as a result, uninteresting. It was difficult to stay attached to a narrative that jumped forward in time without explanation, so that characters became older without an real sense of age or time passing. There were moves geographically both winton England and the US so that by the end I was unsure which country Elly called home. Characters entered, left and reappeared such a fleeting way as to make them trivial or forgettable - I regret to admit sometimes I had a hard time remembering which fringe character was which - and the narrative further complicated this by referring for long periods to a character as "He" or "She" at the beginnings of chapters, therefore making it nearly impossible to know which character was being spoken about aside from through guesswork and inference. It was extremely frustrating as very little detail was given through which such inferences could have been made.

Sexually was often poking up in the novel in such a way that it should have been a theme, really, but it's sporadic and again, random occurrences prevented it from holding any sort of true stock in the novel. This could have been a real grounding factor as her brother's homosexuality and in turn his relation to childhood friend Charlie formed a key connection between characters and in many way created a thread throughout the novel, but the thread lacked substance and connectivity. Similarly, Nancy, Elly's Aunt, was a pillar of confidence and again, homosexuality. She was bold, free and loveable to all characters in the novel and in turn, she loved others - most interestingly, Elly often noticed that Nancy appeared to be in love with Elly's own mother (and Nancy's sister in law).

Relations, sex and love were constantly in question throughout When God was A Rabbit, but ultimately for me, it was this lack of connectivity - between the scenes of the novel themselves and in turn between the novel and the reader, that prevented both a clear theme and any interest in the characters and their lives on my part.

It is a shame, really, because there were glimmers of something I wanted to know in the novel - the pet rabbit who was named God (which after all inspired the very titled of the novel) was a wonderful narrative concept. The juxtaposition of childhood innocence in a pet rabbit and the grandeur of naming him God was beautiful in and of itself. Furthermore God appears to speak to Elly in such a way that only she can hear, which begs questions of spirituality and wisdom that spark a reader's imagination. Unfortunately, this character was not touched on enough or for long enough, in my opinion.

Similarly, Jenny Penny is a wonderfully interesting character full of reckless abandon and joy in the face of what is clearly a difficult childhood. She is lost to the novel and reappears in time like so many other themes and characters in this narrative. For once, though, I feel that story projection fitting. Her disappearance marks growing up, her return a chance to evaluate past and present. the problem, then, was that this storyline did not become the central one of the novel. to me, it was the tale which I could best hold on to - the one i found to be the most interesting, and my biggest complaint was that I did not get enough of it. Jenny Penny and her relationship with Elly became bogged down and tangled in daily chores and random sexual encounters that simply seemed irrelevant to me as a reader. I cared little for Elly and the rambling way she saw life, but her relationship with Jenny Penny - that was where the heart of the novel truly lay, and that was where I feel more of the focus should have been.

I fear that in my review I have done much the same thing I complained about in the novel - jumped around and rambled on in a non-linear and therefore confusing way, but I shall make my final statement thus: the novel lacked focus, and as such, heart. If it were to be stripped down, the fluff removed, and strong clear intention found, there could have been a great story of growing up and losing innocence, but this heartfelt theme got tangled in irrelevancies and therefore became rather irrelevant for me as a reader.
A disappointment, really, I'm sorry to say.

The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden

The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden by Jonas Jonasson
Jonas Jonasson's second novel, The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden, is, like its forerunner, a vastly entertaining - and uniquely humourous - (miss)representation of the various adventures and mishaps that shape the face of history. Expertly intertwining main character Nombeko's modest South African roots with the lofty and politically charged goings on of kings, prime ministers, and presidents, Jonasson forms a tale both wildly unbelievable and perfectly natural.

There is something to Jonasson's humour that allows for catastrophe after catastrophe with ease and interest, rather than turning the tale into a frustrating sequence of implausibility. Hapless and exceptionally idiotic Holger One and Celestine form the perfect unintentional adversaries to thoroughly brilliant Nombeko and Holger Two. And with a political agenda passed from a mentally unstable father to unwitting sons, the novel has all the ingredients characteristic of Jonnason's winding tales. The narrative plays on a mixture of perfect accidents, terrible bad luck, and outstanding circumstances in order to tell - simultaneously - the personal stories of his unique characters, and the overarching national and worldwide politics. Of course there is also the matter of an atomic bomb.

Like his first novel, Jonasson's second maintains the stylings and humour indicative of his writing, and spins an uncanny trail of destruction into the perfect obscure tale of adventure, all the while providing characters you love, those you love to hate, and the Jonasson staple: the bumbling yet endearing fools.

After Dark

After Dark by Haruki Murakami
I should have known, I suppose, the strangeness that is a Murakami novel. Questioning and prompting, After Dark invades our sense of normalcy and of the conscious and unconscious worlds in an odd and uncertain way.

The novel takes place over the course of a few hours in the dead of night, in Tokyo. We follow Mari as she wanders the streets, frequents diners and generally runs into various night characters. Her meetings, which take her to love hotels, make her witness to crimes and have her encounter old acquaintances, meander in and out of normalcy, painting a patched portrait of Tokyo night life. Spliced with Mari's encounters are narrative snippets relating to her sister, Eri, a mere figure - silent and unmoving - bound in a perpetual sleep.

After Dark is not a passive novel. By no means a light read, it denies you the luxury of an east narrative, demanding patience and thought. The novel begins to explore connections between siblings and human beings in a general sense, while touching on aspects of life, death and consciousness, all in a seemingly detached manner. A style unlike any other I have read, Murakami writes without weight, drifting in and out of subject matter, often dark material, without ever putting down roots. It is easy, then, to feel disconnected from the story, and rather uninterested in the characters themselves, as the lack of connectivity can feel cold. While questions arise from the pages about connectivity and existence, it is as though as an after thought, a mere vague wonder, which lacks any sense of urgency or importance. This is, however, a hallmark of Murakami's style in that he does not aid the reader or allow them easy access to his work. His stories, instead, require time, the slow reading of poetry where words are ingested and then digested. It is only through active reading that the deeper sensations of After Dark begin to show through.

Because of this, After Dark is often polarizing, sometimes hailed as a masterful display of genius writing, or else dismissed as a cold hard story about one bland character and her sleeping sister. For me, I fall somewhere in between. I can recognize the careful work that is After Dark, and yet despite knowing the assumed intentions, I could not grab hold of a strong enough -anything- to really connect with the novel. Such is the effect of Murakami, it seems. Brilliant perhaps, but therefore isolating.

The NYC Underbelly

The Fuck Up by Arthur Nersesian

If the title of this, Arthur Nersesian's first novel, didn't give you a clue to the story that lay within, I don't know what would. "The Fuck-Up" really does say it all. Now that's not to say that the novel is in any way a train wreck, but the main character certainly comes close.
Through the eyes of this anonymous 23 year old male, the reader experiences - sometimes all too closely - the gritty underbelly of New York City.
The main character is reckless in a way very few are. Landing himself in increasingly bizarre situations based on chance encounters and overheard conversations, he takes opportunities anywhere he can get them. The world has hope and promise. And yet, just as easily as these glorious opportunities are found, they can be lost, sending him spiraling into an ever darker and more tangled web of lies, deceit and ruin. In short, he pretty royally f's things up.

The novel does well to depict an unglamourized view of the city, and urban living, with everything from the troubles of paying for emergency health care, to prejudices on sexual preference. You really get a taste for both New York itself, and the hardships it's citizens endure. Where the novel fails to impress, and what ultimately solidified the 2 star "it was okay" rating, was character.

Though sometimes pitiable, the character failed to truly pull my attentions, or better yet my emotions. I was astounded by the guts he had to take the opportunities he did throughout the narrative, but aside from that, when hardships arose, I found myself thinking well, what did you expect? Shady dealings lead to unfortunate outcomes in a way that had to be obvious from the start. It was easily annoying. Similarly, friendships lovers and coworkers fell flat in ways that although relatively believable, made it hard to attach to anyone, and therefore left little interest or remorse when it came to the general outcome of the character's lives.

Both hailed as a masterpiece by cult fans, and criticized by the wider public, The Fuck-Up has both it's merits and downfalls. Depicting the feel of NYC with acute precision, it's all about whether you can deal with the antics of a self-ruining 23 year old, or if, like me, you just want to give him a good shake and tell him to get a grip in his life. You make the call.

Dorian

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
I debated my rating between 2 and 3, for various reasons. It's not, let's be honest, the most enthraling of novels. But, for a classic, it isn't half bad. In the end, it boiled down to this: while the writing, narrative and storyline generally were not my cup of tea, dragging in parts with overly wordy an completely irrelevant explanations of beauty, there is a great deal of wit, cunning and hideous irony to The Picture of Dorian Gray. The concept, the undertones and the sinister mood which presides is excellent, and yet I found myself as a reader, wanting more, as though the surface had barely been scratched. Never-the-less the classic ideal of ageless beauty, juxtaposed with the haunting horror of grotesque sins has become an archetype all it's own in the infamous painting. A brilliant concept, the portrait holds its own within the novel despite its rather background setting. Pair this sinister presence with the clever banter that seems to so mark Wilde, and the potentially dry narrative gains the flavor and interest necessary to keep the pages turning. As stated, I would have liked to see the concept taken further and explored more deeply, but overall was left satisfied.


View all my reviews

Girlfriend in a Coma

Girlfriend In A Coma by Douglas Coupland

Coupland is, truly, an incomparable author. Strange to be sure, his followers and fans range in opinion over what makes his works master-pieces, or failed attempts. Girlfriend In a Coma, titled after the song of the same name by the Smiths, this 1998 semi-futuristic novel strikes a fine balance between the minute realities of life, and the cosmic tragedy of apocalypse and has been widely referred to as one of his finer novels. It is masterful how Coupland can target the very essence of mundane life within the teenage characters who ground and narrate the majority of the novel - following them through the struggles of teen years, aging, and coming to terms with themselves, while weaving an eerily futuristic and socially critical world of comas, dreams, and end times.

The novel is split between three major points in time, and is told through 3 different narraters.

The first is narrated by a character well known to the other characters of the novel, and yet never fully known by the reader. Jared, introduced post-humulously, narrates in the voice of a deceased 17 year old 'ghost' for lack of a better word. The novel then switches to the point of view of main character Richard, as he narrates life after the coma, and everything that follows.
Following sections are told without the use of a narrator, only to return, in the final chapters, to the voice of 'spirit' Jared, again, to round of the novel.

It is in both the plot and the narrative itself, then, that Coupland plays with this balance between what is ordinary and real, and what is fantasy. As stated in an earlier review from the Times, it is "a disturbing, thought-provoking and moving novel. Girlfriend in a Coma has something of the quality of a fairytale, but it contains a sharp realism that makes the book scarily contemporary" (15 May 1999).

It is this focus on the individuals - the somewhat 'every-man' quality of Richard, kind caring and lost within himself - and the realism inherent in mundane life, that prevents the story from flying from the page in a whirlwind of disbelief as conceptual elements such as visions, ghost narrators and global doom hang over the plot.

Coupland's strength, of course, is in capturing the spirit of everyday people, his characters ever believable, relatable and -though flawed- thereby loveable. We want desperately for Richard to succeed, and yet we revel in his faults and failures, seeing in him the very same flaws we too possess. His devotion, too, to Karen - and indeed Coupland's devotion and attention to a character that is, essentially, off screen for the majority of the novel - is both endearing and intriguing, as it shows a measure of love and kindness we as readers both long for, and would like to think we too possess. It is a testament to Coupland's writing that he is able to make the reader continue to love and care for Karen despite no direct presence. Merely a background character, silent, she remains the fixture around which the story evolves and collapses.

For me it is the relationships, the honesty, and the simple realities, that make this story. Adding in the Canadiana so often found in Coupland's work - Girlfriend In a Coma takes place in his own city of Vancouver - the story became all the more real for me as I related to names and places. His detail with street names and landmarks foster a sense of familiarity that although specific to an actual location, allows the reader to feel as though they know the place - it is their own home town - whether or not they have been there. I, at least, found this to be true. For although I am Canadian, and take pleasure in the (often uncommon in popular literature) Canadian setting, I've never been to Vancouver. And yet, I felt I had. Simple detail, pulling you in to the story, allowed for a solid foundation upon which the reader could stand and therefore more readily accept the more fanciful concepts that are the hallmark of Coupland's dystopias and criticisms of the modern world.

A fast, quick read, Coupland with have you both connecting with his endearing characters, and questioning the very format of the world in which you live. At once acutely real and vastly fantastic, the pages will continue to turn as you follow the halting, tragic and - occasionally triumphant band of friends struggling their way from adolescence to adulthood only to find its really one and the same.

“there are three things we cry for in life: things that are lost, things that are found, and things that are magnificent.”

The Hundred Year Old Man

My first, and only major qualm with The Hundred-Year-Old-Man was it's branding. On the back cover, (off my copy at least) is the tag line "it's never too late to start over". This implied a lovely story of a homely old man who suddenly decides though being aged beyond the average, he's ready for a bit of an adventure. mr Karlsson, however, is not an adventure-less homebody. A Swedish dynamite expert unwittingly tangled in politics, science and major events of history throughout the past 100 years, Karlsson's life was and and has been, remarkable. 

The novel writes with a wit and clarity that is both humorous and honest, immediately pulling in the reader as you learn about both Karlsson' current adventure - on the run from the senior's home whose window he's climbed out of - and his younger years, globe trotting and generally causing great pleasure and chaos all around him. 

A wonderful novel of character, friendship, and a great deal of history - albeit presented in an unusual (and dare I say far more interesting) manner, The Hundred-Year-Old-Man who Climbed out the Window and Disappeared is a great success of a novel, well suited to anyone looking for something a little off beat, quirky or down-right weird. Challenging both our ideas of age, and it's limitations, as well as the dichotomies of right and wrong, Jonasson blurs humour and tale with deep rooted realities and questions of humanity.

The fault in Our Stars

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Raw.
It's a word I admittedly overuse when i find a piece of literature that is, in fact, not over processed, overly pretentious or trying too hard - as books an do. The fault in Our Stars -which I finally succumbed to reading after much hype by blogging fans for ages - is raw in a very poignant way. The fault in our stars is certainly romantic, and in it's romance dances into the idealistic forms of love - I won't spoil it for potential readers, but there's a level of convenience inherent in the way romantic love plays out within the novel - but it does generally keep itself honest and real. Hazel Grace, our 16 year old main character, is a thoughtful, interesting - odd - but very much teenager main character. While her cancer makes her whole unique from your average teen, Green does a great job of exemplifying that she is, in turn, just as teenagerly, and just as much the same as any other non cancer inflicted individual. We are all human, finite, and experience pain and loss.
But the depth and clarity with which Green address cancer - the "suckyness" of it, the agony that really isn't brave, but breaking and sad - not tragic or poetic - just sad, adds so much merit to the tale.

While there are moments where Green pulls aspects of the 'cancer story' he is careful to tell Hazel's story - and individual tale of a young girl who happens to have a fatal disease, rather than the story of Cancer, featuring Hazel Grace. The novel itself focusing around this distinction, determined to illuminate the humanity and normalcy of people while at the same time taking nothing away from the sheer unfair awfulness that is growing up with Cancer. Hazel is real, she is 'raw' and she is likeable, even in her sometimes depressing realism. The reader immediately grows to like her, is invested, and I myself found the novel an exceptionally quick read.

A well written story of friendship and love, sickness, fatality and the coming to terms with the fact that we all, one day, must die. And while we may have but a short time together, that time - those moments, can be infinite.

The Year of the Hare

An adventurous tale of a man who, in a moment of haphazard rebellion, leaves his life behind in pursuit of something real again. Vatanen, a (former) journalist hits a young hare on a trip through the countryside one evening with his photographer. In that split second, his life is flipped upside down, as the frailty, beauty and innocence of nature becomes so very evident. Leaving behind the cities and confinements, Vatanen forges ahead into the wilderness where he encounters a series of odd adventures, miscellaneous labour jobs, and astounding characters, all the while conveniently fleeing his former life. 
A story about living life to it's fullest, and getting back to nature, The Year of the Rabbit holds the true spirit of a rebel, a countrymen, and one not confined by conformity or convention. 
written in the 1970's, the pure sense of simple living, adventure and companionship still rings true. Vatanen's will power and curiosity keep the pages turning as the straightforward style of story telling paints the picture of a year more full than a whole lifetime of urban living. 

One Hundred Years of Solitude

I essentially read this book because it's on every list of Books One Should Read Before They Die, and it sounded far more interesting than many of the extremely old 'canon' pieces of yonder years that inevitably take up prominent spots on such lists.
..
well, it was certainly not in the 18th Century style, but that didn't mean it wasn't a bit drawn out, halting and muddled.
To be honest I think the main issue was the characters were flippant within the story, passing in and out at random, unfixed in time on occasion, and confusing not only chronology, but relations and generations. This was not helped by the fact that every male in the novel of the Buendía family has (essentially) on of two names, either Aureliano or (Jose) Arcadio. it's a bit confusing. Granted, I see the significance of this odd narrative, and of the repeat of names, as history was seen to be circling back on itself, patterns in generations repeating and overlapping and confusing one another. In this way, the novel was brilliantly successful in mirroring life in narrative. However, it didn't make it particularly comprehensive, and I often found myself less engaged than I would have liked to be.

At it's core, 100 years of Solitude is a recounting of the history of one family- occasionally with meaningful, heartfelt stories, sometimes in minute detail, but often illuminating love and solitude, and the partnership that these feelings often share. The novel to me became the recounting of the latest 'ursula' or 'remedies' or 'aureliano' (yes many of the daughters were named after mothers or grandmothers as well), who they slept with - often wildly inappropriately, or out of sheer solitude, any resulting children, and a spiral into quiet sad solitude. This pattern, repeated again and again, had the markers of deep life lessons, but also became somewhat tedious for the reader.

in essence, I appreciated the novel, but I did not, in the end, find it overly engaging, moving or 'entertaining'. Rather it was dirty, real, unpolished poetry, which at times lagged, and at time showed glimpses of both the purity, and dark twisted animalisms that form the basis of humanity.

The Understudy

The Understudy, by David Nicholls (One Day, Starter For Ten) is a painfully realistic tale about one Steven C McQueen, a pained divorcee, struggling actor and hopelessly unlucky understudy to the increasingly famous and dreamy Josh Harper. Steven is an endearing character. Real, flawed, and often foolish, we follow his naively optimistic dreams of making it big in the world of theatre. The reality, of course, is that Steven is floundering along, too old to still be waiting for his big break, slowly sinking beneath the shadow of the stars.

But when Steven inadvertently mistakes Josh's job offer of catering services as a personal party invitation, Steven's life is shot into the twisted glamourous and yet oh so dark world of fame. It is Nora, Josh's wife, that really does it for Steven. One chance meeting and they fall quickly into a strange and loaded friendship as Steven becomes Josh's confidant. Caught between spouses, making friendships with those he envies, Steven struggles to navigate through a life continually riddled with ever increasing disappointment.

Nicholls' dark dry humour paints the scene for Steven's self deprecation and careful optimism, countered with the brash roughness of Nora's New York style which (not so delicately) highlights the rough side that is fame and fortune. One reaching for the dream, the other a grounding sense of reality, Nicholls expertly manoeuvres his way through the busy London streets, debaucherous start studded after parties, and rundown apartments engaging the reader with a sense of hoping and looming misfortunate. A real, human story, one cannot help but invest their own aspirations, disappointments and veiled selfish desires in Steven, and thus, connect wholeheartedly with his story.

Pride & Prejudice

What to say about Jane Austen that hasn't been said before? I was a sceptic. Actually, I'd read about half of Mansfield Park years ago for University, and been so thoroughly bored an unimpressed I never finish. (don't tell). However, Pride and Prejudice is a classic, and on that principle alone I 'wanted' to read it eventually. Add to that my best friend Larissa pushing me to pick it up - a good recommendation from her is certainly held in high regard - and another friend not only telling me to read it, but informing me of my likeness to one of the characters. I was too intrigued to say no.
Plus, I already owned a copy sitting patiently on my bookcase.

My thoughts?
Well, it is still an Austen, so as far as action, adventure, major events, mass plots or any such thing - it certainly fails. However, that does not mean it is as entirely boring as I may have previously thought.
The novel of course, is driven by character, and the characters of both Elizabeth Bennett, Mr Darcy and Mrs Bennett provide a rather interesting mix. Eliza is what drives the story. She is the focus, the most interesting, and arguably the most relatable character in the novel.

Blunt, intelligent, witty and lively, Eliza goes against the subdued gentle nature that is generally attributed to young girls of her time. This in itself, prevents the story from becoming dull and (overly) predictable, as she acts upon her thoughts and feelings in a more direct way than say, her sisters would. Likewise, her interactions with Mr Darcy, especially in the later chapters of the book show spunk, wit and a playful banter otherwise unseen in the novel. This break of period convention helps to open the classical novel to new readers through the ages as Eliza takes on a more time transient role, no longer entirely fixed within the confines of her time period. She is a timeless character, and that it was what makes the novel work.

Because otherwise, it's not exactly thrilling.

Something about it, though, remains beloved to readers through the generations. Young girls swoon for Mr Darcy - and not just because he is usually a good-look brit in modern-day movie adaptations. There is something about him girls adore. I am intruiged as to what exactly this is. I quite enjoy his character, his refined, shrewd and blunt nature, and yet - for him to have become a symbol of 'the perfect man' ? that doesn't entirely make sense, does it? Perhaps it is the fact that his love for her seems inexplicable to him, that he cannot understand what it is that turned his opinion of her, or why, but rather that the pair seemed drawn to each other - destined in a way. Maybe that's it. Maybe it is the fact that ELiza IS different, that she isn't the beauty that her older sister is, perhaps it is that she holds her own and does not give in the Darcy's advances at first. That she changed him, in some way, or that she refused to let him change her.

I truly am unsure of just what it is that marks the relationship of Mr Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett as so ideal, but there it is. A standing -non mushy - non romanticized - love that has lasted through the years.

My advise? Give the book a read for yourself and see if you can figure it out.

Rant

Chuck Palahniuk, where DO you come up with these things?
Rant, the 'oral history' of one Buster (Rant) Casey, is a tale which is ever intriguing, wildly insane, and just once you think you've got the crazy concept, jumps up several notches into the exceedingly imaginative.
Now I realize that description does little to inform of the actual plot, synopsis or narrative modes of the novel, but that's just it with Palahniuk - he's genius in his very concepts.

The novel is written in the halting, broken style of accounts, or oral histories, whereby sections of interview or conversation are transcribed with little evidence of chronology, relevance of speaker, or merit. Aside from the brief description of each character in the form of tagline ex: (Party Crasher) , (Childhood Enemy), (Mother) etc, the story is in many ways about deciphering the credibility and biases of each speaker as much as it is unravelling the story of Rant himself.

From the get-go, it is clear that this is not your average tale. Rant is a teen with ambition, cunning and a plan. Outwitting his small town in under the table old-fashioned coin deals - the Tooth Fairy scheme - he inflates the entire economy of his tiny town by way of paying children in gold coins for lost teeth, thereby drawing attention away from his own pile of gold which would otherwise be deemed suspicious.
The parents lie, the children lie, and everyone gains.

This is the mindset of Rant Casey - reckless, rash and pleasure seeking. From the moment the reader hears of him stuffing his arm down holes and dens in the middle of the dessert just to see what might be inside, the image of Rant is solidified. He is insane, but wondrously and geniusly so.

As the story unfolds we read of thinks like PartyCrashing, and Night timers and Day timers concepts and phrases known not the the reader, and never fully explained. It is with a level of authenticity and completeness that Palahniuk leaves it up to the reader to piece together over time what exactly the world in which Casey lives is like, and what it means to be a 'night timer'. Accounts of Rabies epidemics and coin trades add to the mystery of who Casey is, and what really was all the interest in his life - was he a serial killer? Patient X, just a regular reckless teenage boy?

Palahniuk's style and poignant voice make his novels - and this is no exception - a mind bending experience. If you've ever seen or read Fight Club and thought, yes, that seemed exceptionally likely, maybe you're the one person who would not be impressed, but for the rest of us I'd have to say his creativity and careful unfolding of information and character development masterfully evoke not only intrigue, but suspicion and avid following. I was hooked. Rather confused, at times, but hooked. And once I hit the end - well - I was ready to call it down right genius.

It's an insane story, and certainly not meant for everyone - it's a pretty specific appeal as far as the style of writing and content go, but if you're willing, it's well worth the mind bend.

-Q