Book Review - Chuck Palahniuk's Stranger Than Fiction

Stranger Than Fiction is Chuck Palahniuk's first foray into non-fiction, in book-form at least. Previous works from Palahniuk you may have read or should be at least familiar with are Fight Club, Choke and Invisible Monsters among others. Chuck Palahniuk has always been a "different kind" of writer and the only writer I know who probably has more rejection letters citing "work is too disturbing for print" than the garden variety "we decline to print as such". Personally I think he wears that kind of rejection as a badge of, well, I don't know what exactly. One thing can't be argued in Chuck's case and that is the fact that this man has talent as a writer.

The stories contained in the book are true stories that have shaped Palahniuk as a writer or at least provided him some laughs along the way. Some of autobiographical and very serious, such as the stories about this father's near murder as a child and murder as an adult, or less serious in the case of the bizarre sport of Combine Demolition Derby.

I found the autobiographical stories to be the most interesting, specifically the story about how his book Fight Club was optioned as a movie. I won't give away the details here but I will say that sometimes what you invision, such as your first optioned movie and flight to L.A. to meet with the director of your work, may not go as you had always dreamed - in more ways than one!

All told I'm going to give this book a *** 1/2 out of *****. An entertaining read to be sure. As an added bonus you get to learn what it's like to spend the day interviewing Marilyn Manson at home. Shocking? Boring? I won't tell, read it for yourself.