Yeah, see Diary is when he was already going for... something entirely different than what say, Fight Club was about. Fight Club, Lullaby, Choke, Invisible Monsters and Survivor are all books of more or less the same caliber. They each tackle a certain array of social subjects, combined with Palahniuk's blend of crazy disturbing characters/humor/situations, but they are all, at the end fo the day, commentary on social issues, among other things. VERY broadly, I would classify Fight Club as Daddy Issues, Chocke as Mommy Issues, Lullaby as his commentary on media, Survivor as commentary on religion and Invisible Monsters his commentary on gender.
Diary is heavier on the crazy-disturbing and much lighter on the social commentary (People Are Mean isn't really a Chuck-worthy level of commentary, you know?), which is why I liked it a LOT less. But then, I can't stomach horror in any way shape or form, and the only reason I'm totally cool with it with Palahniuk is because he makes it clear that the horror is serving a purpose isntead of being just randomly disturbing for its own sake (whcih is fine! just not for me), and starting with Diary Chuck went further and further into disturbing and left social commentary behind. Whiiiich, really turned me off, lol. So, I'd say to get a picture of the kind of Chuck you get in Fight Club, read something written earlier than Diary, if you're ever so inclined :D
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Yeah, see Diary is when he was already going for... something entirely different than what say, Fight Club was about. Fight Club, Lullaby, Choke, Invisible Monsters and Survivor are all books of more or less the same caliber. They each tackle a certain array of social subjects, combined with Palahniuk's blend of crazy disturbing characters/humor/situations, but they are all, at the end fo the day, commentary on social issues, among other things. VERY broadly, I would classify Fight Club as Daddy Issues, Chocke as Mommy Issues, Lullaby as his commentary on media, Survivor as commentary on religion and Invisible Monsters his commentary on gender.
Diary is heavier on the crazy-disturbing and much lighter on the social commentary (People Are Mean isn't really a Chuck-worthy level of commentary, you know?), which is why I liked it a LOT less. But then, I can't stomach horror in any way shape or form, and the only reason I'm totally cool with it with Palahniuk is because he makes it clear that the horror is serving a purpose isntead of being just randomly disturbing for its own sake (whcih is fine! just not for me), and starting with Diary Chuck went further and further into disturbing and left social commentary behind. Whiiiich, really turned me off, lol. So, I'd say to get a picture of the kind of Chuck you get in Fight Club, read something written earlier than Diary, if you're ever so inclined :D