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Invisible Monsters
by Chuck Palahniuk
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About This Book
ISBN13: 9780393319293 |
Only 1 left in stock at $8.95!
Synopses & Reviews
Publisher Comments:
She's a fashion model who has everything: a boyfriend, a career, a loyal best friend. But when a sudden freeway "accident" leaves her disfigured and incapable of speech, she goes from being the beautiful center of attention to being an invisible monster, so hideous that no one will acknowledge she exists. Enter Brandy Alexander, Queen Supreme, one operation away from becoming a real woman, who will teach her that reinventing yourself means erasing your past and making up something better. And that salvation hides in the last places you'll ever want to look.
In this hilarious and daringly unpredictable novel the narrator must exact revenge upon Evie, her best friend and fellow model; kidnap Manus, her two-timing ex-boyfriend; and hit the road with Brandy in search of a brand-new past, present, and future. Changing names and stories in every city, they catapult toward a final confrontation with a rifle-toting Evie — by which time we will have learned that loving and being loved are not mutually exclusive, and that nothing, on the surface, is ever quite what it seems.
Review:
"This is a wild ride of a novel....No one is who he or she seems to be, and the challenge is to figure out who is morphing into whom. By the end, most readers will be both exhausted and exhilarated." George Needham, Booklist
Review:
"Palahniuk's grotesque romp aims to skewer the ruthless superficiality of the fashion world and winds up with a tale as savagely glib as what it derides....Though the absurd surprise ending may incite groans of disbelief, this book does have fun moments when campy banter tops the heroine's flat, whiny bathos." Publishers Weekly
Review:
"There is a certain point in all bedroom farces and comedies of errors when you give up trying to figure out who's who and just go along for the ride. That might be the wisest strategy here....Too clever by half: a Chinese box of a novel fascinating in its intricacies but pretty hard to get a grip on whole." Kirkus Reviews
Review:
"Palahniuk is one of the freshest, most intriguing voices to appear in a long time. He rearranges Vonnegut's sly humor, DeLillo's mordant social analysis, and Pynchon's antic surrealism (or is it R. Crumb's?) into a gleaming puzzle palace all his own." New York Newsday
Review:
"Chuck Palahniuk's stories don't unfold. They hurtle headlong, changing lanes in threes and banging off the guard rails of modern fiction....Incredibly, Invisible Monsters makes...Fight Club seem like a leisurely buggy ride....It's Palahniuk's least successful effort to date, yet there are more than enough moments of insight to recommend Invisible Monsters. Just not in polite company." James Sullivan, The San Francisco Chronicle
Review:
"Invisible Monsters is a guilty pleasure for those with an open mind and a strong stomach — everyone else should go read a nice romance....There's no point in trying to make sense of it all. The bizarre characters, the drugs, the scams, the mutilation — it's a very strange, funny and hallucinogenic trip, best enjoyed if you don't overthink it. Just let its giddy waves sweep over you. You'll come out of it feeling exhilarated." Anouk Hoedeman, Toronto Sun
Review:
"Palahniuk displays a Swiftian gift for satire, as well as a knack for crafting mesmerizing sentences that loom with stark, prickly prose and repetitive rhythms." San Francisco Examiner
Synopsis:
After an sudden "accident" leaves her with half a face, no ability to speak, and no self-esteem, a fashion model is approached by Brandy Alexander--who's one operation away from becoming a "real woman"--who teaches her that reinventing oneself means erasing the past and making up something better.
What Our Readers Are Saying
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Average customer rating based on 5 comments:
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Meagan, July 20, 2008 (view all comments by Meagan)
Invisable Monsters is definatly the palahniuk style, it is full of commentary on society and mildly dark humor, it was kind of like reading a soap opera only much better, and even more intiresting.
The beginning of te book starts out kind of confusing but the more you read, the better the plot gets. There are so many twists that you would definatly not have expected.
If you liked Fight Club, you will definatly love this book.
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Chirpee, March 31, 2007 (view all comments by Chirpee)
This is my favorite Palahniuk, and the only one of his books I have re-read. I just had to make sure I hadn't missed anything, since this book is full of coincidences and twists. I loved the messed up, sad characters and all their connections and craziness. I loved the disjointed, schizophrenic way the story was told, that echoed how insane the lives of these people were. I loved the big dramatic moments you didn't see coming, and the smallish, more intimate ones as well. In short, Palahniuk rocked this one, and made me into a devoted fan.
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Coni, January 30, 2007 (view all comments by Coni)
When a fashion model who thinks she has everything is disfigured in an ?accident?, she realizes how little she had and sets out to reinvent herself with her new friend.
It is completely insane and fun. It is like reading a soap opera. If you have read anything from Palahniuk before, then you?ll recognize the way he writes. He does have a distinct style.
I thought it dragged slightly in the middle, just before I figured out what was going on. It didn?t drag long since the book itself isn?t that long. I figured out what was really going on, right before you are informed of what is going on in the story. Then I started guessing other things weren?t as they seemed. After that, everything became crazier and crazier. That?s when it really turned into a soap opera that I didn?t want to end. I was sad when the book was finished since I wanted to know more of the crazy shenanigans of the characters. They are all such loons!
I would recommend this book as a quick summer read. It almost borders on fluff, but it is extremely twisted fluff.
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Product Details
- ISBN:
- 9780393319293
- Author:
- Publisher:
- W. W. Norton & Company
- Location:
- New York :
- Subject:
- General
- Subject:
- Fiction
- Subject:
- Sex change
- Subject:
- Models
- Subject:
- Experimental fiction
- Subject:
- Disfigured persons.
- Copyright:
- 1999
- Edition Number:
- 1st
- Publication Date:
- September 1999
- Binding:
- Paperback
- Language:
- English
- Pages:
- 278
- Dimensions:
- 8.25x5.50x1.00 in. .61 lbs.
