"Because I really, really, really want my brother to be dead. Because my folks want him dead. Because life is just easier if he's dead. Because this way, I'm an only child. Because its my turn, damnit. My turn." (Palahniuk)
When I read this paragraph I was shocked. I could never imagine myself feeling like that about my brother and these words give a ton of insight into how the character thinks. I feel like this passage once again shows that Chuck uses a raw style of writing. I like his perspective because he doesn't hold back. I sense many family problems with this girl. Every child at some point wishes their sibling would go away but to say it with such conviction is really concerning. I'm curious if her parents really want their child dead because I know some people who have kids really shouldn't have them. This book is so surreal to me because of the environment she's in. She's a A-lister, and lives the life accordingly. But that life is so ridiculous I'm sometimes having a hard time wrapping my head around her 'reality'.
Questions:
1) What will happen to her brother?
2) Does she really mean it?
3) What will Evie's response be?
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Invisible Monsters - Pg. 23
"If you have to start with any one detail, it has to be Brandy's hands. Beaded with rings to make them look even bigger, Brandy's hands are enormous. Beaded with rings, as if they could be more obvious, hands are the one part about Brandy Alexander the surgeons couldn't change.
So Brandy doesn't even try and hide her hands." (Palahniuk)
I decided to read yet another Chuck Palahniuk book. I know that writers have a distinct writing style but Chuck's stands out way more than I expected!!! I feel like I'm reading the main character from Survivor but he's in drag playing a female or something. I know that this sounds negative but I like the scenery change of this book and I'm looking forward to seeing where this fiery beginning takes me.
As for the exert, I really think one thing that Chuck is good at is making profound statements about society in casual ways. By even writing that paragraph in his book hes acknowledging how big plastic surgery is in our society and the process people take to change them selves to 'perfection'. It's sad really and I'm interested in seeing what Brandy's story becomes.
So Brandy doesn't even try and hide her hands." (Palahniuk)
I decided to read yet another Chuck Palahniuk book. I know that writers have a distinct writing style but Chuck's stands out way more than I expected!!! I feel like I'm reading the main character from Survivor but he's in drag playing a female or something. I know that this sounds negative but I like the scenery change of this book and I'm looking forward to seeing where this fiery beginning takes me.
As for the exert, I really think one thing that Chuck is good at is making profound statements about society in casual ways. By even writing that paragraph in his book hes acknowledging how big plastic surgery is in our society and the process people take to change them selves to 'perfection'. It's sad really and I'm interested in seeing what Brandy's story becomes.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Surivor - Final Blog
"Comment on the perspective from which the book is told and how the author's choice affects your relationship with the books content"
------------------------------------------------
My relationship with Survivor has developed into being a very good one. Chuck Palahniuk has clearly mastered the art of story telling in the first person. I feel as though this is what made the difference between Survivor being a great novel and a terrible one. Chuck's unique perspective made this book easy to read, relate able, and believable.
We journey through the book with our main character, Tender Branson. I think it's extremely important that the author chose to use Tender's voice than narrating the story for him. One of the whole aspects of the book is having control of yourself and your life so it was only appropriate that Tender got to tell his story. I think this made the book an easier read for me over all. I haven't completed a full piece of literature (besides Oedpius Rex) in ages, and how Palahnuik writes makes it seem more like a conversation than a 300 page novel..
The language used through out the story was honest and brutal. I think many authors go wrong by trying to make the characters seem overly average. Overly human. How Tender Branson speaks is how I would think his train of thought sounds. He was extremely relate able and provoked many emotions from me. I was able to find situations in my life which paralleled the ones he went through just in less extreme ways. I related this whole story to our project on fate. How Tender spoke helped bring the concept of fate down to a easily understood level, and allowed me to think deeper about the subject. I think that if Chuck used a different style at any point through out the book the idea of fate would have been lost, because the character would be portrayed as an abstraction of himself and not something readers could grasp and digest in their minds.
Writing a novel about a religious cult is something that, in my mind, would fall into unbelievable territory easily. By writing Survivor in first person, we get to hear the story verbatim from Tender Branson. In doing this, the issue of 'this is a second hand story' disappears from our minds and it allows the readers to focus more on the plot and less on 'could this happen?'. When I read the summary on the back of the book i was skeptical. I thought that Survivor would be completely unrealistic and I was worried I was going to get hung up on that. When I started to read i was impressed by how much of the story incorporated real elements and real situations that happen every day. Once again, by keeping it first person Tender became a human to the audience and not just a character. I believed the words he said and I felt like I could meet someone like him in my life. I was able to absorb the major points of the novel and I could easily see something like this happening. Chuck Palahnuik made Tender unique in his own right but invested enough universal human qualities in him that he was able to be felt for by the audience and I genuinely think that if the story written as an over exaggeration i would have not enjoyed the book or taken the message the author was trying to convey to heart.
Survivor is a beautifully written novel about fate, life, and how we live it. Although the story line was taboo, the characters were real people and Chuck did a great job at showing the audience this. I think that, for me, it was a smart choice to get myself back into reading. If i had chosen any other book for my first independent reading I don't think i would have gotten as much as i did out of this Oedipus Rex unit. Palaniuk pegged the correct style of writing perfectly. I'd recommend this book to anyone, and if he had written the novel in any other way I believe his important message would have been lost in translation.
------------------------------------------------
My relationship with Survivor has developed into being a very good one. Chuck Palahniuk has clearly mastered the art of story telling in the first person. I feel as though this is what made the difference between Survivor being a great novel and a terrible one. Chuck's unique perspective made this book easy to read, relate able, and believable.
We journey through the book with our main character, Tender Branson. I think it's extremely important that the author chose to use Tender's voice than narrating the story for him. One of the whole aspects of the book is having control of yourself and your life so it was only appropriate that Tender got to tell his story. I think this made the book an easier read for me over all. I haven't completed a full piece of literature (besides Oedpius Rex) in ages, and how Palahnuik writes makes it seem more like a conversation than a 300 page novel..
The language used through out the story was honest and brutal. I think many authors go wrong by trying to make the characters seem overly average. Overly human. How Tender Branson speaks is how I would think his train of thought sounds. He was extremely relate able and provoked many emotions from me. I was able to find situations in my life which paralleled the ones he went through just in less extreme ways. I related this whole story to our project on fate. How Tender spoke helped bring the concept of fate down to a easily understood level, and allowed me to think deeper about the subject. I think that if Chuck used a different style at any point through out the book the idea of fate would have been lost, because the character would be portrayed as an abstraction of himself and not something readers could grasp and digest in their minds.
Writing a novel about a religious cult is something that, in my mind, would fall into unbelievable territory easily. By writing Survivor in first person, we get to hear the story verbatim from Tender Branson. In doing this, the issue of 'this is a second hand story' disappears from our minds and it allows the readers to focus more on the plot and less on 'could this happen?'. When I read the summary on the back of the book i was skeptical. I thought that Survivor would be completely unrealistic and I was worried I was going to get hung up on that. When I started to read i was impressed by how much of the story incorporated real elements and real situations that happen every day. Once again, by keeping it first person Tender became a human to the audience and not just a character. I believed the words he said and I felt like I could meet someone like him in my life. I was able to absorb the major points of the novel and I could easily see something like this happening. Chuck Palahnuik made Tender unique in his own right but invested enough universal human qualities in him that he was able to be felt for by the audience and I genuinely think that if the story written as an over exaggeration i would have not enjoyed the book or taken the message the author was trying to convey to heart.
Survivor is a beautifully written novel about fate, life, and how we live it. Although the story line was taboo, the characters were real people and Chuck did a great job at showing the audience this. I think that, for me, it was a smart choice to get myself back into reading. If i had chosen any other book for my first independent reading I don't think i would have gotten as much as i did out of this Oedipus Rex unit. Palaniuk pegged the correct style of writing perfectly. I'd recommend this book to anyone, and if he had written the novel in any other way I believe his important message would have been lost in translation.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Survivor - Fertility, Tender & Fate
If you watch close, history does nothing but repeat itself.
What we call chaos is just patters we haven't recognized. What we call random is just patter we can't decipher. What we cant understand we call nonsense. What we can't read we call gibberish.
There is no free will.
There are no variables.
"There is only the inevitable," Fertility says. "There's only one future. You don't have a choice."
The bad news is we don't have any control.
The good news is you can't make any mistakes." (Palahniuk, 118).
I think I may use this book for our Fate project. The more I read, the more I realize that the bigger picture is 'what is Tender going to do with himself?' This train of thought took place while talking to Fertility Hollis in a diner. Is Tender Branson right or is he wrong? I think he could be both, in away. Arguably, a war in history with a war in the present is history repeating itself. But we have to take into consideration that the circumstances are different, the people are different, everything is different. Also, if we go by this, then a child being born is just a child being born - a repetition - nothing special. And I, personally, don't agree with that. That plays into Determinism, which I 100% play into. I do agree with the part about there's only one future - the good news you cant make any mistakes. We all know what our life story is going to end with, so I think its better to look at the actions we take as learning opportunities and not mistakes. If we didn't mess up on (insert situation here) we wouldn't be the person that we are today so in a sense nothing is a mistake. I think this is the beginning of the turning point in the book. Tender has all of the wheels turning in his head and he's fighting this argument between life and death. I think soon we're going to see things snap.
Questions:
1) Will he see Fertility again?
2) Why is she helping him with his 'miracles'?
3) How will the book end?!?!?! =[
4) What is Chuck Palahniuk as a person? He writes about some pretty heavy stuff..
What we call chaos is just patters we haven't recognized. What we call random is just patter we can't decipher. What we cant understand we call nonsense. What we can't read we call gibberish.
There is no free will.
There are no variables.
"There is only the inevitable," Fertility says. "There's only one future. You don't have a choice."
The bad news is we don't have any control.
The good news is you can't make any mistakes." (Palahniuk, 118).
I think I may use this book for our Fate project. The more I read, the more I realize that the bigger picture is 'what is Tender going to do with himself?' This train of thought took place while talking to Fertility Hollis in a diner. Is Tender Branson right or is he wrong? I think he could be both, in away. Arguably, a war in history with a war in the present is history repeating itself. But we have to take into consideration that the circumstances are different, the people are different, everything is different. Also, if we go by this, then a child being born is just a child being born - a repetition - nothing special. And I, personally, don't agree with that. That plays into Determinism, which I 100% play into. I do agree with the part about there's only one future - the good news you cant make any mistakes. We all know what our life story is going to end with, so I think its better to look at the actions we take as learning opportunities and not mistakes. If we didn't mess up on (insert situation here) we wouldn't be the person that we are today so in a sense nothing is a mistake. I think this is the beginning of the turning point in the book. Tender has all of the wheels turning in his head and he's fighting this argument between life and death. I think soon we're going to see things snap.
Questions:
1) Will he see Fertility again?
2) Why is she helping him with his 'miracles'?
3) How will the book end?!?!?! =[
4) What is Chuck Palahniuk as a person? He writes about some pretty heavy stuff..
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Survivor - 15 Years In The Making
He says, "My point is that every bit of your career with us is already in place, and we've been prophesying your arrival for more than fifteen years....All we needed was a warm body and the survivor's name. That's where you enter the picture." (Palahniuk, 150)
Tender Branson now has a agent. They're in the car when his agent tells him this quote. Tender realizes that he's merrily a piece of the product that's going to be sold. I think this passage is important because of the fact that the agency has been waiting for him for fifteen years. This further incorporates the idea of fate or free will. Tender chose to sign with this guy, but was it his fate to all along? After all they have been waiting for him for over a decade...
Questions:
1) Will fame go to his head?
2) How will his relationship with Fertility Hollis change?
Tender Branson now has a agent. They're in the car when his agent tells him this quote. Tender realizes that he's merrily a piece of the product that's going to be sold. I think this passage is important because of the fact that the agency has been waiting for him for fifteen years. This further incorporates the idea of fate or free will. Tender chose to sign with this guy, but was it his fate to all along? After all they have been waiting for him for over a decade...
Questions:
1) Will fame go to his head?
2) How will his relationship with Fertility Hollis change?
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Survivor - Candy Land & Nostalgia
You realize that our mistrust of the future makes it hard to give up the past. We can't give up our concept of who we were. All those adults playing archaeologists at yard sales, looking for childhood artifacts, board games, Candy Land Twister, they're terrified. Trash becomes holy relics. Mystery Date. Hula Hoops. Our way of getting nostalgic for what we just threw in the trash, its all becuase we're afraid to evolve. Grow, change, lose weight, reinvent ourselves. Adapt (Palahniuk, 150).
This is Tender reflecting while he's climbing up the stair master. I think his words are a interesting observation, and easier for him to say than others. One thing that's challenging for me while reading this book is remembering where he came from. When you first start reading the story, he's in 'our world' so its hard to shake that for 17 years of his life, which are the most impressionable on a person, he was isolated in the cult. I've never experienced something as extreme as having every one you knew as a child kill themselves. So sometimes I just assume he's "normal". Anyways, this is a interesting observation for him because the life he grew up in was simplistic. In contrast, I had most of the things he mentioned and I do wish I still had those toys in my possession. I guess some people buy the relics to hold onto the memories, but is that really fear of death? Everyone, possibly to some extent, is afraid of death but I don't think they buy those things to hold ONTO their youth they buy them to reminisce about their youth. That's a big distinction. I will admit that the concept of how absolute death is, is very intimidating to me. Once again, concepts of the book fall into concepts discussed in Oedipus Rex. Also, Stranger Than Fiction. Tender accepts death, and is condescending to how the out side world reacts to it. On the other hand Harold wants to avoid death, and i think shares the sentiment of many people. In addition, this passage shows how detached Tender is. A few chapters back he said "The truth is you can be orphaned again and again and again. And the secret is, this will hurt less and less each time until you can't feel a thing. Trust me on this (Palahniuk, 162)." The farther we get into the book the farther we see Tender become more of a shell of a person, and less of a actual person. Maybe this is why he decides to take the plane? Lack of emotional investment in life?
Questions:
1) Will he become famous?
2) Where is the book heading?
(This whole agent thing that happen has thrown me a curve ball)
3)What all does Fertility Hollis know about him? (She has visions, extremely accurate)
4) One of the engines on the plane have died, what is he thinking/feeling about it OR is that even on his mind?
This is Tender reflecting while he's climbing up the stair master. I think his words are a interesting observation, and easier for him to say than others. One thing that's challenging for me while reading this book is remembering where he came from. When you first start reading the story, he's in 'our world' so its hard to shake that for 17 years of his life, which are the most impressionable on a person, he was isolated in the cult. I've never experienced something as extreme as having every one you knew as a child kill themselves. So sometimes I just assume he's "normal". Anyways, this is a interesting observation for him because the life he grew up in was simplistic. In contrast, I had most of the things he mentioned and I do wish I still had those toys in my possession. I guess some people buy the relics to hold onto the memories, but is that really fear of death? Everyone, possibly to some extent, is afraid of death but I don't think they buy those things to hold ONTO their youth they buy them to reminisce about their youth. That's a big distinction. I will admit that the concept of how absolute death is, is very intimidating to me. Once again, concepts of the book fall into concepts discussed in Oedipus Rex. Also, Stranger Than Fiction. Tender accepts death, and is condescending to how the out side world reacts to it. On the other hand Harold wants to avoid death, and i think shares the sentiment of many people. In addition, this passage shows how detached Tender is. A few chapters back he said "The truth is you can be orphaned again and again and again. And the secret is, this will hurt less and less each time until you can't feel a thing. Trust me on this (Palahniuk, 162)." The farther we get into the book the farther we see Tender become more of a shell of a person, and less of a actual person. Maybe this is why he decides to take the plane? Lack of emotional investment in life?
Questions:
1) Will he become famous?
2) Where is the book heading?
(This whole agent thing that happen has thrown me a curve ball)
3)What all does Fertility Hollis know about him? (She has visions, extremely accurate)
4) One of the engines on the plane have died, what is he thinking/feeling about it OR is that even on his mind?
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Survivor - Tender & His Baptism
To explain the decreasing page numbers,
the numbers in my book go backwards. =]
Rub the top of your meat loaf with and ice cube, and the loaf won't crack while it bakes.
To keep lace crisp, iron it between sheets of waxed paper.
We were kept busy learning. We had a million facts to remember. We memorized half the Old Testament.
We though all of this teaching was to make us smart.
What it did was make us stupid.
With all the little facts we learned, we never had the time to think. None of us ever considered what life would be like cleaning up after a stranger every day. Washing dishes all day. Feeding a stranger's children. Mowing a lawn. Painting houses. Year after year. Ironing bedsheets.
Forever and ever.
Work without end (Palahniuk, 193).
This passage is what Tender Branson, the main character, thinks of his last year with the church. I think his words shed light on his current situation. Those people, the elders of the church, were playing God with him in a way. They set up barriers, rules for him to live by, and they were the ones that created his destiny and fate. Free will, until he was sent out into the world, was a foreign concept to him. I think this is why he set up the suicide hot line and decided to choose whether people live or die. He's grasping for a sense of that control that the church had over him. Compensation for lost years, in a sense. This passage also reminded me of Oedipus Rex because the major concepts of the play are fate and free will, much like this book. For Tender, the question can be posed - if he had stayed in the church - do you really want to know that the life you're leading is far from 'normal'? Your oppressed? You're living an extreme? His 'truth' sitation mirrors the mom/killing the king situation that applies to Oedipus. Also, while you're reading, you have to keep in mind that he's telling you his life story while hes flying a plane thats going to crash and kill him. This also plays into his fate and free will because he had a choice not to initiate this situation. But by growing up in a environment like that, a church that had a suicide pact, is this really his free will? Or just his destiny coming back to haunt him?
Questions:
1) Does he go through with it!?! (the crash)
2) Is this book based on a true story? (Doubtful)
3) Did he ever have to deal with death as a child? (Besides within the bible/hell/sins/ect)
4) Does part of himself feel ashamed because he enjoys the construction and rules? (Now that he's in the placement program - real world)
the numbers in my book go backwards. =]
Rub the top of your meat loaf with and ice cube, and the loaf won't crack while it bakes.
To keep lace crisp, iron it between sheets of waxed paper.
We were kept busy learning. We had a million facts to remember. We memorized half the Old Testament.
We though all of this teaching was to make us smart.
What it did was make us stupid.
With all the little facts we learned, we never had the time to think. None of us ever considered what life would be like cleaning up after a stranger every day. Washing dishes all day. Feeding a stranger's children. Mowing a lawn. Painting houses. Year after year. Ironing bedsheets.
Forever and ever.
Work without end (Palahniuk, 193).
This passage is what Tender Branson, the main character, thinks of his last year with the church. I think his words shed light on his current situation. Those people, the elders of the church, were playing God with him in a way. They set up barriers, rules for him to live by, and they were the ones that created his destiny and fate. Free will, until he was sent out into the world, was a foreign concept to him. I think this is why he set up the suicide hot line and decided to choose whether people live or die. He's grasping for a sense of that control that the church had over him. Compensation for lost years, in a sense. This passage also reminded me of Oedipus Rex because the major concepts of the play are fate and free will, much like this book. For Tender, the question can be posed - if he had stayed in the church - do you really want to know that the life you're leading is far from 'normal'? Your oppressed? You're living an extreme? His 'truth' sitation mirrors the mom/killing the king situation that applies to Oedipus. Also, while you're reading, you have to keep in mind that he's telling you his life story while hes flying a plane thats going to crash and kill him. This also plays into his fate and free will because he had a choice not to initiate this situation. But by growing up in a environment like that, a church that had a suicide pact, is this really his free will? Or just his destiny coming back to haunt him?
Questions:
1) Does he go through with it!?! (the crash)
2) Is this book based on a true story? (Doubtful)
3) Did he ever have to deal with death as a child? (Besides within the bible/hell/sins/ect)
4) Does part of himself feel ashamed because he enjoys the construction and rules? (Now that he's in the placement program - real world)
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Survivor - Fertillity & Her Cruise
"What I remember about the cruise," Fertility says, and her arm is curved to rest against the whole length of my arm. "I remember the faces of the last passengers as their lifeboats were lowered past the ballroom windows. Their orange canvas life vests sort of framed their heads, so their heads looked cut off and put on orange pillows, and they justs stared with big wide-open fish eyes at Trevor and me still inside the ship's ballroom while the ship was starting to sink."(Palahniuk, 216).
This passage gives us insight to how Fertility lives her life. Can you imagine being on a boat while it is sinking? If I was in that situation I would be crying, not dancing in a ballroom. What I get from this is that she lives for the moment, and thats a virtue many people claim to have but in all reality don't. Her story makes me curious about what else she's done in her life, and what she will do. I think this character is a brilliant creation on the part of Chuck Palahniuk because she gives the readers something they want to strive for in their life, and in that aspect she's relate able. People want to live their lives to the fullest. But at the same time, she romanticizes with death, and has said in previous chapters, that she wants to kill herself. So in a way she's representative of the two extremes of humanity. The crazy thrill seekers who do everything they want to do while living, and, in their minds, have reached the ultimate fulfillment of life by their experiences. But on the other hand she's also representative of the people who anticipate death as if the act of death itself is the ultimate fulfillment of life. (Paradox!!! Dying is living)
1) What is her back story? (More detail)
2) How will her relationship develop with Tender? (main, introverted character)
3) How will her personality affect his own?
4) Will she play a role in whether he lives or dies?
This passage gives us insight to how Fertility lives her life. Can you imagine being on a boat while it is sinking? If I was in that situation I would be crying, not dancing in a ballroom. What I get from this is that she lives for the moment, and thats a virtue many people claim to have but in all reality don't. Her story makes me curious about what else she's done in her life, and what she will do. I think this character is a brilliant creation on the part of Chuck Palahniuk because she gives the readers something they want to strive for in their life, and in that aspect she's relate able. People want to live their lives to the fullest. But at the same time, she romanticizes with death, and has said in previous chapters, that she wants to kill herself. So in a way she's representative of the two extremes of humanity. The crazy thrill seekers who do everything they want to do while living, and, in their minds, have reached the ultimate fulfillment of life by their experiences. But on the other hand she's also representative of the people who anticipate death as if the act of death itself is the ultimate fulfillment of life. (Paradox!!! Dying is living)
1) What is her back story? (More detail)
2) How will her relationship develop with Tender? (main, introverted character)
3) How will her personality affect his own?
4) Will she play a role in whether he lives or dies?
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