Chuck Palahniuk

'Are you there, Satan? It's me, Madison' Meet Madison, whip-tongued daughter of a narcissistic film star and a billionaire, abandoned at a Swiss boarding school over Christmas while her parents are off adopting more orphans. Madison dies of a marijuana overdose and awakes to find herself in Hell, sharing her cell with a motley crew of young sinners that's almost too good to be true. Welcome to the afterlife as only Palahniuk could imagine it - he makes eternal torment, well, simply divine.

Damned

"Are you there, Satan? It's me, Madison, " declares the whip-tongued thirteen-year-old narrator of Damned, Chuck Palahniuk's subversive new work of fiction. The daughter of a narcissistic film star and a billionaire, Madison is abandoned at her Swiss boarding school over Christmas, while her parents are off touting their new projects and adopting more orphans. She dies over the holiday of a marijuana overdose--and the next thing she knows, she's in Hell. Madison shares her cell with a motley crew of young sinners that is almost too good to be true: a cheerleader, a jock, a nerd, and a punk rocker, united by fate to form the six-feet-under version of everyone's favorite detention movie. Madison and her pals trek across the Dandruff Desert and climb the treacherous Mountain of Toenail Clippings to confront Satan in his citadel. All the popcorn balls and wax lips that serve as the currency of Hell won't buy them off.--Résumé de l'éditeur.

Patrick Book

I think this might be his best book. Delivering an astounding version of what hell might look like is one thing, but cramming fully half of the book with dark philosophical diversions while maintaining the narrative is quite an accomplishment. Very imaginative.

this was sillier than i’d expected, funny but just a bit .. over the top

༺ kat ༻

As thirteen-year-old Madison tries to figure out how she died and ended up in Hell, she learns how to manipulate the corrupt system of demons and bodily fluids.

Life is Short, Death is Forever

Lauren Wightman

Almost like reading a season of AHS: campy and darkly humorous.

Lauryn Jackson

Chuck Palahniuk has a way with words that is great dispersed throughout his books. With this book, Damned he takes on the point of view of a young girl as she goes through Hell after dying. It seems to be written by a teenager, but Palahniuk is good at keeping the reader pulled in. If looking for an easy, entertaining read, I recommend this because it was easy to get into and easy to finish!

There's a phenomenon here.

Until I finished Damned, I would have fastidiously maintained that Chuck Palahniuk was, in fact, one of my favorite authors and inspirations for writing.

However, this is the third book in a row of his that's fallen rather flat, so I don't know if I can say that for absolute certain. Invisible Monsters remains one of my favorite books of all time, but other than that...

I think this happens because the first book (or few if you aren't that jaded) that you read of Palahniuk's is so original that you have to be changed by it somehow, which is what I remember the most about Invisible Monsters. Invisible Monsters was the first book of his that I read. Therefore, it was the most efficacious.

This is the sixth book of his that I've read. And now I can see it. He's trying too hard.

In all of the books, he tries so, so hard to create a character that no one has ever seen before. And it works for the first few books. Shannon McFarland of IM remains one of the most unique voices I've ever encountered in narrative writing. However, as you move along his novels, the effect is dampened until it becomes too much. No one is as blithely different as Madison.

So the characters become such contrasts to the muted tones you find in real life (like, yeah, you want things to be interesting and you don't want to read about real life in a novel, but there's a limit, ok) that they become caricatures. Such ghastly caricatures, in fact, that you can't bring yourself to care about any of them.

And that's where I have to end this review. I simply did not care about any of the characters, so other parts of the narrative fell short. This was a book that had a lot of funny, tongue-in-cheek potential, but failed. Just failed.

I probably won't seek out any more of his books unless something in particular catches my eye.

Chiara Malaspina di Orezzoli

irriverente e comico in maniera intelligente come sempre: alcune parti sono assolutamente geniali (per citarne una, l'incontro con Psezpolnica vale l'intero libro).

Toni Turner

Extremely interesting and creepy. Gotta love Chuck.

Kristen

Isabella Cottingham

Very average… 
If you like weird books this is for you. It just got weirder and weirder and weirder. This book is NOT scary… it’s just a bit odd.  It was very funny as I could relate to the main character. It had lots of defences to books and movie classics aswell which is a nice comforting touch but overall a bit meh.

Kerri McDonald

This book was weird, to say the very least. I drifted constantly between being completely intrigued and being utter confused. Sometimes it felt like the author wrote whole chapters solely for shock value as opposed to writing to advance the plot. It was good for a fun read, but definitely not a favorite from Chuck.

Becca Futrell

i’m honestly shocked that i disliked a book this much.

Dani

Repunta bastante hacia el final del libro.

Annabelle Szepietowski

“...what makes Earth feel like Hell is our expectation is that it should feel like heaven.”

This was my first Chuck Palahniuk book and I must say, despite the weird sexual tones (I was warned by a friend who recommended it), I quite thoroughly enjoyed it. Loved the Breakfast Club aspect, loved all the moments where Madison explained quotes said by her parents.

I enjoyed the second half of the book much more, as we were finding out more about the day Madison died.

This book definitely shows how Chuck Palahniuk was grieving his mother’s death, how he needed to work through the fact that she was gone, and wondering about what she was doing in her afterlife. 

He’s described this book as “if The Shawshank Redemption had a baby by The Lovely Bones and it was raised by Judy Blume,” which is a rather accurate description.

Will definitely be reading more Chuck Palahniuk books in the future. Especially the sequel “Doomed”.

Jessica Nottingham

Definitely not my favorite Palahniuk book, but there is actually a lot to Damned that I did in fact love. First off, Madison. Her attitude about Hell was hilariously glib and she was an enigma for most of the story. It might have been because the narrator of the audio book was so good at portraying this young and very matter of fact girl, but I loved her almost instantly. Madison definitely makes the book.

Also, when the synopsis says that this is "The Breakfast Club" in Hell, they really aren't kidding. Palahniuk has given the reader a wide array of characters to enjoy while exploring this dark, damp (and often gross) land of the dead. You have your punk rocker with a heart of gold. The jock who isn't as brave as he seems. Even the perfect cheerleader type, complete with fake blond hair and white shoes after labor day, makes an appearance. These characters take the reader on a wild ride.

What was a miss for me in this book was really the ending. I know a lot of people disliked Damned entirely, but I was honestly extremely invested until the ending of the book. It almost felt like a cop out to me. I get that Palahniuk is unpredictable. In fact, that's usually what draws me to his books. However I felt like I was missing something important that left a hole in my reading of this book. Not sure what, but it's definitely not there.

Anyway this rambling is simply meant to share that I did actually really enjoy listening to Damned, despite any flaws that it might have! Madison and her motley crew take the reader on a ride unlike any other. The ride through Hell itself. Don't go into this one expecting anything stunningly poignant, but rather go into it expecting the unexpected. Do that, and you'll enjoy it as much as I did.

Damned

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