Helpful Score: 2
Some of these stories lived up to "Stranger Than Fiction", but some fell a little flat for me. I thought all stories would have me googling "is that real??". Not a bad book and worth a read for the half of the stories that do you have you wondering if it could even possibly be true (that first one I thought for sure was made up). Wow. Read if you are a Chuck P fan, you'll appreciate the dark humor of it.
Helpful Score: 1
True tales from the life of author Chuck Palahniuk.
Helpful Score: 1
Chuck Palahniuk's world has always been, well, different for yours and mine. In his first collection of nonfiction, Chjuck Palahniuk brings us into this world, and give us a glimpse of what inspires his fiction.
Helpful Score: 1
I enjoyed this book more than most of Chuck Palahniuk's fiction. His fiction may be stranger, but I found the true stories in here far more engaging. Only a couple fell flat. The rest will make you laugh, cry and most importantly THINK.
Helpful Score: 1
Palahniuk is often a little too dark for me, but I love some of his work. This collection of nonfiction (mostly) stories was kind of in the middle; I enjoyed a lot of it and found Palahniuk's approach to celebrity interviews (such as Marilyn Manson and Juliette Lewis) amazing. Very different from what you would normally read, less contrived. I am not usually a big fan of insight on celebrities' lives but I'd probably subscribe to "People" magazine if Palahniuk was writing the stories! A few of the stories here just did not capture my attention but it was still well worth reading. I skipped over maybe 20% of the book overall. One of the very first stories about a "Testicle Festival" was particularly lewd and kind of prepared me for a wilder ride than the book turned out to be (which was not a bad thing).
Sandi K W. (Sandiinmississippi) reviewed Stranger Than Fiction: True Stories on + 265 more book reviews
Very uneven, the author tried a bit too hard to stretch thin material into something 'shocking'. Some of the tales were interesting, some trite, most not up magazine article quality. Strung together it did get tedious though he turns a phrase nicely.
This book was a little odd, but then again coming from Chuck Palahniuk what can you expect.
Chuck is one of my all time favorite authors. This book of essays lives up to its title. I gained the tiniest bit of insight into Chuck's mind, but he is still an enigma to me. With that said, this set of essays is a mixture of funny, sick and interesting...just like his fiction!! I learned about combine demolition derbies, old wrestlers, castles in the U.S. (who knew), and on and on. I hate to part with this book, but I need the room in my overstuffed bookshelves!
Good collection of real life stores
