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A stunning piece of fiction. Remarkably descriptive, well researched, plausible, and quite possibly one of my favorite books.
No description I could give would ever do it justice. (trust me, I've written and deleted at least three paragraphs from this box because its an insult to the complexity of the story). It does tend to be a touch graphic, but I'd recommend it to anyone.
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Haunted is the only one of his fictional works (I think he recently published a collection of non-fiction essays)that I haven't read, but I plan on reading it soon. I love this guy's style. I recently finished his novel, "Diary." It was a good read. Just for kicks (and for the oddity of this hook), I'm including Chapter One from that book here...this is all of it:
JUNE 21--THE THREE-QUARTER MOON
TODAY, A MAN CALLED from Long Beach. He left a long message on the answering machine, mumbling and shouting, talking fast and slow, swearing and threatening to call the police, to have you arrested.
Today is the longest day of the year--but anymore, every day is.
The weather today is increasing concern followed by full-blown dread.
The man calling from Long Beach, he says his bathroom is missing.
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This is also the guy who wrote Fight Club, for those who didn't already know. I haven't read that one yet, but I've read his Lullaby and his non-fiction book Stranger than Fiction.
That Stranger than Fiction book has an introduction containing interesting insights into writing and how he, in particular, does it. Haven't read Haunted yet, but I hear it's making a splash. I think his stuff's pretty good.
Ironically, I never read it. I checked it out and then forgot about it, and my wonderful library decided not to remind me about that until ten days after it was due back. Why they couldn't have sent that email two days before it was due I will never know...
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Anybody know how to pronounce his frickin' name??
Uh, he does make reference, in his non-fiction book, to a new type of fiction. To whit, Trangressive Fiction. Fight Club is an example. So is American Psycho (which they also made into a move, but written by another author). I guess the idea is the main character transgresses against something (the establishment in Fight Club, or shallowness in American Psycho) in order to teach the reader something about it.
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