I’ve read other books where a horrible scenario was taking place that actually bothered me versus Haunted, where the feeling was like someone was watching my reaction while I read this – spoonfeeding me to see if I’d be grossed out. Palahniuk can show some prowess, but the whole time I kept just thinking some of his descriptive parts of what would obviously bother some people was just… very… ‘shock rocker’ but with writing. I ultimately liked the book, but it definitely wasn’t my favorite. Overall I liked the general theme of the book, about how humans/people react to certain situations, blame everything but ourselves, etc. I liked reading into what fucked up things happened to all the characters, and why they had chosen to go to the retreat that the book is about, or why they themselves were horrible people. The stories created by each character were definitely the best part. There are also poems before the self-stories weren’t that impressive to me either, unfortunately. The actual separated background stories of the characters of the book were pretty boring to me, even though there were some portions that made me laugh or piqued my interest from the gore content or general fucked-up feeling of them.
Haunted is definitely one of those books where I REALLY liked some parts, and absolutely hated others.
I felt sort of ‘dirty’ afterwards but not because of the content of the story necessarily, but more that it it made me think of my own messed up sexual hijinks, but definitely not enough to make me faint, or feel sick in any way like apparently his readings at book stores do on a regular basis. I think this is technically my first Palahniuk book? I had actually read the ‘Guts’ short-story out of context as the first experience with him, and thought it was at least interesting. As the storytellers grow more desperate, their tales become more extreme, and they ruthlessly plot to make themselves the hero of the reality show that will surely be made from their plight.” They’re told by people who have answered an ad for a writer’s retreat and unwittingly joined a “Survivor”-like scenario where the host withholds heat, power, and food. “ Haunted is a novel made up of twenty-three horrifying, hilarious, and stomach-churning stories.