Rant

Right from the start, Chuck Palahniuk begs the question, "Do you ever wish you'd never been born?" And having finished it, I am somewhat wondering if I do. Palahniuk's new novel explores a seldom used literary style of fictional oral history. Much like Max Brooks' World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, Palahniuk's book explores its subject through the eyes of characters touched (in some way or another) by its eponymous character, Rant Casey. This being a Palahniuk novel, Casey is one messed up dude and, while impressed with the writing style and some of societal insights, I'm not sure if the part of my life that reading this book occupied was worth the cost.

Casey was abrasive. Casey had rabies. Casey got rabies by sticking his hands down animal's nests because he liked the thrill of being bitten. He liked biting. He'd passed on his rabies to most of his associates in Middleton. Casey was so bored that he created a quasi death derby game on the streets. Even this gets too stale for Casey and his newest effort to revamp the sport he has created results in his all-too-soon demise. All these neuroses and driving character flaws await you in Palahniuk's new novel.

This reader wasn't too familiar with Palahniuk prior to reading this book and in discussing it with some followers of Palahniuk there was a mixed reception. However, as a newcomer, I was pleasantly surprised by the author's style. Abrupt, halting, Palahniuk shoots from the hip. While very different in style from his previous works, there is something comfortingly simplistic that keeps the pages turning. Sometimes his characters maintain a conversational tone, at other moments they appear all hopped up on goofballs. Palahniuk's stream-of-consciousness oral history is reminiscent of William S. Burroughs.

One thing Palahniuk pulls off well is allowing different characters their own dialect. He develops differing levels of familiarity, differing levels of celebrity and intimacy with the book's main character. You feel that, in their own way, and in their own voice, they are sharing something unique they know. But it's very scattered and confusing, like listening in on several different conversations in a noisy bar.

Somewhere in the midst of differing views on Casey, a general consensus emerges that, perhaps in a way, Casey was a modern day prophet. His gems of observational wisdom appear like, "Life's greatest comfort is being able to look over your shoulder and see people worse off, waiting in line behind you."

But Casey didn't want a life of waiting on line. Surrounded by an environment of having too much information and too little stimulation, Casey blazed his own trail. As he is said to have spoken, "Some people are just born human. The rest of us, we take a lifetime to get there."

Casey's mother makes Middleton sound like it could be any modern American town. In this world of bullshit and fakeness, she quips "Anytime anybody in Middleton opens their mouth, you need to ask: "Why are you telling me this?""

Despite a lot of mixed messages and contrary viewpoints of the main character, a pattern emerges throughout the different exchanges among our witnesses and that pattern is a circuitous critique of celebrity and the mythology of modernity. This is a good message and appropriate in a world where top billing is given on the news to finding out who Anna Nicole's baby daddy is. The book opens with a comment by Wallace Boyer (a car salesman character) who says that "Like most people, I didn't meet and talk to Casey Casey until after he was dead. That's how it works for most celebrities: After they croak, their circle of close friends just explodes. A dead celebrity can't walk down the street without meeting a million best buddies he never met in real life."

While this wasn't particularly my favorite cuisine, it was definitely food for thought.