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|  | | | Customer Reviews: | | | Average Customer Review:
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 Too Busy Mar 08, 2010
I found that there were too many characters in this book, and they didn't connect with the same precision Mr Palahniuk is famous for. It was a clever idea, i.e. the snuff theme, but the characters didn't have enough face for me, as they moved around too quickly. The ending didn't surprise with the same punch Mr Palahniuk usually delivers with.
Nicholas R.W. Henning - Australian Author
 Great book Feb 24, 2010
My son loves Chuck Palahniuk I bought this as a Christmas gift. He enjoyed it very much.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 An Entertaining ADULT Story Feb 09, 2010
Snuff is a story told from the perspective of 4 people about to make adult film history. All of them are connected in some way that is unknown to them but gets reveled ,to the reader at least, thorough the progression of the story. This is my 2nd Palahniuk book and I like his writing style although it may not be for readers who enjoy a more linear story told from one or two perspectives.
The ending comes out of nowhere and is just as unususal as the rest of the book. Overall I would say that if you have enjoyed Palahniuk's other books you should enjoy this one.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
My least favorite Palahniuk novel. Jan 28, 2010
It feels a little weird coming here to write a negative review of something by Chuck Palahniuk. I'm a huge fan and "Choke" ranks as one of my favorite books of all time.
But there's just something off about "Snuff." The premise, the characters and the setting are all perfectly set up for another great Palahniuk book, but it just doesn't happen.
This is the first time I've ever been distracted by Palahniuk's pronounced writing tics. Ordinarily, I get caught up in the rhythm of it, but here it was irritating. Often it felt like I was reading someone trying to imitate his style. There were times when Chuck seemed to be recalling his greatest hits. Men obsessing about the nuances of their bodies, the secrets of how celebrities stay young-looking, esoteric info about drugs and their side effects, encyclopedic knowledge of deaths. We've seen this all before.
I never, ever thought a Chuck Palahniuk book about the adult industry could be this boring. One mistake I think Chuck makes is that he sets it in a world that doesn't exist anymore. Like many other authors, Palahniuk seems to be writing about 1979 instead of 2009. He continually speaks about these lavish, big-budget porn movies Cassie Wright appears in, but they don't exist anymore. Frankly, the porn industry Chuck paints isn't even close to the reality of it today. As fun as it is to hear his porn-spoof titles, the simple fact is that his image of the industry is nothing more than false nostalgia. (It would be fun to hear Chuck's thoughts of the real world of porn -- where everything is streamed right into your bedroom via the Internet, and where the viewers are now the performers, using the anonymity of the 'Net to live out their fantasies.)
The book (which is more along the lines of short-story length) is broken up into chapters narrated by four different characters: a young man who thinks Cassie Wright is his biological mother, an aging gay TV star desperate to rekindle his career (he thinks he'll do it by proving he's straight), an old porn star who got Cassie into the industry, and the woman running the gang-bang film the three men are going to be in.
As you'd expect, they all have interesting stories. Especially the young man. In him, Chuck seems to be saying that the obsession men have with porn actresses is really their attempt to make them the mom they never had. These men who study every detail of these women and their films are really just looking for some maternal affection. Do I agree with that? No. But it's an interesting theory I've never heard before.
So the book has a good setup and good characters. Why is it so boring? I can't really put my finger on it. Chuck's dry humor comes through and I did chuckle a few times. But there's also some awful material and despite its length, this book really, really drags. The ending feels like some cheap "Law & Order" dramatic-sting reveal.
There's nothing especially bad about this book. It's just kind of stale and forgettable. Which is something I would never expect from Palahniuk and probably won't see again anytime soon.
 Not all that Jan 27, 2010
Seems to start out strong, but then fails to really get going. The entire novel feels like an intro to something else. Something better?
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