This book is poorly written, suffers from uninspired plot and is haunted only by boredom on every page. Palahniuk attempts to write a gory story that will freak out his audience. A lot of his ideas are pretty good, but the way the story is held together does not allow them to shine.

A group of frustrated writers decide to join together for a writer’s retreat, which is supposed to help them finalize their ideas for their masterpiece. When they arrive, they are held captive by their leader and told that they now have ample time and space to complete their stories. Rather than actually work on them, however, the writers begin to chop their own fingers off, break any available appliances, destroy their food supply and resort to cannibalism. All of their pain and self-induced torture is supposed to show how heroic they were while being held hostage. Unfortunately, the vast majority of what Palahniuk writes is so unbelievable that it soon becomes boring.

Each writer in the group has a story or poem that follows a chapter of plot. But each story is written in the same style, and almost always with the attempt of grossing out its reader. I would’ve liked to see the characters have more personality, but unfortunately it seems like Palahniuk just divided himself up into a bunch of people with different names and wanted to publish a few of his short stories and poems.

I wouldn’t advise anyone to read this book. It’s an easy read, but is so boring and fantastical that it’s hard for me to believe that an adult would enjoy this. Even those who enjoy gore and twisted thoughts will toss this one aside.

2/5 Stars. 404 pages. Published 2005.