Diary

Best book I've read in years.

This is the only book I've ever finished and had to re-read within the week to catch the details I missed the first time through. Definately off beat, from an author who's known for off beat. Wish I could have shared this with a book club.

4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

May Not Be For Everyone

Thid book will pull your heart strings, kill your brain, and take you one an emotional rollercoaster. This book is amazing, but not for the faint of heart.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Good!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

The Diary by Chuck Palahnuick

Its been awhile since ive read this story, but it has stuck in my mind and i felt it needed to be rated. I thoroughly enjoy Palahniuk's work. this particular book had a certain mystery to it(as do many of his other novels)that kept me involved. I couldnt wait to get out of work just to read this book, The Diary. I highly recommend it to people who just enjoy a good read. It keeps your interest, and keeps you guessing. Palanuick has such a way about his writing, that makes it hard to put his books down. His imagination is truly inventive. If you have never experienced Mr. Palahnuick I suggest you go out and buy one his books. if i had to describe his style I'd say blunt, outlandish, and at times can be a little twisted.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

I love the gritty details of this story. It made it seem far mor

I love the gritty details of this story. It made it seem far more real and horrifying than many books in the horror and thriller genres I've read in the year since.

Immediately grabs you and pulls you in!

I really enjoyed this book. Chuck Palahniuk's protagonist Misty writes in a diary to her comatose husband Peter, detailing their lives and the current happenings on Waytansea Island in case he comes around.

Peter's coma is the result of a failed suicide attempt. While he is in the coma Misty learns of hidden rooms in the homes he has recently renovated. Each of the rooms is covered with graffiti of Peter's anger and warnings to the inhabitants. She is called to each home and threatened with lawsuits by the owners. At the first of these occurrences Misty meets a fellow named Angel who seems to take an interest in the graffiti and ensconcing himself into Misty's life.

Soon strange things begin to happen to Misty, she begins having horrible headaches and finds herself in a trance-like state with the only thought in her mind being painting. She is pushed by her mother-in-law, daughter and the residents of the island to paint every time she is in their presence. She is compelled to pick up her paintbrushes and spends weeks locked in an attic room of the Island's historic hotel painting with such a fervour she forgoes eating and wears a catheter so she won't have to leave her work. Once she is done she has created 100 paintings that are all part of a large painting she has never seen that is to be revealed in an exhibit for the summer people which flock to the island.

With the help of Angel, Misty uncovers a tradition to replenish Waytansea's wealth by bringing a female artist destined for greatness to the island by marriage to one of their sons. The son gives his life as a sacrifice which is the catalyst for the process to begin. The one thing the inhabitants of the island don't count on is that Misty's husband Peter is homosexual and Angel was his lover and the confidant of his disdain for the tradition and also the man Peter is intent to run away with.

The book comes to an end with a final twist the reader doesn't see coming. Chuck Palahniuk proves once again what a talented writer he is and will continue to be thrilling the reader in a way no other can.

Good

always kept you guessing, very suspenseful! i'm not onto read the rest of his books! well written

Boring.

I knew I would eventually find one of Chuck's books i didn't like. I can stop looking now. I feel bad saying that because I usually love his work. But i found nothing compelling or interesting about any of the characters. If you're new to the author, please don't make this your first.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Extremely addicting

In Chuck Palahniuk¿s book, Diary, he told a mind boggling story, which will keep you on the edge of your seat till the very end. His way of switching back and forth between first point of view and back again to a third person omniscient point of view is what makes this book unique and it will keep drawing you back, but it will also make it sometimes a bit hard to understand, so it¿s best if you re-read the book a second time to see all the little details you¿ve missed, which were a lot for me. For the first few chapters it¿s boring and seems to just go on and on with descriptions, but trust me when I say to keep going on. Around the middle of the book is when it gets extremely interesting with deeper plots and the puzzle pieces start to actually fit together perfectly. Similar to all of Palahniuk¿s works, it¿s a brain teaser, and it will always surprise you by how he ends this marvelous tale of rituals, and the horrible mess that will become of this small island town, but while it¿s something you¿ve come to expect from Palahniuk it¿s also something fresh, and something that no one, in my opinion, could have done any better. With many twists, and flat characters turning into somewhat complex, it¿s a perfect read for anyone who enjoys books that can¿t be judged by the first few pages. Palahniuk finds a strange, almost creepy way to describe the people, the town, and the imagery of things, making them seem as they should be the one thing you should know, yet how they have this whole new different life of which you¿ve never expect. From the moment the people in the book begin to seem to have a sort of façade, is the moment when you start to find out about the psychological thrills, and all of the misfortunes of Misty Marie happen to be coming first hand from the island¿s elder owners. A reoccurring theme in Diary is torture, and how it is what all great artists, like himself, need to make great pieces of art, which is why Misty will only start painting stunning pictures when she seems to be in a great deal of pain and hallucinations. The way Palahniuk writes on about words, that Peter had written on the wall, that seem to tell a story of horrible torture, and of his life as a servant to the elders of Waytensea Island, is ingenious and as the story progresses on, you will find yourself entwined with the book at how the past is talking to Misty, and hoping she is somewhat different, and while hoping the protagonist will win in the end you find yourself feeling terrible as you come to realize that she will never win in this recurring battle with the people of Waytensea Island. All in all, this book is one of the mystifying, intriguing books that will keep you reading and making up little details with what Chuck Palahniuk has written.

Another excellent Palahniuk novel

Diary is a wonderful novel, filled with great characters that are in an intriguing setting. The main character [Misty] is very complex, and the book gives us a healthy dose of the dark humor and psychological thrills that we've come to expect from Palahniuk. The use of diary entries is very effective in this narrative, as it provides us with intimate scenes without being too cliche. With a classic Palahniuk twist at the end, this book demands the attention of anyone who has an interest in modern fiction.

First Chuck P.

This was the first book I read by him, and so it is up there with Survivor and Choke for me. However, I'd recommend people new to C.P. to try one of the aforementioned books first. Because his style is so similar between novels, the first one you read is likely to be your favorite.

Eh

I really love Chuck Palahniuk's work, but Diary fell a little short for me. I found it quite boring, over all, even though the plot was interesting. The way the plot flowed kind of turned me off to it, and I started to feel like I was forcing myself to read toward the end of the book, though I was a little surprised and amused by the ending (as I usually am with Palahniuk). I'd give a 3.5 if I could give a half star.

If only everyone's diary were written by Palahniuk...

First of all, I love Palahniuk. All of his work has a way of gluing itself to my hand when I'm reading it. This is one of my favorite novels of his. It's not only filled with suspense and mystery, but art and passion. From the beginning to the end there is a "wow factor" that continuously sneaks up on you. The book moves from the present to the past through the memories of the protagonist, but throughout the book you feel like there is a part of the future in the past. You will not understand it until the end, and then it might still be a mystery. I would recommend this book to those who like to read, but also don't mind re-reading a few pages if they don't quite understand what's going on.

Good book

Cleverly written

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Disappointing ending

This story was actually pretty good. It had a lot of suspense, and was very interesting. I thought it was interesting because it had a lot of mystery. A woman who's husband was in a coma receives messages and warnings. Since the husband was working on houses, the wife gets a lot of calls telling her to check out the houses because they're missing rooms that were there before the husband got into a coma. It actually made me pretty scared when i was reading it over spring break at night. In addition, there was a lot of flashbacks that completes the story, and at the end it made sense, but it was weak. It's like the book Holes, where it all connects at the end. Although the story line was fine, it was confusing as well. But the way the plot ends by the girl making the island wealthy, and making the wealthy burn just because of her art. In conclusion, this book was pretty unrealistic, however had a mysterious and suspenseful storyline. I don't really recommend people to read this book, since the "legend of the island" is really weak.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Diary Review Extravaganza

This book is written as a coma diary kept by a patient's wife, Misty Tracy Wilmot who lives in a once quaint, now tourist infested island town. She works as a maid in the island's huge hotel and has to serve the tourists that she hates. Her husband was a contractor who remodeled rich family's houses. Upon returning home, these families have discovered that certain rooms in their houses have "gone missing". Tracy's husband had been plastering over doors and writing vile messages on the walls of those rooms. Since then, he had attempted suicide and is now in a coma. Through her stress, Tracy looks back to her childhood dream of drawing. This book is very interesting. The author, Chuck Palahniuk, captures the feelings of the characters very well. He shows the protagonist's hatred towards the people that she serves and reflects his own opinions in her words. He is also very direct in his writings. The only part of this book that I did not like was that it was depressing. Above all, I loved the characters, plot, and general feeling of the book.

ShaneManly

Well written, but extremely creepy

I have only ever read Fight Club by this author before, so I wasn't sure what to expect.
This book creeped me out and made me sick to my stomach. Who thinks of such a story??
I felt so bad for Misty and the whole "pain and suffering" theme was so depressing.
I would not recommend this book.

Diary

So enthralled was I with the book I last had read, that I had to go back and grab another one. I was already in a nihilistic mood and it seemed perfect to simply continue reading along the same vein. After `Survivor: A Novel¿ I picked up `Diary: A Novel¿.

As it turns out, the tools that Chuck used in `Fight Club¿ and `Survivor¿ carry right along into this book, which deals with Misty Marie Kleinman, once an artist, now a waitress with a husband in a coma, living with a mother in law whom she must take care of and a daughter that is not exactly loving. Living in the secluded island of Waytensea, the woman feels like she is about as low as she can sink until she begins to get calls from her husband¿s clients. Apparently, rooms in their homes are missing. Their closets, their kitchens, their studies. Randomly, these vacationers are coming to their summer homes only to find it one room smaller. After putting a hole through the wall they will find the missing room with apocalyptic graffiti spray painted all over the walls. Accompanied by a man named Angel, Misty begins to examine the situation and eventually, as the story unfolds and inspiration begins to surge in a most disturbing way, everything that seemed relatively normal in her life takes a very gruesome turn.

I had already braced myself for some heavy content, but not quite this heavy. And perhaps it is the fact that Diary lacks the humor that Survivor had. That missing balances really makes the reader sink. The subject spirals downwards to a very maddening climax that keeps twisting until the very end, but without the humor (or smaller doses of it) it hits a bit harder. It is an amazing thriller, disturbing and disconcerting, but definitely hard hitting. It will leave you with a disturbed feeling.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

I love this book...

This book is great. It is typical Palahniuk, you never know what to expect. Palahniuk always introduces new ways of looking at the world. Try this book, I bet you will enjoy it.

Very suprising

Now, for all of you that think that Chuck's first few books are his only good ones, I beg to differ. Of course, I'd say Fight Club or Survivor was my favorite of his, but Diary is a real page turner if ever I read one. It's almost holocaust-like at one point and gets you very emotionally involved. What I mean is, you hate the people who are the villains of the story. I recommend it to anyone with two eyes and an imagination.