Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey

A reviewer

Other reviewers say that if you like Palahniuk you will love this book. I could not disagree more. This book is just a recycled 'Fight Club'. Let's review. We are shaped by our families, culture and the media. If we do not understand that then we are leading someone else's life. If we do see through that veil we can follow our own true path within our society. Or we can Chuck the whole thing and realise we are just clever animals. We can take the idea that life is 'nasty, brutish and short' to its extreme conclusion. Your garden variety rebel distills life to sex and drugs and rock and roll. Your true rebel distills life to sex and destruction and rant and rage. The trap is that for every authentic anti-hero, like Tyler Durden or Rant Casey, there is a pathetic cast of wannabes ironically trying to live someone else's life. This book would have been OK if 'Fight Club' had not been written first. Chuck Palahniuk rages against the tame homogenized life so many of us live. I think that puts a greater burden on him not to recycle his earlier successes.

4 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

Pick any other Palahniuk but this one

I love Palahniuk's books. I give them to everyone after reading.

I wanted to throw this one in the garbage after reading.
It is as interesting as all the rest of the books until the last few pages. It's as if Chuck was simply tired of writing the story and finished it at 9am before a 10am deadline.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

A reviewer

This book was a big disappointment. I am a huge fan of Chuck and this was totally not what I expected from him. It's very repetitive and all the important information about the main character is in the first few pages. Nothing new about him is discovered throughout the rest of the book. If you're into bad books, be my guest but if you're looking for a good read or am a fan of Chuck's, please spare yourself the disappointment and wasting money.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

A reviewer

Rant is one of Chuck's worst books. I am glad I got it from the libary and did not buy it. I am a fan of Chucks, but this books was not well written (errors all over the place) and had no plot. Every voice is the book was the same. Everyone was a redneck 'who could not talk' even the the people he claimed had PHD's. There's however are a few funny parts, but like his other books, they are really just sick and stupid. More sick than stupid. Thing is, Chucks fan's for the most part will love anything he writes. If it has his name of it, it must be gold they think. This book however is not gold. His other books are much better, but who I am kidding, no one cares about his material anymore. I will give him lots of credit for being true to his fans, but at some point, he has to come up with something new. Plus, lets face the facts, reading 'the dude' who wrote the book for the movie fight club seems cool. And without 'fight club' the movie, not the book, I would not care about Chuck and neither would you.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Great re-introduction to Palahniuk

It has been quite awhile since I last picked up a Palahniuk book. This was an engrossing, interesting, fascinating read. I am glad that CP abandoned the repetitive archetype he had been relying on to fuel earlier work.

Excellent!

One of my favorite Palahniuk books! Palahniuk always a has good twist in his books, but this one has been my favorite so far. The style is a lot of with everyone who knew "Rant" telling their own story of the interaction and the meaning the got from. Interweaving these stories together in the an Oral Biography just make the read so much more fun and different from anything I've read lately. Good for diehard Palahniuk fans or someone giving him their first try.

In the top 3

Ranks on up there with fight club and choke (two of my favorites). It's cool to finally have one of the great social commentators/satirists finally create a society of his own. Starts a little slow with a couple what are they talking moments (boosted peaks, party crashing). But picks up the pace. If you can try an get the audio, it's read by full cast and adds a lot more personality to characters.

Really, one of his best

I absolutely loved this book. The story is so completely awesome and amazing. Quirky in the way that only Palahniuk can do, and even then he barely pulls it off.

Almost a classic

With Rant, the author creates compelling character work, very believable mythology and a gleefully demented view of the future. The novel's first act plays like a mass eulogy for a likeable weirdo, then transitons to very poignant and relevant social commentary for the second act. Unfortunately, the tale comes completely off the rails with its misguided rumimations on immortality and time travel. The story is entertaining overall, but loses me in its final act. Such a shame to have two thirds of a brilliant novel ruined by a confusing third act.

Great Book

Reads like a video interview, nice format

By far, my favorite Palahniuk book...

I loved this book. Chuck Plahniuk commits to writing an oral biography for a story only he could pull off. This book will engage you from the start and take you for a ride. I wish every book he wrote was an oral biography.

Unlike Any other.

Rant, a book unlike any other! When reading this i was completely astounded by the way this book was put together, it was very interesting, the facts and characters all together gave it an different vibe. Once i began reading this book, i couldn't put it down. All through classes i'd stop just to continue where i had left off. Many turns and fictional outlooks, so don't expect it to be what you think.

Rant kept me smiling and itching for more, it was very distinct and original plot, i promise you there is no other book similar, in the slightest bit, Party Crashing truly influenced my view on things, and the things i learned, along with any other Chuck Palahniuk book, were so very intruiging. I recommend this book immensly, to those who engulf themselves in novels with biographical features, along with Snuff, and Choke. This novel was truly captivating and i assure you anyone who appreciates literature will love it.

I read this 6 months ago and I still think about it

I read this book 6 months ago and I am still thinking about it. It was such an interesting read. I really enjoyed the format that it was written in. At first it was hard keeping all of the names straight, but you get to feel like you've actually been doing the interviews. How he is able to make each character so different in how they 'talk' just astounds me, you really feel their mannerisms. I plan on reading this again after I read a few more books by Chuck. I love this book.

WOW

If you want a book unlike any other you've ever read, I reccommend this one. As you're reading you just can't get enough of the characters, you want to know then, be their friend, be their enemy, get inside their head. Once you reach the end, everything will make sence.

Chuck the Great

Another great work of fiction... Not my favorite Chuck book, but a good read...

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Original, histerical, and impressive.

Palahniuk's writing style never ceases to impress me. He takes on the persona of dozens of seperate characters with completely different personalities in this fictional oral biography, and does it flawlessly. Its one of the few books I can read more than once and still enjoy it. Chuck finds was to slip in forshadowing phrases from the beginning of the book that go unnoticed until the last few chapters where it all comes together. I would reccomend this book to everyone unless you like a romantic love story. It's pretty revolting at times.

so so

Similar in content to other CP works, but disjointed (by design), and not very memorable.

'This Is How Church Should Feel'

I'd like you to meet Buster 'Rant' Casey, his hobbies include collecting poisons spiders, sticking limbs down holes waiting for mysterious animals to bite him, trading millions of dollars worth of coins for teeth, playing an underground demolition derby game known as 'Party-Crashing', and spreading rabies one kiss at a time. However, Rant has died in a fiery blaze of an car accident...or has he...So in other words I'd like you to meet Buster 'Rant' Casey, whose life is told to you by the people whose lives he's touch either directly or indirectly.

Another Great One From Palahniuk

This was an extremely original and fascinating book. I enjoyed the twisted imagination of Mr. Palahniuk for now the second time, the first being the classic Fight Club. I don't own any of his other books yet, but I'm thinking of getting Choke next.

SPOILER ALERT!!! Anyway, this book is about a man considered one of the worst serial killers ever known, but it's like nothing you'd think just from hearing that. He, in fact, basically gets his thrills from animal bites and spreads rabies like wildfire. He starts off in a smaller town, but moves into the city and takes part in what's called Party Crashing; essentially a city wide version of bumper cars. There are a lot of twists and turns in the book that I don't want to give away here, and while it may not sound like the most interesting book immediately upon reading this review, trust me that it is a good book. If you have read and agreed with any of my other reviews, you will agree with this one.

My Favorite

Chuck Palahnuik is my favorite author of all times, but he is so much more than just an author. This book is a clear depiction of how original and unique he truly is. Rant is my favorite Palahnuik book and I have read all of them. He uses a writing style i've never seen him use that really keeps you interesting throughout the entire book. Some people may find it hard to get into it because of it but in the end you will want to re-read it over and over. It's the kind of book, whose ideas you will find yourself using in conversations with anyone and everyone you can. If you only read one book this summer, it should be this one.