Book Club Monday: Beautiful You by Chuck Palahniuk

Now, before we get started, here is the description of the book:

From the author of Fight Club, the classic portrait of the damaged contemporary male psyche, now comes this novel about the apocalyptic marketing possibilities of a new product that gives new meaning to the term "self-help."

Penny Harrigan is a low-level associate in a big Manhattan law firm with an apartment in Queens and no love life at all. So it comes as a great shock when she finds herself invited to dinner by one C. Linus Maxwell, a software mega-billionaire and lover of the most gorgeous and accomplished women on earth. After dining at Manhattan's most exclusive restaurant, he whisks Penny off to a hotel suite in Paris, where he proceeds, notebook in hand, to bring her to previously undreamed-of heights of gratification for days on end. What's not to like? This: Penny discovers that she is a test subject for the final development of a line of feminine products to be marketed in a nationwide chain of boutiques called Beautiful You. So potent and effective are these devices that women by the millions line up outside the stores on opening day and then lock themselves in their room with them and stop coming out. Except for batteries. Maxwell's plan for battery-powered world domination must be stopped. But how?

I read the entirety of the book in three sittings. Which to some would be disappointing, but to me was great! I got to experience the accomplished feeling of finishing something and got to read a great book at the same time!

As with most of his works, the beginning of the book is a shocker, which leads the reader to wonder how in the hell we wound up here. And, like the wings of a dragonfly, the story begins to wind itself into the twists and turns that brought the two main protagonists together, really, by chance.

Oh, Penny. Poor Penny. She is a simple gal from Omaha with big dreams that took her to New York City to work as a gofer at a law firm until she (finally) passes the bar exam - which, in two tries, has not worked out. In a chance meeting with C. Linus Maxwell (or, Climax-Well, as he is known in the tabloids), she is flung headfirst into what she first thinks is a romance for the ages, but oh was she wrong. (In this portion of the book, I felt like I was reading a step-cousin of Fifty Shades of Grey, for the record.)

C. Linus Maxwell and his company own tabloids, software companies, and pretty well everything under the sun. What Penny doesn't know is that she is about to be used as a guinea pig for a new line of "personal care products" called Beautiful You. And by "personal care products", I mean sex toys. In case there was any confusion. From their first dinner, Maxwell and Penny are thrust into the spotlight, their story unfolding as front page news - mostly in the tabloids that Maxwell owns.

What she doesn't know is that it is part of Maxwell's master plan to not only keep ninety-eight percent of the women of the world under his thumb via repeated orgasms after his Dragonfly product "breaks" inside them, but, with his little black box, feeding sales of ugly shoes and other items into companies that he owns. Add in additional characters such as Maxwell's former lovers; an award-winning actress, and the female President of the United States, for two. And, it would definitely not be complete without the equivalent of a sexual witch doctor, who lives in a caveside in Nepal.

Without giving too much away, I wouldn't call this Chuck's best or worst work. What I would call it is an entertaining read that sits somewhere in the middle. If you like a quick, good book, and also enjoy Chuck's work as much as I do, Beautiful You is a great choice for your next read.

Recap: Chuck Palahniuk's "Adult Bedtime Stories" Tour

Back on the 12th, I went to an event I had been looking forward to for some time, something I had purchased a ticket to immediately after hearing about it! What was it, you ask? Chuck Palahniuk's "Doomed" Tour, or the "Adult Bedtime Stories" tour, also featuring Monica Drake and Chelsea Cain.

I haven't ever been to a book reading before. Signings, sure, but never a reading being done by the author themselves. And since I have the Internet, I've heard that Chuck's readings are can't miss, and he definitely didn't disappoint.

When everyone walked in, they received a beach ball and two glow sticks.

We'd received an e-mail ahead of time with some reminders: namely to wear pajamas, and to bring a Sharpie. I didn't let my mind wander too much, but figured I would find out when I got there, and once I got the beach ball, I put two and two together.

Chelsea Cain took the stage first, and told everyone they had to use the requested Sharpie to write a few words on their balls (literally): an adjective, a noun, a place, a body part, and a number.

A few minutes later, Chuck took the stage. The rest of the night was filled with stories being read by each author (I hadn't ever heard of either of the others, sorry to admit, but it made me want to check out their work for sure). We played some games, listened to some great stories, and almost burned down the University of Milwaukee after a beach ball got stuck in a light fixture. And the words? They were to play an awesome version of Mad Libs at the end of the show.

Without giving too much more away, I will leave that as my explanation, and just say this: if you have the opportunity to see Chuck Palahniuk live, do it. It will truly be an unforgettable experience. Here's some other photos from the night, and if you haven't already, check out Doomed.

             

                   

The Return of Book Club Monday #22: Doomed by Chuck Palahniuk

Let me start off by saying that I don't win things very often - if ever - and I was genuinely surprised by my luck in getting to be one of the first to read Chuck Palahniuk's newest novel (releasing on October 8), Doomed.

When I found the giveaway on Facebook, I applied, not thinking anything of it. A couple of weeks later, I got an e-mail with a UPS MyChoice shipping notification for something from Random House books. I didn't want to get too excited, but when I received the package I knew for sure that I had finally won something from an Internet giveaway - and a pretty cool something at that! A galley (AKA review) copy of Doomed. It's awesome to have something like this to add to my collection.

Onto the good stuff, the review. Let me just preface by saying that this is a companion to Palahniuk's previous work, Damned, and you're gonna want to read that prior to this. Damned was the first story of Madison Spencer, a dead thirteen year old girl and her descent into the afterlife via hell. It chronicled the people she met, things she saw, and you can't forget her confrontation with the devil himself.

Doomed is written in the form of blog posts from the afterlife, or, rather, purgatory. Madison still walks amongst those she left, and they can't see or hear her. In each chapter (or 'post', as it were), she encounters something new, from seeing her dead grandmother's ghost on a trip to her parents' apartment to guiding the reader through the worst summer of her life - and quite possibly the reason she wound up in hell in the first place.

Later, we find out that in no uncertain terms, death was her destiny. Her crazy-as-all-getout parents knew what would happen from the start, and didn't care one way or another what happened to their daughter.

As a reader, the blog post format is actually very easy to read, offering the story in easily digestible pieces. Every now and again another character will chime in with a post of their own, but about 95 percent comes from Madison's point of view.

As with his other novels, Palahniuk hooks the reader very early on with Doomed. I found myself wanting to read a single chapter before bed and before I knew it, it would be a hundred pages and an hour later! Chuck Palahniuk is really a champion amongst authors, and if you've read and enjoyed his other works (yes, even Pygmy), Doomed definitely will not let you down.

Doomed will be released on October 8, 2013 by Doubleday Books, but can be preordered on Amazon here.

Milwaukee was also one of the cities picked for Chuck Palahniuk's 'Adult Bedtime Stories' author tour, and I picked up a ticket not long after hearing about it. Never fear, I'm certain I'll be putting together a recap of that, also!