| “Snuff” by Chuck Palahniuk is a book about an aging porn actress named Caddie Wright who wants to break the world record for the number of men that she has sex with in one day. (Her goal is 600.) The story line is moved forward by a few of the men who are waiting in line for their few minutes of infamy with Ms. Wright. The chapters are thus from the point of view of each of these men and are appropriately called Mr. 72 or Mr. 137—for example. A few of the men that are waiting have a history with Ms. Wright and the reader is lead to believe that one will kill her. |
It took me a while to get used to the disjointed writing that Mr. Palahniuk has put forth with this book. The shifting point of view is also very disconcerting for at least a third of the book. After that, you do get the idea and understand what is going on. In the first third of the book, you read passages that are the same, but are from the point of view of different Misters in the queue and really don’t get it. (At least, I did not get it.)
I was disappointed with this book. I thought the story line was awful. I thought the characters lacked depth. I thought the premise was boring and trite and like a porn film, it had no plot or intrigue. This book was recommended to me by a friend who had read some other works by the same author. Honestly, I wish he had not recommended it and I had kept my money. Stay away.
