diary by chuck palahniuk

rating:

97%

synopsis:

misty marie wilmot, once an aspiring artist, now lives on a resort island plagued by apathetic visitors working as a waitress. after an accident leaves her husband in a coma, she is left to raise her daughter mostly on her own - her only help is her mother-in-law, whose shady behavior leaves misty constantly questioning the old woman's motives. misty begins receiving calls from her husband's former customers, who all claim that he has done severe (and disturbing) damage to their homes while hired to do carpentry work. when she investigates these instances, she finds secrets about her own identity and purpose in life that lead her to realize that she is not in control of herself. she must learn as much as she can about the resort island and its wealthy inhabitants if she wants to take control of her own destiny.

positive:

the author pulls out all stops to present a unique, powerful, and timeless story. his form is at its most graceful and unforgiving in this piece - just as he finds a vein that the reader can comfortably settle into, he introduces a new branch that changes the entire dynamic of the story. nearly every facet of the book is fascinating; nearly every chapter leaves the reader both satisfied having uncovered another clue dealing with misty's fate and mesmerized at the new mysteries the clue itself uncovers.

negative:

this novel describes itself as being misty's diary, but this notion is counteracted by the author writing the prose in third-person. (i think the reasoning behind this may be explained somewhere in the book, but the explanation doesn't validate the author's actions.)

all in all:

this book eventually became one of my favorite books of all time, though the first couple of chapters did little to win me over. with some time, though, my opinion shifted dramatically. chuck's vision of the supernatural is one of my favorites and this is a shining example. his style is hypnotic and haunting, simple yet profound; he is one of the greatest modern writers. if you haven't read this book, do it. seriously.

vocabulary:

anchoress, n
female religious hermit; synonym: recluse

quotation:

"leonardo's mona lisa is just a thousand thousand smears of paint. michelangelo's david is just a million hits with a hammer. we're all of us a million bits put together the right way."

see also: the google art project

available here: purchase from amazon