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Snuff

Author: Chuck Palahniuk
Publisher: Doubleday Books
Category: Book

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Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars

4 reviews
Sales Rank: 165052

Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 208
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.8 x 0.9

ISBN: 0385517882
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780385517881
ASIN: 0385517882

Publication Date: May 20, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
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Also Available In:

•	Hardcover - Snuff
•	Audio CD - Snuff
•	Audio CD - Snuff
•	Audio CD - Snuff

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Customer Reviews:

3 out of 5 stars

Crass, crude... but strangely compulsive August 17, 2008
First up, I think Miss Cadaverous' review is fair and well-argued; it's never nice to be disappointed by a favourite author and this is not Chuck's best (that being, for my money, Choke). However, I do feel that Snuff merits a more positive review, for a number of reasons. One, this book takes a graphic look at the sad and seedy world of pornography and yet it is hardly pornographic. For that alone it should be applauded. Telling the story through the eyes of three men waiting to have sex with legendary porn queen Cassie Wright, Palahniuk instead casts an objective but not entirely unsympathetic eye over the key players in this multi-million pound industry and carefully picks apart their motives. Secondly, it is funny - in places. I mean, how can you not laugh at a washed-up porn 'dinosaur' named Branch Bacardi failing to recognise himself in one of his own movies? And just because you can see a joke coming, it doesn't mean it's not funny. Thirdly, at under 200 pages, it is a suitably swift read. For those criticizing Snuff for being short, it might be worth considering that this was a deliberate move on the author's behalf, as some people have better things to be doing than sitting around all day reading low-brow, 'trash-lit' like this...

In all seriousness, though, I think the problem with Palahniuk's books now is that readers - especially long-time fans - are so used to his style that they have become slightly blase in their dismissal of his 'shock tactics' and factoid-ridden narrative. But you should know better by now than to go to a Chuck novel if you want heavily complex plots and lengthy, descriptive sentences. There is still genius at work here, however. There are thought-provoking ideas aplenty - if you're willing to indulge - about free will, the extended influence of pornography in today's society and so on. And if you're not, well, at the very least, you get a few cheap laughs at the multitude of porn-movie puns the author has come up with.

Matt Pucci

3 out of 5 stars

funny ha ha August 15, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful

a one line joke stretched to 200 odd pages. Really, how many porno titles can you come up with taking the title of a normal film and putting a spin on it? Some interesting stuff about cyanide, but as is increasingly the case the characterisation is not existant and all saccrificed for the sake of a laugh. Chuck must have done this in about ten days. maybe the jokes on us.

2 out of 5 stars

Three things to know before buying August 14, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful

1. This is a very short novella (the text is printed in big type to make for more pages), you'll read it in an hour or so.

2. Once the paper seal is removed the book cover is pornographic. You won't be able to read this on the train, in the office, or whilst your children are around.

3. The 'story' doesn't even start to measure up to the author's earlier stuff. In comparison to books like Invisible Monsters or Survivor this book is very, very weak. There are no skewed ideas to play with, or off the wall revelations to ponder. Even without comparison to earlier books the principles of this short story are 10 years too late to be edgy.

Very disappointing all-round.

3 out of 5 stars

Disappointed August 10, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

Chuck Palahniuk is my favourite writer, I have all his books and love them, so when 'Snuff' was finally released in UK I had to buy it straight away. I read it all in one night over a few hours and was so disappointed by it. Usually when I read one of his books I'm left thinking about it for hours, and just "wow" about what I've just read, but this, I doubt I'll read it again.

Some aspects of it were interesting, and well written, but overall, the story just lacks something. When it ends you're left feeling "is that it?".

So, to anyone thinking of reading some of Palahniuk's work, don't read 'Snuff' first, go for 'Survivor', 'Invisible Monsters' or 'Fight Club'; all masterpieces that will deffinately please you.