Haunted | Guy Portman's Blog

My Book Prizes Must Be Won

Mar 16 2018

I am excited to announce that my prize draw starts today. As I am an avid writer and reader of dark humour, I have opted for prizes that reflect this.

1st PRIZE: A rare, signed, flawless, first edition, hardback copy of Haunted (2005) by Chuck Palahniuk (Worth: £122.21/$170.70). Haunted is one of the most provocative and controversial works of fiction ever written.

Two Lucky Runners-Up will receive the following three darkly humorous books, all of which I highly recommend. Post Office by Charles Bukowski, The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka and Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach.

To enter all you have to do is sign up to my humorous, monthly, book-related newsletter. Click on this link to enter – MY PRIZE DRAW

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Good luck!

Terms & Conditions: The contest’s duration is 16/03/18 – 15/04/18. Entries close at midnight GMT. Prizes will be sent by recorded/special delivery. Participants from any country are eligible. The runners-up prizes are new paperbacks sourced from Amazon. Winners will be selected at random using a random number generator. Winners will be informed by email on the 16/04/18. Subscribers can unsubscribe to my book-related newsletter at any time. All queries should be sent to info@guyportman.com

About me.

Chuck Palahniuk

Aug 28 2015

Did you know that Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club (the book not the film) was published 19 years ago this month? I inadvertently discovered this whilst online yesterday. I am marking the anniversary of the release of Fight Club by dedicating this week’s blog post to Chuck Palahniuk’s books.

(Born: February 21st 1962)

I have read and reviewed 7 of this iconic transgressive author’s works. The following books are presented in the order in which they were published.

Fight Club

The book’s narrator becomes friends with an anarchist by the name of Tyler Durden. The duo form a fight club, which meets every Sunday in basements and car lots.

My Review: The protagonist, who remains nameless, is an insomniac leading a bland corporate existence, investigating accidents for a car company, whose only concern is profit. (More)

My Rating: Excellent

Invisible Monsters

An accident leaves a model horribly disfigured and incapable of coherent speech. Whilst in hospital she meets Brandy Alexander. Their ensuing cross-country trip concludes with a surprising revelation.

My Review: Shannon McFarland is a catwalk model, who is the centre of attention wherever she goes. That is until she ‘accidentally’ blasts her jaw shot off with a gun … (More)

My Rating: Average

Choke

Choke is in essence a social commentary about our innate craving for attention. Protagonist Victor is a victim of the selfish motivations at the very root of modern American society.

My Review: The protagonist, Victor Mancini, is a sex addict employed at an eighteenth-century historical re-enactment park. Victor attends various sexual addiction support groups, where he meets … (More)

My Rating: Average

Haunted

In this harrowing and provocative set of short stories, Palahniuk skilfully explores a variety of themes, in addition to dispensing intelligent commentary on the human psyche.

My Review: Haunted is about a group of writers, who have been assembled by the conniving Mr Whittier to attend a writers group. The location of the retreat …(More)

My Rating: Good/Disturbing

Rant

Rant challenges our own traditions by demonstrating how we contort our recollection of events in accordance with our desires, motives and beliefs. There are obvious parallels with the gospels.

My Review: Rant is the oral history of Buster ‘Rant’ Casey, recounted by an array of people including his relations, friends, enemies and lovers. Rant’s childhood companions from … (More)

My Rating: Quite good but convoluted

Damned

Damned is a satire of hell. Written in a lighthearted style, the book is punctuated with comical details, pop-culture references and Theological irony. Palahniuk’s vivid imagination is on display throughout.

My Review: The protagonist is thirteen-year-old Madison, the daughter of wealthy alternative parents. The privileged Madison studies at an exclusive Swiss boarding school and spends her holidays alternating … (More)

My Rating: Good

Doomed

After escaping from Hell Madison Spencer (protagonist of Damned) is forced to spend a year languishing on Earth as a ghost. In her absence Madison has spawned a religion, Boorism.

My Review: Doomed is the sequel to Damned and part two of a proposed Dante inspired trilogy. It sees the return of Damned’s protagonist – the plucky, post-life, plump, periphrastic, … (More)

My Rating: Bad

My Top 5 Most Disturbing Books

Aug 22 2014

This week’s post is dedicated to the top five most disturbing books I have ever read.

5 – Lolita

Nabokov’s ornate masterpiece is about a man’s (Humbert Humbert) infatuation with a twelve-year-old girl. Lolita was regarded as so scandalous that it was rejected by a number of major publishers before its publication in 1955. If you don’t find the subject matter of Lolita disturbing, it would probably be advisable to keep it to yourself.

My Review: The protagonist, Humbert Humbert, is an intellectual with an all-consuming craving for young girls, or nymphets as he refers to them. After his wife leaves him for … (More)

4 – Less Than Zero

Less Than Zero is about a privileged group of L.A. youngsters, who appear on the surface to have an idealistic life, but in reality live unrewarding and superficial existences. Though less violent and graphic than the author’s seminal work, American Psycho, Less Than Zero’s unrelenting bleakness is deeply disturbing, at least in this reader’s opinion.

My Review: Set in nineteen-eighties Los Angeles, the story follows eighteen-year-old Clay, returned home for Christmas from college in New Hampshire. Clay immediately falls back into the L.A. social scene, … (More)

3 – Haunted

Haunted is a series of short stories, in which the author succeeds in not only amusing, horrifying and disgusting his readers, but also skilfully exploring a variety of themes. One of the short stories ‘Guts’, a tale of violent accidents involving masturbation, is so harrowing that during a 2003 reading by the author, it was reported that over thirty-five people fainted.

My Review: Haunted is about a group of writers, who have been assembled by the conniving Mr Whittier to attend a writers group. The location of the retreat is in an isolated theatre with no access to the outside … (More)

2 – American Psycho

American Psycho is a satire of the yuppies culture of the 1980s. The book caused outrage when it was published due to its explicit violent and sexual content, as well as its perceived misogynistic elements. American Psycho went on to become a cult classic and one of the most influential books of the nineties.

My Review: American Psycho is a highly controversial novel that brought its young author Bret Easton Ellis instant fame. The book is written from the perspective of a young Wall Street financier, Patrick Bateman … (More)

1 – The Killer Inside Me

The Killer Inside Me

The Killer Inside Me is a thought provoking, suspenseful and unrelentingly bleak first person narrative about a psychopath, in which the author, Jim Thompson, succeeds in engrossing and disturbing the reader through the use of suspense, and realistic, simple prose. It is without doubt the most disturbing work of fiction I have read to date.

My Review: Twenty-nine-year-old Lou Ford is a Deputy Sheriff from the West Texas town of Central City. Lou, who is in a long-term relationship with childhood sweetheart Amy Stanton, … (More)

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