Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk

Survivor, written by Chuck Palahniuk, is a novel that took me completely by surprise. The story begins with the last remaining survivor, Tender Branson, of a mass suicide cult speaking into the flight recorder of a commercial jet he has recently hijacked. Sitting in the cockpit of the plane, he details how he will ride the plane dry of fuel and crash it into the Australian outback. However, before that happens, he reveals the truth about his twisted, perverted life. This particular novel, much like Palahniuk’s other novels, achieves an aura of tension and bitterness through the distinct writing style and themes acquired by the genius author. Overall, the book creates a nonstop series of events that forces unease, although not unbearably so, upon its reader. This story of a man who grew up with someone always telling him what to do and how to do it moves the reader and makes him or her feel genuinely bad for everything that happens in the novel. With Chuck Palahniuk’s style of writing, depressing and down achieves a whole new level of satisfaction. Of course, this review makes the book out to be a major disappointment, but I assure you it is not. - Dane B., class of 2012