About this title: Misty's husband, a carpenter named Peter, is in a coma after a suicide attempt. She herself is an artist who doesn't make art; instead, she's a waitress at the hotel on the beautiful but touristy island where she lives with her preadolescent daughter. Then, oddly, she becomes ill--and starts to paint. And can't stop.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Doubleday
Date Published: 2003
ISBN-13:9780385509473ISBN:0385509472
Description: A wonderful copy with some minor edgewear to the cover. Dust Jacket has some edgewear present. -, Hard Cover, Very Good / Very Good. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Anchor
Date Published: 2004
ISBN-13:9781400032815ISBN:1400032814
Description: Good. Standard used condition. May have light reading or storage wear. All orders processed within 2 business days. Ships from Foxboro MA. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Anchor Books
Date Published: 2004
ISBN-13:9781400032815ISBN:1400032814
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. 260 pp. softcover. Tiny bit of edgewear. Pages are unmarked, binding is very solid, spine is uncreased. read more
Edition: Audio Book edition
Binding: Audiobook (cassette)
Publisher: Books on Tape
Date Published: 2003
ISBN-13:9780736694193ISBN:0736694196
Description: Good in good dust jacket. Former public library copy in plastic hardshell case. Tapes, set case in great condition. Unabridged; Includes ALL 5 tapes, each 1.5 hours, narrated by Martha Plimpton.; DIARY takes the form of a "coma diary" kept by one Misty Tracy Wilmot as her husband lies senseless in a hospital after a suicide attempt. Once she was an art student dreaming of creativity and freedom; now, after marrying Peter and moving back to quaint, but tourist-overrun Waytansea Island, she's ... read more
Edition: First Edition; First Printing
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Doubleday, U. S. A.
Date Published: 2003
ISBN-13:9780385509473ISBN:0385509472
Description: Very Good in Very Good dust jacket. 9780385509473. Small ink checkmark on inside front cover; minor edgewear to dustjacket; 0.6 x 8.3 x 5.7 Inches; 272 pages. read more
"This book didn't hold my attention for very long. I've never read anything else by Chuck Palahniuk, so maybe I just don't understand his style of writing and should give it another try. I felt like the story just wasn't getting anywhere... I prefer page turners that start off interesting and stay that way until the end. This book did not do that."
"Misty Marie Kleinman, a trailer-trash art student whose Thomas Kinkade sensibilities are embarrassingly out of place amid voguish peers intent on high-concept excretory art, falls for a creepy drifter whose home on picturesque Waytansea Island is identical to her own storybook imaginings. The idyll turns sour as the island is overrun with rich summer people, and her husband attempts suicide after desecrating several of their homes with prophetic scrawls. Waiting tables in the local hotel to support her daughter and mother-in-law, washing down aspirin with wine, and anatomizing the seediness of her life in a caustic journal addressed to her comatose spouse, Misty seems to have permanently deferred her dream. Yet she is destined for a strange renaissance. What follows is a blend of paranoiac horror along the lines of Rosemary's Baby and an inventive fable about the uses of art and its relation to suffering and the universal unconscious. Neither plot nor theme is brought to a persuasive conclusion, but the journey is consistently engaging."
"My summary of opinions of this book? So young! So angry!
Anytime you see so many varying opinions of a book, it's worth picking up, even if you'll just be taking part in a literary car accident: you just HAVE to look to see why everyone is slowing down. I'll bet Chuck's airbags went off after this book, but I think it's possible that it's just a fender bender.
I think a lot of Palahniuk's work is like a drunk guy shooting arrows at a bunch of children lined up against a wall with apples on their heads. Will he split the apple occasionally? You bet! But he'll make a gigantic mess doing it.
So, enough stalling. I did like this book. I saw it in an airport on the way to Miami, looked it up online, and saw divergent opinions, so I picked it up. I absolutely do not see this as a horror story, so whoever had that idea needs to be slapped around a bit, but I enjoyed enough of it where I could suggest it to a couple of people.
I liked the continuing discovery of the hidden messages as the book went on, and I also liked the slowly-revealed courthship that you see, too: the last time I saw a family like this that has lost its prestige yet still clings to a name (or island, here) was in James Mitchener's "Chesapeake". I know people like this. It's a perfect match, and described very well, in Palahniuk's signature style. I'd almost like to see him tackle something from life like that, because I think he's be able to grab people and get them reading history.
Ah, but the flaws. Some of this is just absurd. I don't like people that bury themself in foolishness just to spring themselves with a ridiculous twist or plot device. In that way, I thought we got a little "Left Behind" going on, and that is by no means a compliment. Also, the fire at the end? is that the resolution? There's cliches a plenty here, especially if I could find a way to put the accent marks over the word as I type.
I don't know. I suspect that Chuck is turning into the literary equivalent of Dane Cook: a master at marketing himself to a core audience that will eagerly buy what he is selling, and he has occasional flashes of brilliance, but at the core, he's mediocre. Dane Cook has just about exhausted his 15 minutes. Is Palahniuk also a one-trick pony, albeit one greatly assisted by and indebted to David Fincher, Brad Pitt, and Edward Norton?"
"Well, I'm ambivalent about this book (Which seems unusual, judging by the other reviews; it seems to be a "love it or hate it" kind of book).
It takes a few chapters of reading to start to understand who our main characters are here. At first, I wasn't sure if the book would ever start to make sense, but once I had those first few chapters read, an interesting storyline started to emerge. I thought I had the book figured out for awhile, but for me, the book ended the same way it began; with me scratching my head and going "Wait, what?" This could have been a result of sleep deprivation when I read the ending, however. I'm going to have to give it another go later and see if it makes any more sense.
This is the first book by Palahniuk that I've read, and he seems to have quite a way with words. The book is filled with vivid and sometimes disturbing descriptions, making me feel at once like I both knew the main character and felt deeply sorry for her.
There is one device that Palahniuk uses in the book that had me chuckle to myself, though. Many times throughout the book, he uses weather to describe the main character's emotional state. Literally, as in "the weather today is partly angst with a shower of self loathing." (I made that example up but I swear they're all very similar). Every time I came to one of these descriptions, I couldn't help but picture Palahniuk at his computer or typewriter or wherever it is that he writes, looking smug and saying to himself, "This is brilliant!" The mental image amused me."
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