I haven’t read one of his books in probably seven or eight years. I liked them a lot at the time. Choke, Fight Club, blah blah blah. But his stuff hasn’t been good for a while. I gave this one a shot because the Times said it was “tastelessly hilarious.” Well, the first word was spot on. I didn’t laugh much.
I think reading this made me realize that I need a work of fiction to be rooted in the real world for me to enjoy it. Otherwise it feels like sci-fi, like a lonely dude in a room with a hard-on for Star Wars writing about a battle going on in the Xorlon galaxy between the Gomweds and the Pesiq. Guess what? I don’t care. You just made some stupid shit up. This book takes place mostly in hell, and not surprisingly, I didn’t care. About the characters, the story, anything, really. Sure, there was a funny joke or two, and he certainly makes a good point with one of the central themes (something about Earth only being hellish when you expect it to be like heaven), but was it worth reading?
Nope. Sorry, Chuck. We had a good run.
