Diary: A Novel Reviews

• It really is that bad

  
  By A24DCJE05N8DU1 on 2004-01-11
  For those browsing through all of these reviews here and looking at the surprising number of poor reviews for it, I just wanted to post a quick review to add my agreement that this is easily Chuck's worst book and also probably one of the worst books I've ever read.

  Please understand that I am a huge fan of Chuck Palahniuk. I live in the Portland area and never miss him when I have a chance to go and see him talk and sign, and I have read all of his books. My favorites are Fight Club, Survivor, Fugitives And Refugees and Lullaby...I'm not a huge fan of Invisible Monsters or Choke but they both have their unique charms and are entirely readable. He's a talented writer and an all-around great guy, but if this book had been his first then nobody would know who he was. In fact, I would go so far as to say he never would have been published.

  This book, from start to finish, is BARELY readable. Just to make it as straightforward as possible, I'll organize my major problems with the book point by point...(It's worth noting that the remainder of this review contains very minor spoilers...I'll keep them as light as possible)

  -The book is really poorly organized. While I do appreciate an author's need to try different things and push the boundaries of their craft, Diary turns out to be a case study in why your Fiction Writing 101 teacher told you to never, ever change perspective mid-story. Once you have a perspective established, you stick to it. From sentence to sentence (for the first 3/4 of the book, anyway, a point at which Chuck seems to forget about what he was trying to do or just stops caring, and switches almost entirely to 3rd person), perspective changes back and forth...often, statements are repeated to the point of redundancy from different perspectives. It makes for a fairly jarring (and boring) reading experience.

  -I got the impression several times that Chuck was trying to tell two stories at the same time, and the result is a confusing mess. On the one hand, we have the very genuine mourning and depression of Misty Marie, who is trying to recover from some very serious traumatic events that happened off-stage before the start of the book. On the other, we have the absolutely ridiculous "fairy tale" aspect of Waytansea island. The theme of both of these stories clashes horribly, never really meshing and never really working.

  -Speaking of the fairy tale bits...these tend to dominate the latter half of the book. Chuck stretches way, way beyond reasonable expectations for the reader to suspend disbelief. When you finally get to the point of the book when the revelations begin to trickle down, and the protagonist tries desperately to fight against what's happening to her, you'll be saying "Give me a break!" more often than you'd probably like. Virtually everything that happens once we get into the climax doesn't make any sense at all. I am sorely tempted to point out specific examples, so ridiculous, unbelievable and poorly constructed/thought-out are the climactic events of the book, but I hate heavy spoilers in reviews so I'll restrain myself.

  -The ending. THE ENDING. The last five or ten pages of this book, ESPECIALLY the last page, has got to be the dumbest, most derivative ending I've ever sat through. What a COP-OUT!!! I'll just say this: if you DO pick up this book, you're going to go through it hoping that, on some level, Palahniuk is going to deliver at some point...turn things around. All you will feel after reading that incredibly stupid final page will be disappointment, frustration and anger at yourself for sticking with it for no reason. There ain't no pay-off, folks!

  What isn't a confusing mess or a bizarre and stupid "curse" story is paint-by-numbers Palahniuk that any one of his fans could throw together without any help from the author. You've got your heavily repeated statements to drive his point home. His over-eagerness to share useless trivia he acquired while researching the book. His fragmented sentences and overly short chapter breaks. All things that are charming and amusing in his other books, but here they feel forced and pointless. It's almost as though Palahniuk is satirizing himself.

  In short, what we have here is easily the worst of Palahniuk books, and also one of the lamest ducks in modern American literature. If you're a Palahniuk fan, you've probably already read it and drawn your conclusions. If you've never read him before, or you aren't a fan of the man's entire catalog, avoid at all costs! ANY of Palahniuk's other work stands head and shoulders above this drudgery!
  
  

• THE SURVIVAL OF WAYTANSEA ISLAND

  
  By A3CH1KT8XQE8SA on 2003-09-16
  While Misty's husband lies in a coma after a failed suicide attempt she writes a diary. But this isn't any ordinary diary of mundane daily events; it is rather a plunge into Palahniuk's world of fantasy, science fiction, and horror. This diary details the struggle of Misty's understanding of the unworldly events surrounding Waytansea Island. It is a world were everyone is telling her lies to keep her in the dark, but she knows something is fishy. Rich tourists are invading the island and making the locals dependent on their money. The tourists bring all the ills of society with them: pollution, corporate advertising, and a general decline in the standard of living. Misty finds out that her husband had been living a life of vandalism and violence directed towards the tourists that she was unaware. Rooms inside houses have suddenly disappeared and violent messages have been spray-painted along the walls. As Misty attempts to uncover the truth she realizes that she is in the center of the entire conspiracy.

  DIARY is full of Palahniuk's signature style of social commentary. This time his literary guns are being directed towards the waste and destruction of upper class society. This is what his readers have come to expect. But unlike his other books, the prose in DIARY suffers from repetition that fails to add any anything to the plot. Palahniuk's constant usage of verbiage such as, "just for the record" and "the weather today is..." was distracting and a tad annoying. While the plot had some interesting aspects, its general nature appears to be outworn and old.

  This book was far from being addictive, and I have enjoyed other Palahniuk's books better than DIARY.
  
  

• Chuck, Chuck Palahniuk, Wrote a Book and It Did S*ck

  
  By AH3P7WBD18OZG on 2006-07-10
  July 9
  
  Today, the reader from Harrisburg finished Chuck's novel "Diary." The novel that never really convinced him was a diary, as it never stooped to that convention of writing in the first person. He read the awkward switching from third person to second person in Chuck's novel.
  
  Your novel, Chuck.
  
  Apparently, you are in some sort of ironic writer's coma. He is. You are. See how disconcerting this can be, carried out over 250 plus pages of his novel?
  
  Your novel, Chuck?
  
  If you removed all the third-to-second person clarification prose, this job drops an easy 50 pages. Take out all the adipose ramblings of subcutaneous fat and musculataure, which begin cute and end tedious, maybe we're down to a tight novella, Chuck. You are. He is.
  
  In the middle, his novel picks up something resembling dramatic steam. He stayed the impulse to throw the book aside, half-read, Chuck. Your reader, the guy from Harrisburg. But nothing too awfully surprising happens on Waytansea Island. He, your reader, just waits and sees that you have some clever almost Nietzschean idea of eternal return and artistic hell. Did he, I mean you, Chuck, the writer of this poorly executed novel, intend some statement about artistic sacrifice? Or did he, you, I mean, intend just a good read? Because on the latter you failed, and on the former, you failed, and about the best I can summon is that you meant well, and you aren't Danielle Steele or that basic ilk.
  
  My impression was that in picking up a Palahniuk novel, my first Palahniuk novel, his first Palahniuk novel -- your novel, Chuck -- I'd find crisp writing, challenging plot developments, and a refreshing, even bracing worldview.
  
  Instead, he found a tendency to repeat phrases about "What you don't understand you can make mean anything" and suchlike drivel. Why didn't he simply say "What I couldn't write, maybe you can just go think up and attribute to me?"
  
  Why didn't you, Chuck?
  
  Because his characters never come alive. They seem like exercises best left in notebooks.
  
  Your characters, Chuck. Misty, Peter, Tabbi, Grace. Harrow. Angel. Oh, I can name them, but ask me again in a week. Ask him again, and he'll have forgotten them. He will. I will. Me. The reader. Remember the reader, Chuck? Chuck, that rhymes with "buck," that comes from movie rights to half-hearted attempts to replicate the vigor of "Fight Club?"
  
  Caveat emptor. No more will I read his novels. Your novels, Chuck. Even if you awake from your coma to read my diary of your "Diary." His "Diary." Your sloppily written, flimsy dreck that should only garner one Amazon star but for the fact that worse writing does exist, sadly.
  
  When he finished your book, Chuck, the reader from Harrisburg threw it aside and took a nap. The nap was good, at least. Later, he wrote a review on Amazon. About your book. I did. About your book. Blecch.
  
  

• This is Their Shared Coma

  
  By A2B9Y0WXNSN17U on 2005-11-16
  Chuck Palahniuk has a knack for exploring the dark, dirty secrets of supposedly regular folks. This book is not as scary as its cover blurb would have you believe, but it definitely carries a pretty disturbing undercurrent of social paranoia and creeping madness. Washed-up housewife Misty Marie, once a promising artist, is doomed to live out the tortured destiny that has been decided for her by others. Her artistic talent is a tool in a strange supernatural game played out by the so-called upscale residents of a closeted community called Waytansea Island, who every hundred years or so conspire to rid their town of tourists and restore their old money status, through an evil game of mass murder and recrimination. The book is constructed as a diary supposedly written by Misty Marie, but maybe it is really the diary of her predecessor victim from a hundred years ago, while Misty tries to escape this prescribed destiny. This is a mostly fascinating and disturbing story, but Palahniuk's utilization of creeping dread and paranoia in the narrative gets coarse and monotonous as the book goes along, while he leaves the supernatural roots of the Waytansea conspiracy vague and pretty unsatisfying for the reader. Meanwhile, his motif of inbred human evil, lurking beneath a lovely small town, was done to death by Stephen King a couple of decades ago. This is still a good read, but it's not quite a landmark for horror or for Palahniuk. [~doomsdayer520~]
  
  

• Could've been so beautiful...

  
  By A2RSHWB4T4NEYL on 2005-10-14
  Based on my enjoyment level of the movie "Fight Club", I have now...endured isn't the right word, suffered definitely isn't the right word, but 'been thoroughly enraptured' does not apply either...read two other books by Palahniuk that fell a bit short of my expectations ("Lullaby" being the other one). "Diary" is kind of an interesting concept, but it's borderline cheesy, to the point where I wouldn't be surprised if Paris Hilton played a supporting role in the film version.
  
  So, getting to the actual story. What we have here is basically a haunted island. This Misty Marie chick is the "chosen one" to save the inhabitants, who are basically a country club version of a voodoo cannibalistic/animalist primitive society. Chuck does a good job of revealing the plot slowly and thereby building some suspense. And it's got just a pinch of believability, so that's kind of fun. BUT, he totally kills off the good vibe with his repetetive story-telling style that is intended to be fresh/different, but really just makes you wish you could punch him.
  
  So, it's saying alot that I liked the book enough to give it three stars despite the fact that I imagined punching the author approximately 247 times throughout the course of this book. "The weather today is..." annoying (despite the promise of sunshine later).
  
  
• Not Chuck's best, but still very good
  By A17RIBRXHXRH91 on 2003-09-08
  Overall, Diary was very good. However, it was somewhat disappointing considering the masterpieces Palahniuk has written in the past. Obviously, it was infinitely better than Laura Miller said it was in her scathing salon.com review (look at me, I write for salon.com and can say whatever I want even if it's not true at all). While I would recommend the book to a fan of Palahniuk, it surely wouldn't be the first I'd recommend to someone who hadn't read him (that would be Survivor or Fight Club, of course).

  For the first 38 pages or so, I was completely lost. I had no idea what was going on. Then in a few pages all the basic things are explained. I then reread the first 38 pages again and everything made perfect sense. I don't know why it was written like this, perhaps so you pay attention to the atmosphere and details, instead of merely absorbing plot details (like that's ever a problem with one of Palahniuk's books), and while these opening pages were well written and filled with great stuff, it was still annoying, even if in the end it led to a greater appreciation. I didn't care for the supernatural stuff, and the repetition stuff seemed especially repetitive, without being as insightful as in previous books. The ideas on where we get our inspiration were very interesting, but that's about it.

  I found the use of the 2nd person to be refreshing, although I don't know how women readers would like this, since "you" are a comatose male (this is revealed shortly after page 38, so it's not a spoiler, and knowing that makes the first 38 pages much more intelligible on the first read). It's not until the very last page that all the pieces of Palahniuk's idea are revealed, and I think while his execution is less than perfect (but still very good), you have to appreciate the completeness to which the idea was used and executed.

  Diary is a very good book that I recommend. I rate it near Invisible Monsters, Lullaby, somewhere below Survivor and Fight Club, but above Choke.
  
  

• I wish I had the option of giving this book ZERO stars
  By A3QSE6XSXO5VO on 2003-10-29
  This is by far the WORST book I've read in a long, long, long time. I honestly am not trying to be a naysayer. I am not trolling or writing a bad review of Palahniuk's "Diary" because I enjoy spreading misery and negativity. I don't. I came into this novel with little to no expectations. I enjoyed the movie adaptation of "Fight Club," and so figured that I would give Palahniuk a shot when I saw "Diary" at my local library. Don't get me wrong, the novel started out interestingly enough, but the thing began to unravel around the halfway point, strained by too much hapless coincidence, too many deus ex machinas, and, let's face it, the lack of a truly compelling story. Thereon it gets worse. Characters that had some tiny bit of dimensionality quickly became static, 2 dimensional horror / mystery novel cliches. The entire last half of the novel simply reeked of "Rosemary's Baby," but far, far less interesting and esoteric.
  I honestly can't believe a publisher touched this manuscript, let alone published it. Mr. Palahniuk should be be fined exorbitantly for doing such a disservice to not only the horror / mystery genre, but to the art of novels as a whole! It certainly seems that he has succumbed to the dreaded disease of Stephen-King-itis, the major symptom being the belief that because of one's mainstream celebrity, one can write the most pure and undiluted slop and expect the reading public to eat it up unquestioningly.
  Unfortunately, based on some of the reviews I've read concerning this book on amazon.com, it seems that the reading public DOES eat up this slop, and praise it as genius on top of that!, which cyclically feeds the fire and results in the production of even more slop.
  End this vicious cycle! Steer clear from this book!
  
  
• Surprisingly Pointless
  By A2WBS75Z46APGA on 2003-11-05
  Chuck can usually make even the most derivative plot cliches seem fresh (a poem that kills people when you read it out loud, anyone?), and his sharp, acerbic writing style more than masks his thin plotting, but Diary is uninspired and pointless. Gone is his astute social commentary, gone is the wit and humor, gone are the twisty plot developments. All we have left here are a few undeveloped ideas and a story that goes nowhere interesting. It reads like Stephen King during his alcoholic phase and doesn't even bother to build to a climax. If you want a recommendation, read Lullaby instead, which at least went for broke in its bleak nihilism and had more than a few moments of inspired brilliance.
  
  
• It's getting old
  By A1H0JBFEY1ON6K on 2005-01-11
  I'm going to keep this brief and just put down the most important things that I feel made this book a total clunker.
  
  1.) The little repetition thing was kind of cute and quirky the first time you read a Palahniuk book. By now, it's just become ridiculous. It takes an almost superhuman effort not to roll your eyes each time you see "Just for the record" and "The weather today is..." The weather today is hackneyed with a strong chance of pretentions drivel.
  
  2.) The book's protagonist is either a total moron, or Pahlaniuk forgot he was writing this book from her point of view. Misty seems to hear all of these important details that would, in any real human being, arouse suspicion. We know that she hears these details because she records them in her diary, that is, the novel itself. But she rarely, if ever, seems to ponder what she's heard or how strange the townspeople seem to be acting.
  
  She's also quite whiney, with sentence after sentence of "Poor me." I wasn't expecting overblown heroic qualities in a Palahniuk protagonist, but honestly, I was hoping she would hurry up and die or stop writing in her diary. Either one would do.
  
  4.) This is the last one and it's kind of a spoiler in some ways, but not too much of one. You might think that the last page of the book offers an interesting twist to the story, right? Nah. You know what it really does? It gives Palahniuk a tongue-in-cheek way of suggesting that anyone who criticizes this book is evil. Because of course, we WANT this book to be read by as many people as possible, right? It's only the right thing to do. So to reveal it for what it is must mean that you're one of the bad people trying to... Well, you know if you've read the book.
  
  Skip this one. Read Survivor or Fight Club.
  
  
• Can You Feel This?
  By A8KWKXQDA9IN7 on 2003-08-31
  Grace says, "We all die." She says, "The goal isn't to live forever, the goal is to create something that will."

  From my personal favorate writer and my own personal savior, Chuck Palahniuk, comes his sixth novel. Although I wouldn't consider this his finest by a mile, it's still a very well-crafted and intriguing book. The plot follows a middle-aged woman who after the failed suicide attempt and coma of her husband, must work tables to support her daughter and mother-in-law. Strangely enough she keeps getting calls from people whose vacation homes have been altered by her husband. These home are missing rooms, blocked off, hidden. When she goes to investigate, these rooms are filled with startling messages from her husband. The island she so peacefully lives on also starts to change and her mother-in-law and daughter both seem to be acting very suspicious.

  The novel is written in a very unique way also. It's written in the form of a coma diary. A diary from the main character to her husband for him to read if he ever comes out of his coma. Like all Palahniuk novels, Diary is written in a very dark mood. I did feel that the novel was a little "lighter" than most his work. Though still very dark. The one thing that attracts me to Palahniuk's work is that he is very insightful on our society. Many times while reading one of his novels including Diary, I find myself reading a phrase again, awed at the substance that I'm taking in.

  If your a Palahniuk fan, it's safe to say you won't be disappointed with Diary. It's definately a different approach by him, but still very much his style. I felt it seemed somewhat slow in the beginning of the book through the first several chapters, this is just to build-up the plot though. Once the build-up is past, the rest of the novel speeds by. Once I pick up a Palahniuk novel I find myself unable to let it down. Which is why I read them so fast. To anyone new to Palahniuk I would probably recommend reading one of his earlier novels first like "Choke" or "Invisible Monsters," and of course Palahniuk's immortal "Fight Club." And if you enjoy any of those, it's just a matter of time before you read all of his work.
  
  

• No one writes addicting books like Chuck Palahniuk
  By AZW4K59K4QWZ8 on 2003-09-06
  Like many people, I was introduced to Chuck Palahniuk's work through the movie adaptation of "Fight Club," one of his earlier novels. I eagerly read that book and the other two available at the time, "Survivor" and "Invisible Monsters," and I loved them all. I've read every book he's released since then, and they've all been intense page-turners.

  It seems, though, that Palahniuk has been getting a bit more mystical and fatalistic with time, and nowhere is this more apparent than in "Diary." This is the main complaint I have with the book, as it seems to have lost a lot of the relevant social commentary that made his earlier novels so gratifying. It's still an entertaining read and certainly worth the price of admission, but if you've never read his work before, read "Survivor" or "Choke" instead. Those are the better of his novels so far.

  I still consider Palahniuk one of the most important and relevant authors of our time, and all his books are excellent, but unfortunately this is the weakest of them.
  
  

• Where do you get inspiration?
  By A1LVZOK9F7K4CN on 2003-09-18
  "I loved you a lot more when you were dead." This is what a mother tells her daughter in Diary. It is completely in keeping with Mr. Palahniuk's tone which is dark, with occasional flurries of pessimism.

  Diary continues in the tradition of Lullaby - novels that are surreal and could be shelved in the "horror" section. An important bit of information to know is that the format of this book is a "coma diary" written by a woman to her husband. It is NOT a book written in the second-person, despite the liberal use of the word "you."

  The book starts like all of Mr. Palahniuk's books do, with plenty of interesting trivia. In this case it's about art history, human anatomy, and graphology. I won't go into to the plot of the novel - which is impossible to describe - but it fits into the category of "one sane person in a town full of crazies."

  The best part about reading a Palahniuk novel isn't the story, but all the interesting asides and digressions along the way. There are plenty of them here to keep the reader interested. (BTW, look underneath the dust cover).
  
  

• where do you get your lack of inspiration
  By A1T196J01QLPT9 on 2003-10-18
  It's disheartening to say it but Diary is disappointing. It starts in a very intriguing way, like all Chuck Palahniuk novels, and soon becomes your average thriller novel involving philosophical issues. Name dropping here shows that the author made his research, but it often feels misplaced and repetitive.
  In the end, i got the weird impression of having read a cross between Dolores Claiborne and Salem's lot meets Fight Club.
  I fear, because i admire his talent, that M.Palahniuk may not be ill from the stendhal syndrome but from best seller syndrome : being now (justly) successful he needs to deliver a manuscript each year.
  Diary is fun to read but leaves no trace maybe because it was wirtten with too much haste.
  
  
• Chuck is channeling Anne Rice
  By A2544H8PSEIO7Y on 2004-01-18
  I wish I would've trusted the negative reviews and at least waited till this came out on paperback, but I've loved every previous Palahniuk novel.
  Of course, the writing style is still great, but the storyline is so contorted that you're fully half way through the book before you begin to realize that this novel has a plot closer to something Anne Rice would have thrown away as an early manuscript in her Lasher series than anything Chuck has written before. You keep thinking that some ridiculous plot twist is going to turn the story back into something really intriguing, instead of a sad paranormal misadventure.
  One of the things I love about Palahniuk novels is how he makes an interesting story about really screwed-up people trying to make sense of a world they don't fit into. This story is about a fairly normal woman living in a town of screwed-up people waiting for a savior.
  Not a horrible book, but by far the worst Palahniuk novel.
  
  
• Didnt even finish it
  By A3UISFQMOSZJMO on 2004-08-16
  Maybe I shouldnt be writing this review because I havent finished the book but thats also why Im deciding to write a review.
  I love Chuck Palahniuk novels, I usually finish them in a matter of days. I was extremely excited when I heard he had a new book out and bought it as soon as it was released. However the story was uninteresting and it was hard to read and become involved. I tossed the book in the trunk of my car and 9 months later found it and said "oh, there it is". I havent started to read it yet and that was almost a month ago.
  I have read all his other books and I have to say I think they are getting worse with each one. "Lullabye" had been my least favorite until "Diary". I am more interested in reading a science book than I am in rereading the 100 or so pages Ive already put into this.
  Very dissapointing.
  
  
• Could be the worst book I've ever read.
  By on 2003-10-30
  I've been a big fan of Chuck Palahniuk's work, but this book did much to diminish that respect.

  At 260 pages, this is a short book to begin with. When you account for the chapter breaks every three or four pages, all the one-sentence paragraphs, all the sentences and phrases that are repeated over and over throughout the book, I would bet there is little more than 100 pages of real writing in this "story." That's not absolutely a bad thing, less is more in my book, but nothing is still nothing, no matter if it's stretched across 50 pages or 500.

  Though a hardcover, it is not much bigger than a paperback in size. If it were printed on the same paper size as most real novels, using a similar typeface and elminiting all the repetition, this book might only amount to about 50 pages. If IKEA published books, they would be like "Diary;" sleek, cute, apartment sized and with a core made of recycled sawdust.

  The big disappointment is that this book is not funny. It is completey lacking the wonderful wit that spices most of Chuck's work. The characters are universally unlikable, especially the main character, a fat, self-pitying drunk who is called by different variations of her full name which is poor little Misty Marie Kleinman Wilmot. So you get poor little Misty, Misty Marie Wilmot, Misty Kleinmen, poor little Misty Kleinman, etc. There is little more depth to her character than her names and the ongoing litany of how she has suffered at the hands of her husband, her in-laws and life in general.

  The book flips back and forth between second and third person which is confusing and annoying, but perhaps understandable given that Misty does not seem to have a self. That might explain why she can be talking "to" somebody at the same time that she's talking "about" them.

  Palahniuk tries to weave some Plato, Carl Young and art trivia into the story but again, most of it seems like useless filler that just won't come together at the end, no matter how hard the author tries to pretend that it does.

  It took me about two months to get through this book, even given its short length. It never grabbed me, and was hard work all the way. I began dreading picking it up. It was painful. I kept expecting it to kick in and excite me like so much of Chuck's other work. It never did. It was almost as if somebody other than Palahniuk wrote it.

  It's by far the worst thing I've read by Chuck and maybe the worst I've ever read.
  
  

• Can You Feel This?
  By ARMCH9EX3PJ82 on 2003-08-29
  "Everyone's in their own personal coma."

  Diary is the "coma-diary" of Misty Marie Wilmot (or if you're an incompetent worker at Doubleday doing the sleeve for the hardback her name is Misty Tracy Wilmot). The diary she keeps for her vegetable of a husband Peter who has attempted suicide and failed miserably. Ending up in a coma instead. A woman doomed to repeat the past. Only she doesn't know it yet.

  It's Chuck Palahniuk's latest work of gripping, fast-paced fiction. And if you don't like this book, you're living in a coma.

  "You have endless ways you can commit suicide without dying dying."

  Beneath the fast moving plot of a woman who finds herself caught in a trap of repeating history is layer upon layer of social statements and facts. If you don't know what the Latin names are for your facial muscles, you will by the time you finish this. If you don't know the first freaking thing about graphology (handwriting analysis). You will. Need a refresher course on Carl Jung? It's right here. Don't know about the suffering all the greatest artists went through to create their masterpieces? Read this book.

  "Does anybody really know why they like anything?"

  This is Palahniuk's best book since Choke. Probably his second-best book in this reviewer's opinion. Worth every penny of the $17.47 plus shipping(hardback version). Another terse, riveting book from one of the best writers in modern fiction today.

  "Everything is a diary."
  
  

• Reasons for not writing books to a metronome
  By A37XJKFWRZHCZ2 on 2003-09-17
  I seriously cannot finish this book.

  Either there are a lot more people reading novels now who have attention deficit issues, or this book is the most repetative, nagging dead weight I have ever looked at. Now, I've read plenty of CP, and this has been clearly forming over the years; the little repeat sentence tags ("A couple of drinks. A couple of asprin. Repeat." Yeah, repeat is right. Try every paragraph.) are certainly his writing style and his alone, but how much can we take? How many times can you write the same novel over and over?

  I am fairly sure that if you can find the beat rhythm the book was written to, you'll be able to read it back at the same beat, like a limmerick.
  
  

• 1st Chuck Book - Very Good
  By AOR12CT1JMNC9 on 2004-07-14
  No doubt, much like many people here, I loved Fight Club (the movie) and at some point noticed it was also book (a short one at that). I checked Fight Club out of the library and, for no particular reason, Diary as well. I swear I did not read a darn thing about the book before I started reading, I didn't check out Amazon and I didn't read the inside covers, I just read. I was enthralled and drawn in to a very interesting style of writing and it wasn't till about page 40 or so that I actually figured out what the heck the book was about. This is a good thing. Too often with books and movies there are too many expectations and prior knowledge that doesn't allow the writer (or director) to take you on the journey the way he intended.

  Anyway, it was a very good book but not great. If you're already reading a review i'll tell you, the ending was a little disappointing, so allow for it, it is the reason i'm giving 4 instead of 5 stars. I don't know this man's writing so I don't have overly-heightened expecations, but it's a quick, interesting read.

  As a side note that has nothing to do with this book: I read and obviously write some of these reviews on Amazon, but I encourage everyone to just pick up a book they know nothing about and just dive in, more often than not you'll be excited and interested by what you did not expect. Amazon is not an alternative to your local library, it is extension to furthering your joy of reading.
  
  

• Boring and Unbelievable
  By A14GFBX4V1Y79W on 2005-06-05
  One of the most over-rated writers of our time, Palahniuk again wings us into his nightmare world of arcane misinformation and ridiculous plot devices. His characters are pure cardboard. The theme of the tortured artist is given as much depth as Palahniuk gives to almost any theme he tackles (manhood, identity, sexuality): a glossy veneer that cracks upon examination. Some people think crushing bugs is fun, and it is, but after a while it grows tedious.
  
  
• Save yourself from undoubted fits of nacrolepsy.
  By A2GQPDRKCCRJLP on 2006-02-09
  It seems like Palahniuk is stuck in a lyrical rut that comes out more and more recycled with each novel, and although this was fine through the first five novels (with the exception of Invisible Monsters-which is probably slightly worse than Diary) it really bottoms out here.
  Insert comically dark one-liner here.
  Reinterate said one-liner every fourth paragraph.
  If anything, stick with Survivor, Choke, or Fight Club.
  
  
• A quick read for a rainy day...but not good for much else.
  By A7H39XZ4T8LMW on 2003-09-02
  As if the blatant references to "Rosemary's Baby" and even the NBC TV movie "Bay Coven," which starred Susan Rutan of "LA Law" fame, weren't enough! Does Palahniuk really need to add to the mix a lapsed Thomas Kinciad-esque painter/single mother who goes out of her way to ignore obvious signs of sketchiness? If you can forgive the author his lame-brained life insurance policy scheme, an unexplained father in law, a "heroine" with a penchant for gaudy costume jewelry, and other simplistic plot/character devices, this book might be for you. But don't think too hard...the story completely falls apart if you give it a second thought. At best--and at worst--its an amateurish look at materialism/consumerism through the eyes of yet another (potentially) unreliable narrator.
  
  
• "Couldn't put it down"
  By AZM09BO1FD418 on 2003-09-23
  I agree with many reviewers, this is his (your) best work to date. It isn't as scary as Lullaby; or as action packed as Choke, Fight Club, or Survivor, yet his (your) brush strokes of the human language is unparalled. Sad yet prolific, this book is just fun to read. Strange as it may sound, Diary reminded me of something by Ayn Rand. There is no doubt, Palahniuk (you) is from another world. I'll always be anxiously awaiting his (your) next publication. If you want to read a book which will leave you wondering what you just read, read any of Chucks books. They're addicting, so be very careful.
  
  
• Repetitive drivel
  By on 2003-09-30
  Reading this book is a bit like being repeatedly clubbed on the head, and I don't mean that as a compliment. If you are going to repeat the same sentence twenty times, at least pick a good one. Also irritating is Palahniuk's penchant for displaying his dimestore erudition, especially since he makes several rather glaring factual errors. If you are looking for a good book about painting, take a look at Maugham's "The Moon and Sixpence" or Robertson Davies' "What's Bred in the Bone." (Robertson Davies also actually knows how to do research.) Don't bother with this crap.
  
  
• Chuck: what were you thinking?!?
  By A29NUB3P6YIWZG on 2004-01-09
  Let me cut to the chase: 'Diary: A Novel' is by a wide margin the worst novel produced by Chuck Palahniuk. These words come from someone who, like many, thought his early works ('Fight Club', 'Survivor', 'Invisible Monsters') were either very good or *unbelievably good*. His more recent novels (ie, 'Lullaby', 'Choke') were merely passable. But 'Diary...' is a stinker; it was hard work just to finish it.

  So what's 'Diary...' about? Well this is part of the problem. It is a very strange story about a woman with unique artistic capabilities who marries into a nightmarishly bizarre family living on a tourist-trap island. We learn eventually that her emergence on the island was pre-destined, as proscribed by history and folklore. Interesting? Not really. Funny? No. The worst offense: the book is very poorly structured, and its prose is weak. It lacks the punch and unique Palahniuk humour found in his early books.

  Bottom line: this book is certainly a black spot on Palahniuk's career. Rubbish.
  
  

• rather disappointing
  By A2HQOYP2GJ6XIU on 2004-01-18
  despite all the hooplah surrounding palahniuk's writing, i never quite got around to picking up one of his novels until i tripped across DIARY in a border's, read the first page, and was hooked.

  i loved what he was doing there.

  and i continued to love it for the first fifty or sixty pages. totally got what all the fuss was about.

  then i started to run into the problems.

  the first problem DIARY has is its protagonist, mistie marie, who, while being smart enough and well read enough to have a fact and/or anecdote related to every event in her life, is too stupid to realize what is going on around her, despite the fact that she's making it perfectly clear to the reader, who is supposed to be reading her diary.

  as a reader, it's hard to be a sympathetic toward a character who is smart but behaves idiotically.

  it becomes comic when mistie marie is led to a woods by her daughter, where they find mistie's mother in law waiting with a picnic basket for mistie. in the basket are sandwiches. mistie takes a bite of one and says it tastes funny. granda tells her, it's just the cilantro. okay. then mistie offers some sandwich to her daughter. the reply? grandma told me not to.

  how do you have sympathy for a character so idiotic that in the face of a funny tasting sandwich that her own daughter was advised not to eat by her grandmother, eats the sandwich anyway?

  the novel is full of such idiocy on the part of our protagonist.

  the second problem is the story itself.

  as this is the first palahniuk novel i've read, i can't say whether it's standard of him, but in DIARY he makes the story interesting by holding back information on what's happening, making events seem very intriguing -- "a man called from long beach to say his bathroom has disappeared." the problem is, when we finally find out what's happening, it's a let down, it's so prosiac you don't really care.

  he does this with small details, like the disappearance of several rooms, to major details, like the entire plot, which, in the end, is nothing.

  so much of DIARY is sizzle without steak, smoke without fire, etc.

  it's almost worth reading for the prose alone. for little bits and pieces that are interesting in and of themselves. but taken as a whole, there's so much that's disappointing about DIARY that i can't give it more than three stars, and those more for the potential than the results.
  
  

• Don't judge a book by its cover
  By A2A15HNBTFL0VX on 2004-09-29
  Saw "Fight Club" again last night and realized again that the dialogue was superb. Discovered it was based on the book by Palahniuk and went out and bought the new paperback release of "Diary", which was prominently displayed at the bookstore.
  
  After "Fight Club", I was surprised to discover that the main character was a woman. (My girlfriend even said that the book looked like a "girl's book". And it does.) But I stayed up most of the night and read it through. It's the first book I've read in a long time with a female lead and written from a woman's point-of-view that doesn't indulge in victim feminism. I kept expecting it to, but it didn't. Not once. Very refreshing. Very engaging. Extremely readable.
  
  
• Horrible Book
  By A1478UQ7EWGNF5 on 2004-12-09
  This book is an great example of a good writer that doesn't give a damn about his work anymore. I would be surprised if this stupid story took longer than a month to write. A strength in Chuck's other stories is that they deep, pychological meaning, this garbage is all supernatural.
  
  He completely left out key parts that would develop Misty's character. Why did she stop talking to her mom? Why did she abandon her dream of art school so easily? What did she love about Peter? Chuck's answers to these questions would probably be: it was destiny to live out that life. In my opinion, destiny is another word for lazy, dull writing.
  
  One thing that really bothered me is when her stupid catheter kept "slipping out". Any woman that has had a catheter will tell you that having one is the more painful than giving birth to a child. What does Misty say when it slips out? "The smell of pee was everywhere." What would a real woman say? &*!$#^! Did Chuck do any homework before writing this trash?
  
  This "novel" is a terrible piece of work from a lazy, rich man.
  
  
  
• Running on fumes....terrible
  By ACS6DWBLNBGMX on 2005-01-09
  Here is a book so poorly written and cynically marketed that the description on the original (hardcover) dust jacket can't even get the name of the main character right: she's identified as "Misty Tracy Wilmot" when in fact her name is "Misty Marie Kleinman Wilmot." When the publisher can't be bothered to get straight a little item like that, you know there's a problem! By now Palahniuk, like Steven King, is a brand name, and nobody, least of all Mr. P himself, seems likely to spend much time on quality control when there are so many book-units to be shifted to a willing audience. Which is a shame, because there are traces of worthwhile themes in Diary: the power of art, the subjugation of women within even "artistic" communities, and the old stand-by of class warfare in contemporary America. Too bad Palahniuk can't seem to develop these into anything like genuine observations, or even a passably interesting story. This is one dull book! Oh, and the usual variations on some gimmicky sentence ("Today's weather is partly depressed with scattered outbursts of rage," or whatever) that P does in every book is a dead, dead horse by now, covered with flies. I never thought Fight Club was a masterpiece but at least it held my attention.
  
  
• Not worth reading...
  By A216U268WSB4Q4 on 2005-01-24
  Even in the most twisted, misanthropic characters Chuck Palahniuk creates, there is generally something fresh and likeable about them. Unfortunately he falls far short of his past precedent in Diary. The main character, Misty, is miserable in her life, and miserable to read about. I had trouble finishing the book, and when I did I was glad it was over. The recurring thought that came to mind was, "Who cares?" I didn't. The story, in general, was uninteresting, and unbelievable. If you haven't read much by Chuck Palahniuk yet, read Survivor and Invisible Monsters, but don't waste your time or money on Diary.
  
  

• Lullaby
• Choke
• Invisible Monsters
• Survivor: A Novel
• Haunted: A Novel