This is the kind of book that creeps under your skin and interferes with dreams. I haven’t read any of Palahniuk’s other books, but one of his biggest fans recommended I start with this one, perhaps because it involves an artist as a protagonist and he thought I’d identify.
Palahniuk has a very distinctive writing style. He peppers his prose with repeated phrases such as “Just for the record” and “Today’s weather is..” eg. “Today’s weather is surly, with a chance of bitterness.” The novel is framed, loosly, in the second person, addressed to the protagonist’s husband, who is in a coma following a suicide attempt. Palahniuk uses non fiction deftly, adding trivia and background information as both exposition and a theme-strengthener. If nothing else, I took away from this book an illustration of literary techniques employed well.
The other thing I took away from this novel is how deeply thematic it was. Without spending much time talking about any one individual painting, Palahniuk nevertheless delves deeply into art, what it means to create something beautiful, how Missy’s art differs from what the students at Missy’s school created. He also goes into how much nastiness goes into the creation of art. The suffering of great artists is mentioned again and again, and the novel strongly suggests that the suffering is a cause of great art, that it’s as necessary an ingredient in beautiful art as the disgusting organic and inorganic components of oil paints are to beautiful paintings.
I also liked the creepy mood of the piece. From hateful messages written by a nearly-dead man behind hidden rooms and walls in houses, to a diary that contains information unknown to its owner, this novel exudes the feel of a world that is only beautiful on the surface. It’s got almost a wicker-man feeling too, as you start to realize that Missy is an unwitting sacrifice for a goal she had no part of.
What kept this from being a five star book for me (not that many books are 5 stars, I’m rather stingy with stars) was the plot. I thought it was going one way, and it took a sharp left turn at the very end. You’d think that was good, but it frustrated me. On one hand, I can see that twist endings are usually cool, but I felt irritated at the end of this novel. The islanders added an element to their plan that made Missy’s role superfluous. Since their manipulation of Missy formed the core of the plot, having Missy and her art be so unnecessary at the end of it made me feel cheated.
To sum up, this is a great novel for mood, for ideas, for creepy pictures you can’t get out of your head and a looming sense of forboding. There are lots of little scenes which will stick with you for a long time after reading. The fact that I enjoyed it so much despite its not having good characters and a satisfying story is a testament to how well Palahniuk got the other elements right.
