I have been extremely interested in books and reading since I was little. Going to the library was, for me, like going into a goldmine and coming out with my arms filled with treasures. I have been teased about it, I've even been ashamed about it at times cause at a certain age burying yourself in a book is not supposed to be your preferred pastime, but the last few years I've begun to kind of appreciate my appreciation for books and so I've started this blog where I can write about any book that I'm currently reading or have just read, books I've heard about but am not sure I will read, books that disappoint me or blow me away.
So I'm going to start off by writing about a book that did blow me away.
"Diary - A Novel" by Chuck Palahniuk
This has to be one of the strangest, most mesmerizing books I've ever read. It combines themes such as murder, fairytales, reincarnation, strange legends and failing relationships, into something that actually makes some kind of sense.
I would say though that the book's greatest strength is not only what it's about but the way it's written. There are chapters dedicated to each day, like a traditional diary, but every entry is written almost like a poem, with repetitions and short lines instead of long sentences with big words. Especially the repetitions help weave the whole story together as a complete, aesthetic piece of work.
I don't even know if I can explain in detail what the book is about, because a lot of it still puzzles me. (which I think is a good thing by the way) In short I can say it is about Misty Marie Kleinman, her husband Peter who's in a coma (after Misty found him in the car, presumably trying to kill himself), their daughter Tabbi and their life on the strange, fairytale-like Waytensea Island.
In itself that doesn't sound that confusing, but you don't have to dig much deeper before you begin to question the reality of it all. Like:
The Island is first described in Misty's drawing as a child; she could draw detailed houses and streets without having seen them and thus created a whole fantasy island in her mind out of her drawings, as way of escape from her tough childhood.
She has dreams of becoming an artist, and goes to art school, where she meets Peter - her future husband.
The book slowly and steadily reveals details of Misty and Peter's life together, and just as slowly and steadily you begin to realize that it is in fact the main story of the book and not just something that goes on in Misty's childish mind. But just when we feel "safe" and that we can grasp what the story is about, the author throws in more hints that we're just as clueless as when we turned the first page. Most of all the last page, after the story is finished - a letter from an unknown woman to the author, begging him to publish the manuscript she's enclosed. So not only are we to raise questions about things in the story itself, but also raise the question - who did actually write the book?
Rather than being frustrated about what I can't understand, I have to admire an author who manages to execute something so brilliant; a page-turner that raises questions about the existence of everything around us, without ever boring the reader.
