Survivor

by Chuck Palahniuk

Book Overview

Tender Branson--last surviving member of the Creedish Death Cult--is dictating his life story into the recorder of Flight 2039, cruising on autopilot at 39,000 feet somewhere over the Pacific Ocean.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385498721
• ISBN13: 9780385498722
• Release Date: January 2000
• Publisher: Anchor Books
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

One of Palahniuk's Best

As a reader of several of CP's books (Fight Club, Pygmy, Rant, Choke, Haunted), this has to be one of the better ones. While I do find Palahniuk to be a bit predictable at times with how he sets the stage, and cast of characters, I thought this was the perfect plot for a writer of his style to mold into something very intriguing. Definitely recommend.

Slightly dissappointed

I know it's a good book, but did not receive the copy I was expecting😥 still in good shape, but I would have liked the other cover

Palahniuk at his best!

Did you think Fight Club was strange? It only scratched the surface of Chuck Palahniuk's satirical psyche, only served as a warmup for this deadpan media/religion scather that concludes in an even more over-the-top fashion than Palahniuk's debut novel. That the pages and chapter numbers of Survivor count down instead of up is only the most superficial aberration. You'll recognize some of Palahniuk's devices from Fight Club immediately -- the short paragraphs, choppy sentences, narrator dialogue not distinguished with quote marks. The all-knowing consumerism and dead-on ideological emptiness. And, of course, the beginning that reveals the ending and spends the rest of the book arriving at that point through flashbacks. Without giving any more away, I implore that you pick up this book! Definitely a permanent addition to your collection! Also recommended: Life of Pi by Martel, The Losers' Club by Richard Perez

Another awesome book by Palahniuk

I already read Fight Club and Choke, and they were by far two of the most enticing books I have ever picked up. I read both of those in 2 days (1 day per book). Then I read "Survivor" another masterful complicated tale about Tender Branson, a man who survived a death cult (Creedish), and goes on to be a self-help mogul and a bizarre prophet.The way this book was written was very interesting. It starts at Chapter 47 (or 49, I can't remember, it's early in the morning) and the chapter numbers descent throughout the entire book. It starts with Tender, now a wanted fugitive for murder, on a plane about to crash into the Australian outback since the engines have all burned out, and he has only a few moments to figure out where his life went wrong. From there, as the chapters (and his plane) descend, you are given a view of his less-than-ordinary life, and the less-than-orindary people he comes across, most importantly Fertility. It's a book filled with bizarre twists, characters, events, and revelations. Palahniuk is probably the best modern day author out there.

Palahniuk's "other" best work

"Fight Club" may get all the press, notice, and attention, but in many ways Survivor is its literary equal, and maybe even a better book. Once again, Palahniuk manages to pluck a few choice elements from the boiling stew of our mass culture - apocalyptic cults, the grotesquely rich, disasters in the air (along with just enough random-but-relevant facts that leave you wondering how the heck he KNEW that) - and weave them together into a compelling adrenaline ride of a novel that also happens to be thoroughly entertaining. I HATE reviews that end up being spoilers, so I won't say any more, other than to mention that it has all the twists, turns, and extraordinary events that one would expect from a novel by Chuck Palahniuk.Is it similar to Fight Club in some respects? Yeah. Is it a literary masterpiece, destined to become a classic? Probably not. But is it an excellent book to spend a few light evenings with? You bet your life it is.

Suicidally Good!

After seeing the movie Fight Club, I became very interested in Chuck Palahniuk's work. So I went to the bookstore looking for some of his other novels. You know the saying "don't judge a book by its cover"? Well I do judge books by their covers. The covers of books now are just so... corny. I could tell Survivor was going to be a good book from its unique cover. It is very plan, almost completely silver, but it has style. The novel is centered on the thought to be only survivor of a Creedish Death Cult, Tender Branson. In the first chapter, chapter 47, it is explained that Tender Branson is alone on a high jacked commercial airplane and he is going to crash it into the Australian Outback. But before that happens he is going to tell his life story to the "indestructible black box of Flight 2039". As the chapters work their way down to 1, there is a very dark apocalyptic story of Tender's rise to stardom from a housemaid for a strange yuppie couple. In his work experience with this yuppie couple, Tender learns helpful facts like how to get bloodstains off of wallpaper. Also how to hide stab holes in tuxedos. No book is complete without a love interest, and Fertility Hollis adds that and much more. Tender falls for the very interesting character Fertility, who happens to be the sister of a man Tender killed (in a round about way). The plot takes many twists and turns that keep you very interested, for instance Tender's twin brother might be trying to kill him so that all of the Cult would be in their rightful place, dead. "'What's the difference between a Creedish and a corpse?' Just a matter of hours." It is a very unpredictable, enticing, hilarious novel that is so real, it might make you consider suicide. I loved this very unique novel and would recommend it to everyone, except people who have considered suicide, because it might just push them over the edge.

Brilliant satire and apocalyptic vision rolled into one!

Chuck Palaniuk (say it ten times fast) has recently stormed onto the popular literary field, thanks to David Fincher's amazing adaptation of his underground novel, FIGHT CLUB. Hopefully, if he keeps writing books this good, he can give up being a mechanic forever.SURVIVOR begins on its final page, and shoots backwards towards page 1, always reminding you of its approaching demise. Along with the novel, the narrator is apporaching his own demise, as he pilots a commandeered airplane waiting for it to crash and explode. In order to preserve his life story, he is speaking into the black-box on-flight recorder, hoping to wipe himself out and attain immortality at the same time.What is his problem? Well, he is the last survivor of a suicide cult, a former indentured servant in the "real world". He also narrates of his tranistion from nobody to media messiah back to nobody. In it, Palahniuk takes on a wild ride through a satire of modern society in all its little nuances. Everything from Lobster eating to TV networks gets raked over the coals in this incediary novel.ALthough the book, like FIGHT CLUB begins to self-destruct about three quarters of the way through, the story is so compelling in its banal gruesomeness that you can't help but read it. Palahniuk is a magician who will keep you hypnotized, glued to each page until the final end of both his protagonist and the book.Oh, and did I mention that the book is also riotously funny? It is. So in other words, one of the best books I've read in awhile.