Book Review: Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk

"Who I was before the accident is just a story now. Everything before now, before now, before now, is just a story I carry around. I guess that would apply to anybody in the world. What I need is a new story about who I am."

- Chuck Palahniuk, Invisible Monsters


I read a book shelf's worth of books during the three months of summer 2009, but the book I enjoyed the most was Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk. This was the first book of his I've ever read. Yes, I know, I'm insanse for never having read Palahniuk before now. But after a friend of mine - a fellow writer/bibliophile - recommended him to me about a dozen times, I figured it was time to give it a go.

Invisible Monsters is an oddly amazing book. The protagonist, Shannon, a former fashion model, is left with a hideously disfigured face and the inability to speak after a freeway gun "accident." Before, she had everything - beauty, attention, a loyal best friend, a boyfriend, and a modeling career (though not the kind of glamorous, runway, couture, fashion magazine modeling career you'd imagine). After, she becomes an "invisible monster," her face always covered in veils, searching for reinvention with the help of Brandy Alexander, a transsexual one operation away from being a woman, whom Shannon meets while recovering in the hospital. But Shannon isn't just looking to reinvent herself. She's looking for revenge.

What I love about this book is not only the simple, yet deep and meaningful writing, but the unorthodox story line: the constant twists and jumping around. This isn't a from point A to point B, chronological story. It's more like, from point A to point C to point B to point D to point A to point W to point B...well, you get the picture. It's a story told in pieces: pieces of Shannon's presetn and past that reveal how the actions she's made through out her life have affected those around her as those pieces are put together.

What I love is that nothing is as it seems in this book. With most of the books I read, I can usually predict early on what's going to happen/how the story is going to end, or I can sense what's about to happen just as it's coming up but before anything is revealed. (And while I enjoy the books I read, predictability can get boring after awhile.) But with Invisible Monsters, you don't know what's happening until it's hitting you in the face. While there are hints through out the story - the importance of intermingling the past and present - the way Palahniuk executes the piecing together of everything is done in a way that's always leaving you surprised; reading a line and thinking (even saying out loud), "Wait...what!"

I'm trying not to give too much away here because I think it's best to read this book having absolutely no idea what it's about besides what the inside cover synopsis tells you. Not knowing any more than that about the book, for me, added to the constant shock I found myself in while reading it. So hopefully I've given you enough, without giving too much, to offer you enough intrigue to read Invisible Monsters.

To sum up: Captivating, draw-you-in, can't-put-this-book-down-for-a-second (not just because it's so good, but also because you might get lost) story; brilliant (and for me, as a writer, touching and inspiring) writing; thick, juicy, twisting, page-turning plot; climax after climax after climax...(no, this book does not have one or two major climaxes; it has several, littered through out the story); and plenty of surprises around every corner.

This book might fascinate you. It might horrify you. It might inspire you. It might disgust you. It might make you want to recite a few Hail Marys (yes, things get a bit graphic from time to time.) It might feel like seeing a car wreck: you don't want to look, and you try not to, but in the end you can't help finding yourself twisting your neck to get a good look at it anyway. But one thing it will not do is bore you.