La storia ci viene raccontata dai protagonisti sotto forma di una sorta di diapositive del passato. Queste storie sono molto crude, inimmaginabili ed estreme, che quando le finisci ti sale da un lato della bocca quel ghigno solito di quando si vedono quei film demenziali che prendono per il culo altri film. Ma qui è diverso o perlomeno, a me, dopo il ghigno mi è salita una sorta di inquietudine, come se tra me e me dicessi:"C...o, ma non è poi così irreale...". I'm always floored when an author serves up something genuinely different. In a book market where so many offerings are so goddamn painfully similar (right down to the titles... can we get another book with the word "Girl" or "Dark" in the title please?) it's a real treat when you read something that stands out and rises above the rest for not being like the others. It's even more rewarding when such a different drummer has the chops to blow your mind. Yes he may be worthy of the praise and his works are joys to hold and read but it also sets the bar so high that disappointment is an almost accepted conclusion. Just disappear. Leave behind everything that keeps you from creating your masterpiece. Your job and family and home, all those obligations and distractions – put them on hold for three months. Live with like-minded people in a setting that supports total immersion in your work. Food and lodging included free for those who qualify. Gamble a small fraction of your life on the chance to create a new future as a professional poet, novelist, screenwriter. Before it’s too late, live the life you dream about. Spaces very limited. This book is incredibly uneven, that's its downfall. There are some really good moments, some really bad moments, and one or two truly brillant ones. Looking at it as what it essentially is; a collection of short stories, it's really no better or worse than any other short story collection, and actually should get extra points for its brazen audacity. The unifying material that links all of the stories together is terribly weak, and is what ultimately sinks the book.

I'm only on p 75 of this thing and I'm about to hurl it at the wall. What is it supposed to be? Does this guy really think these lame parodies are funny? This is from the section called "Slumming", which is about rich people, a couple of whom are pretending to be poor : And that's just what happens. For no reason at all, except that the participants of this "Writer's Retreat" think they can cash in someday if they suffer enough, start chopping off fingers, starving themselves, sabotaging the environmental controls, and consuming human flesh.

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Narration was fine, but I’m going to go out on a limb here and say unless you’re a fan of the author I don’t think you’ll enjoy this book. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. The modern reader suddenly remembers those Agatha Christie stories, in which the cast of cliché-ridden characters is bumped off one by one, while the éminence grise who invited them to the island or the country house lurks somewhere behind the walls. A similar memory even emerges of one of those old portmanteau horror films: Ralph Richardson in a studio-built crypt, dressed in a monk's habit, listening to the ghoulish confessions of damned souls. Haunted reminds us of both of these. A former employee of the White River Lodge, she tried to rescue a chef she employed after he fell into a nearby hot springs, only to lose her lips to frostbite in the process.

I don’t think it’s scary at all, but frankly I find the peas and the corns and the vitamins a little disturbing. Not much, just a little. (I have a pretty strong stomach, after all.) In my opinion, Mr. Palahniuk could definitely write a creepy story with dignity and a good measure of humour. This book is vile. It is disgusting. No matter how much you can take, you will squirm and say "Oh My GOD!" out loud on the bus or plane or couch or wherever it is you read. It is a nasty book. But Haunted is so much more than that and so worth reading. So my friend, he buys milk and eggs and sugar and a carrot, all the ingredients for a carrot cake. And Vaseline. A reporter who murders a former child star to frame him for collecting child pornography, so that he can write a Pulitzer Prize-winning article about it. Each of the book's chapters contains three sections: a story chapter, which acts as a framing device for the otherwise unconnected short stories; a poem about a particular writer on the tour, its author being unspecified; and the short story written by that writer.Sometimes in the humor section of the bookstore you can find a spoof of a popular book or writer. That's not what Haunted is, but it's the first thing that comes to mind. Definitely not for the faint hearted. This short story collection has been described as 'the most original work of fiction this year' Guardian An amateur artist who sneaks paintings into museums. He later becomes a respected professional when he murders a famous artist as a favor to the man's patron. Believing he will suffer the same fate as the man he killed, he has come to the retreat to escape his employers. Ho affrontato dolori strazianti, veder morire il proprio padre tra le tue braccia non è assolutamente una cosa da augurare a nessuno, ma ti rendi conto di quanto hai voluto che lui morisse, solo per vederlo smettere di soffrire.