Original title: Damned
Author: Chuck Palahniuk
Year of Publication: 2011
Number of pages: 247 [Trade paperback]
Available in: English, Russian, German, Italian, Polish, Czech.
I read it in: English
“To my parents, death existed merely as the logical, albeit extreme, result of not adequately exfoliating your skin. […] And please, if you’re still in denial, eating low-sodium, heart-healthy skinless chicken breasts and feeling all self-righteous as you jog on a treadmill, don’t pretend you’re any more realistic than my loopy parents.”
Madison Spencer is 13 years old when she dies (allegedly) of marijuana overdose, ending up in a cell in Hell where she meets other young sinners: a cheerleader, a nerd, a punk and a jock, with whom she goes through meadows of clipped nails, blood rivers, lakes of hot saliva and seas of sperm, getting a job as a telemarketer while she tries to discover why she’s in hell, deal with being dead and confront Satan himself, whom her –alive and very rich parents always told her didn’t exist.
First of all we have to consider
that the book is narrated by a 13 year
old teenager with self-esteem issues and a great intelligence, characteristics
of her personality that are well represented in the narrations of her prowess
through Hell. If we take this into consideration it won’t be hard to understand
her constant need to prove herself superior to the reader and, basically,
everyone. The secondary characters bring a variety of personalities to the
table, as decadent as Hell itself, but quite realistic, even if their only
purpose is to help Madison to finally meet Satan and… whatever she thinks of in
between. Palahniuk’s narrative includes critics to materialism, celebrity
culture and other social problems alike, but it never ceases to be just a book
for when you want to read something fast, fun and ingenious, and you have the availability
to read bizarre passages written from the perspective of a sarcastic and cynical pre-teen. This is my
first Palahniuk and even though I enjoyed reading him, I would much
rather read other of his titles like Fight Club, than the sequel of this
book, Doomed, that was published in 2013.
- Where to buy:The Book Depository, Amazon or Barnes & Noble
- An interview with Chuck Palahniuk about the book.
- Palahniuk's Twitter
