She's a fashion model who has everything: a boyfriend, a career, a loyal best friend. But when a sudden freeway "accident" leaves her disfigured and incapable of speech, she is transformed from the beautiful center of attention to an invisible monster, so hideous that no one will acknowledge she exists. Enter Brandy Alexander, Queen Supreme, one operation away from becoming a real woman, who will teach her that reinventing yourself means erasing your past and making up something better. And that salvation hides in the last places you'll ever want to look.
When the plot of your first novel partially hinges on anarchist overthrows funded by soap sales, and the narrative hook of your second work is the black box recorder of a jet moments away from slamming into the Australian outback, it stands to reason that your audience is going to be ready for anything. Which, to an author like Chuck Palahniuk, must sound like a challenge. Palahniuk's third identity crisis (that's "novel" to you), Invisible Monsters, more than ably responds to this call to arms. Set once again in an all-too-familiar modern wasteland where social disease and self-hatred can do more damage than any potboiler-fiction bad guy, the tale focuses particularly on a group of drag queens and fashion models trekking cross-country to find themselves, looking everywhere from the bottom of a vial of Demerol to the end of a shotgun barrel. It's a sort of Drugstore Cowboy-meets-Yentl affair, or a Hope-Crosby road movie with a skin graft and hormone-pill obsession, if you know what I mean.

Um, yeah. Anyway, the Hollywood vibe doesn't stop these comparisons. As with Fight Club and Survivor, the book is invested with a cinematic sweep, from the opening set piece, which takes off like a house afire (literally), to a host of filmic tics sprayed throughout the text: "Flash," "Jump back," "Jump way ahead," "Flash," "Flash," "Flash." You get the idea. It's as if Palahniuk didn't write the thing but yanked it directly out of the Cineplex of his mind's eye. Does it succeed? Mostly. Still working on measuring out the proper dosages of his many writerly talents (equal parts potent imagery, nihilistic coolspeak, and doped-out craziness), Palahniuk every now and then loosens his grip on the story line, which at points becomes as hard to decipher as your local pill addict's medicine cabinet. However Invisible Monsters works best on a roller-coaster level. You don't stop and count each slot on the track as you're going down the big hill. You throw up your hands and yell, "Whee!" --Bob Michaels

Customer Rating:
Summary: One of my favorites ever
Comment: This is by far my favorite Chuck P. book. I saw it didn't have a 5 star review and decided to add my 2 cents. This book, fight club, survivor, and lullaby are by far his best work. Read those. I'm convinced Haunted was just created for the shock value. This book was created out of pure genius. It has it's funny dark moments, many "ah ha" moments, and a great twist at the end. Plus, who doesn't love pain killers? Read the book and you'll know what I mean.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Company to purchase from
Comment: This is a great company to purchase from! However the only down side to my purchase is the fact that I didnt really enjoy the book itself. It is in excellent condition, I am just not a fan of the actual material.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: My Unexpected Favorite
Comment: After having knocked out about the majority of his novels, I can safely say that Invisible Monsters is my favorite Palahniuk novel so far. I never thought that a book so campy and ludicrous would resonate so well with me, but behold, it's one that I know I'm going to be reading over and over again.

It's shocking, it's satirical, it's campy, it's glossy, it's outrageous, it's insightful, it's jaw-dropping, and it's wonderful. Do yourself a favor and read this book; chances are you'll be glad you did.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: GREAT
Comment: I'm studying to be a Secondary English teacher and hope to use this book along with the first "Persepolis" in my classes. Satrapi illustrates her life in a charming and hilarious way, guaranteed to grab many types of readers and learners. After reading her graphic memoirs I have a better idea of what life in Iran for women is like as well as a thirst for more novels like this.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: This book is ca-razy!
Comment: I concur with those who say this is one of Pahlaniuk's best books. This one is fresher than some of his other work. It is fast moving, and the main character, actually the main characters, are whacked-out yet somehow relatable.

Once it gets going, the story is, as mentioned above, Crazy! Super fast moving, if not terribly plausible. Highly entertaining and memorable. When I have loaned my CP books to friends, this one has recieved the most favorable reaction. Really, rather a modern classic that fans of Fight Club will definitely relish.

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