WOW! How much fun was that? Given to me for Christmas by my friend Tom, a relatively mild-mannered man; and recommended as the book that got him interested in reading again this book was fast, hilarious and disturbing.As much fun as the actual story(ies) is the afterward where the author describes reading it around the world and peoples reactions. ENJOY! ( )

In Haunted, Chuck Palahniuk has brought together the most horrifically horrifying and horrifyingly repulsive cast of characters imaginable. They are all attending a three month writer's retreat, a basis to bring all these crazies together, that has gone awry. He takes these characters and uses them to cross every social boundary in existence. He has created a collection of stories that could only be created by Chuck Palahniuk himself; no other author would dare.
Haunted is, hands down, the most hauntingly disturbing book of short stories I have ever in my life read. Really, short stories aside, it's the most disturbing book I have ever read. I would say that each story is more extreme than the next, except that this wouldn't be true - he starts with a bang, throwing it all out there in his very first story, the most cringe-worthy of them all. There were seriously points during this story in which I had to stop reading for a moment, for fear that I might throw up. I think if I had kept reading, I actually would have thrown up.
After this first story, which evidentally regularly made people faint during readings, we go on to hear stories told by each and every one of the screwed up participants in the writer's retreat. They are all freakishly fascinating in their own unique way. They're each way beyond the boundaries of believable and yet, somewhere in the back of your mind, you can't help be wonder if it's based on some psycho reality. He then ends it all with a science-fiction, Martian Chronicles esque story that I found to be the most horrifying of all. It was the perfect ending for this mash-up of craziness.
This book is absolutely terrifying, not so much in that it will scare you, but in that you have to cross your fingers and pray (or whatever you do) that people like this don't actually exist in the real world. Because if they did (and they do, unfortunately) - well, that would make for one ridiculously frightening world.
In case you didn't get it from this review, I absolutely loved it. ( )

Liked it. ( )

I think I've been scarred for life by this book. Not by the stupid things the captives do to themselves, but by their stories and how I'll be walking along and suddenly see something that reminds me a really messed up story from the book. It's like watching the Doom Generation or a Rob Zombie horror flick. It's not really scary, but I leave the theater thinking, "What the hell did I just sit through?" That being said, I really liked the story of heaven being found on venus.

it's hard to say anything extraordinary about this book. as the writer himself linked it to the 19th century italian villa it could've also been a setup from dekameron, the story-within-a-story model quite widely used here, at times up to 4-5 layers within each other.
the horror -much talked about- wasn't that impressing, the stories resembling to derived-from-popular-culture movie-scenes with a little of literal excess added to it to spice it up. even more - the stories within seem to get weaker as the book approaches finale, the first few being funny and witty and inspirational etc. and from one point starting to bore with predictability. i finished the book only not to quit what i've started. and the last in the book was at least worth the trouble, again palahniuk at his best (at least from my view). maybe the low-fi writing was just to bring up the great ending? doubtable
so - it's not a very good book by the means of content or very fantasy extraordinaire but it's well written, palahniuk compensates the lack of inspiration with his skill. ( )