Chuck Palahniuk, the author of Fight Club, has a particular short story he likes to entertain the audience with at public readings.
Because it makes people faint. According to Wikipedia, the body count is up to 60.
It’s called Guts.
A year or two ago, I read it all the way through. This time, I had to quit about an eighth from the end. The underside of my chin started pulsating –the warning sign that I’m about to throw up.
This short story is also chapter of Palahniuk’s novel “Haunted”. I just finished reading it the other day after borrowing it from a friend. We, my friend and I, both love just about everything Palahniuk writes, but after reading “Haunted” my friend said she was a little disappointed because the book left her with the impression that he just put together a couple of shorties and turned the whole thing into a novel. Which is not a bad thing if you ask me. Anyway, my point is if you want the underside of your chin to pulsate some more you might want to read “Haunted” too. It’s really good.
BTW, I love reading your posts, so I’m glad to see you back in action.
What the…
Well, I guess I’m glad I wrote that instead of hearing it read well.
I read the short story about a year ago but I’ve been waiting to hear it “preformed” by the man himself. sadly I haven’t gotten the chance, though I did get the next best thing, which was listening to the Haunted audio book. There’s something even more disturbing by hearing it read, like the person speaking, if preformed well, takes ownership of the story and make it a little more real.
OMG… Guts again…
Got “Haunted” at Audible, and I listened to Guts while I was in a train in Germany. Almost hit the iPod’s stop-button…
At the moment I am listening to Murakami’s “The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle” and there is one scene that is also quite… disgusting. Of course, also listending to that one in a train ๐