Rating: 
Summary: Second best? maybe first?
Review: Let's state the obvious. BUY IT!second lets get it straight, tender branson and chuck are wells full of ideas. there is nothing more important to suicidal idiots from san diego to learn than how to kill yourself in more ways than 12. Chuck strips the subject, laughs at it, takes its picture with his 5.2 megapixel camera, and makes it something we all can enjoy. Chuck avoid the mysticim. BUt PLEASE...dont stop churning out books like this. IF YOU DO!
Rating: 
Summary: I vote to keep this book on the island..
Review: Don't judge a book by its title. This is not Homer's Odyssey. The "survivor" here is not an "action figure," but the hero as passive participant, as a victim of forces he perceives as larger than himself. Readers might benefit from knowing in advance two things: (1) When this book begins, the end is alrady in sight; in the pages that follow the central character of this dark comedy, Tender Branson, explains, as best he can, how he arrived at the point where the reader begins; (2) In the pages that follow -- that is, in Branson's autobiography -- we see a "hero" whose life is the result of forces he was powerless to alter. Branson does not create; at best, he preserves. Professionally, he cleans, and the book provides countless "tips" for removing the human stain in all its varities. Yet he is no friend of the human struggle for self-preservation and is not above recommending to others the suicide he finds for himself. (He operates an ad hoc suicide hotline that always prescribes suicide). So, why should readers bother with Branson? Tender Branson is the modern American pilgrim. He wants to live in the ideal society where life has its predictable rhythms, but recognizes that he cannot -- that the idyllic village is out of reach precisely because it cannot insulate itself from the larger world. Thrust into that world himself, he does what he knows: he works in the service of others and is finally led by them to capitalize on his childhood experience in the cult of the Creedish. That is not the path to self-realization and awareness. The pilgrim's path was, in this case, a poor education. Ultimately he strikes out on his own. By the book's end, and by definition its beginning, Branson has found his "free will," and opted to get out. A dark choice, but a choice just the same.
Rating:
Summary: A Must Read! You Won't Be Sorry To Buy It!
Review: Did you think Fight Club was strange? It only scratched the surface of Chuck Palahniuk's satirical psyche, only served as a warmup for this deadpan media/religion scather that concludes in an even more over-the-top fashion than Palahniuk's debut novel. That the pages and chapter numbers of Survivor count down instead of up is only the most superficial aberration. You'll recognize some of Palahniuk's devices from Fight Club immediately -- the short paragraphs, choppy sentences, narrator dialogue not distinguished with quote marks. The all-knowing consumerism and dead-on ideological emptiness. And, of course, the beginning that reveals the ending and spends the rest of the book arriving at that point through flashbacks. As Survivor opens, our protagonist, Tender Branson, is waiting for the 747 he's on to nosedive into Australia. The passengers were let off some time ago, and the pilot parachuted out shortly after. Now it's just Branson and the black-box flight recorder, into which he is dictating the story of his life. Our narrator possesses an insane prescience of home remedies. He pretty much has to; his work assignment is to baby sit a wealthy couple who doesn't know the cocktail fork from the grapefruit spoon. Who require explicit instructions on how to consume the catered food at dinner parties they've been invited to and not make fools of themselves. Everyone in Branson's cult had work assignments. The Creedish church he grew up in was a compound not unlike the Branch Davidians or Heaven's Gate, and in predictable fashion, almost all committed mass suicide at the first sign of FBI invasion. The remaining members, it seems, are committing suicide (or are they?) one by one, and all Branson has is his equally disturbed therapist and crammed daily planner to keep him going. That, and he's set up flyers all over town bearing his phone number, inviting the suicidal and desperate to give him a call. Those who call are encouraged to go ahead and kill themselves, and Branson visits the graves of those who do. It gives him some odd comfort, and it's how he meets Fertility Hollis -- this book's Marla Singer -- whose brother killed himself after having disturbing dreams of the future. Dreams she's also started having. As you might have guessed just from the plot details, Survivor is actually more messed up than Fight Club, and the strangeness only compounds as the book goes. As the atmosphere continually changes, so do Palahniuk's possibilities for satire -- by the last third, it's almost entirely a dissertation on fame and the media. Disturbing, yes; satisfying, almost, but Survivor is definitely worthwhile reading for anyone who stomached and appreciated Fight Club. Two other quick Amazon picks: odd little novels I enjoyed -- WILL@epicqwest.com by Tom Grimes, The Losers' Club by Richard Perez
Rating:
Summary: Survivor is the Greatest Book Ever!!!
Review: I am a huge fan of Chuck Palahniuk's "Fight Club", so I thought I'd check out his other novels. They were all good, but when I got to "Survivor" I was blown away!!! I laughed the hardest I've ever laughed while reading a novel. The plot is very original, the characters are very textured, the way it's written is fresh and new. Instantly after finishing the last page I knew that was the best book I'd ever read. Every chapter is completely different then the next. And it always keeps you asking yourself, "Where can this go from here." And then it does a total 180 and goes somewhere you'd never thought it could! I can honestly say that I think it's leaps and bounds better than "Fight Club" too. Very funny, clever and well written. Do yourself a favor and read this novel. You won't be disappointed!
Rating: 
Summary: It's Hip to Be Stupid: Tarzan as Messiah
Review: This book, it's called SURVIVOR, demonstrates that it's hip to be stupid. It's written as bad as this lousy Amazon review and stuff. Yeah, Tarzan's fans are a lot like the cultists that follow Tender Branson in this book. They all wear their official Tarzan T-shirts ("You're not special!") and love the simplicity and stupidity of the author's psuedo-sentences, all jacked-up Tarzan-style. And, boy, do they love Brad Pitt! You will learn in this book how to eat a lobster. Never mind that this passage was taken word-for-word from a book on eating etiquette. Never mind that this book, it's called SURVIVOR, it's about manners and stuff, all special and cool, is completely unmannered and barbaric. Never mind that the lobster-eating passage is completely unrelated to the subject matter of the book. What's really important is that people will think that you are F----ING COOL if you carry this book around with you! You don't even have to read it! Didn't somebody, I think it was someone called "Gertrude Stein," say that the best thing about reading books is to show other people what you're reading and stuff? Yeah, even though you know Tarzan is a bad writer, you can always pretend that he's a good one. Because if you don't, people will think that you're uncool. Or that you have a mind of your own. Or both. And stuff. SURVIVOR is an Insta-Book. It could have been produced at random by a computer. Somebody, I think his name was "John Barth" or something, once wrote a book about that. Or something. Oh, yeah. There's also the weakest kidnapping narrative in the history of literature. You won't be gripped. But who cares? The book is EDGY, dude! Meanwhile, Tarzan looks on the Internet for information on some guy called "Plato" and Tarzan's editor corrects his spelling mistakes.
Rating: 
Summary: i survived but it wasn't too hard.
Review: I had heard that Survivor was Chuck Palahniuk's best book by far. I had read Invisible Monsters, which turned out to be my favorite book, so I was expecting even more incredible writing. I only found dissapointment. The story is intriguing and you can't put it down because you are waiting to find out what happens. A friend told me "You should expect what happens in the end but you don't". I already knew what was going to happen because the whole book opens from the end! There were no big twists or turns which is how Invisible Monsters was. I would NOT recommend this book unless you do not like surprises...
Rating:
Summary: I Couldn't Put This Book Down!
Review: After having watched the movie "Fight Club", I decided to try reading something by author Chuck Palahniuk. "Survivor" is the book that I happened to pick, and I think it is an excellent book. Chuck Palahniuk's writing style reminds me of Kurt Vonnegut on a good day. His satire and style are sharp and insightful. The book "Survivor" tells the story of Tender Branson, a man who was raised in a bizarre cult. Palahniuk takes Branson, a man raised in a conservative fashion similar to the Amish (if the Amish were a death cult!) and juxtaposes his simple but strict upbringing against such new American "institutions" as pornography, suicide hotlines, and televangilist/mass media new-age gurus. Palahniuk leaves few oddities of American life untouched, incorporating 20th century products ranging from pre-fab homes that are brought to the homeowner on semis to incomprehensible self help books. I found his satire of modern life to be both hilarious and full of thought-provoking ironies. While I noticed that some of the previous reviewers of this book took issue with Palahniuk's writing style, calling it "choppy" and saying that it jumped around too much, I completely disagree! I think that his writing style reflects the chaotic and lightening-paced world in which we live. His writing is spare and without the flowery descriptive prose that one might find, say, in a 19th century English novel, but that's what makes this book work! The writing style sets the tone and pace of this novel. A few reviewers say they found the book hard to follow, but I think that if you are capable of following a movie such as "Pulp Fiction", then you should be able to easily follow this book. Another reviewer had a problem with the highly improbable, schizophrenic plot. What a reader needs to understand going into this book is that Palahniuk is not striving for realism. He is using his plot as a device to make his revelations about society. This is a common practice among satirists. I would advise anyone who likes to contemplate the strange and ironic to give this book a chance. I cannot wait to read more Palahniuk!
Rating:
Summary: so wonderful!
Review: this is a very good read! I was very impressed with it. At first I thought it was a slow moving, kind of monotonous novel, but it turned out to be so I couldn't put it down. I highly reccomend it. Dont listen to the people bashing this! Its really fun to read and very enjoyable. Funny, sad, scary, disturbing, sickening, and truthful all at the same time! i give it an A+!!
Rating:
Summary: Palahniuk: Master of cynicism
Review: After reading and viewing Fight Club I became a fan of many of Chucks Books. I felt that this book, Survivor, just added to his collection of books that have very quotable antedotes within every chapter. His cynical characters always seem to relate to me in some way though i am not as radical in any way as they are. i feel that for those who like to read about a world that has the main character focused on what is really happening, i would reccomend a lot of chuck's books.
Rating:
Summary: Palahniuk, the king of quirk!
Review: Quite a quirky little novel. Another fast read from Chuck.
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