Rating: 
Summary: do you really what to do this?
Review: note: review ambiguity intentional...Lulliby was fun, but not as "eccentric" as i was expecting. interesting: the idea of murder for the sole purpose of having at your disposal a beautiful... partner and presenting it as an acceptable and perfectly reasonable practice that makes absolute sense. in some dark morbid way it's like, "why didn't i think of that, hmmmmmmmm" (if men admit it honestly). i liked the present-time inserts during the story: "stop making babies!" and the talking "judas cow" scene. the "hero", as sarcastically referred to, reminded me of all-about-money women that men, obviously including the author, love to hate, hate to love but can not help it... "and this is my life". it seems fitting how she ends up; although, the story could have ended in so many other ways... its a nice image though to think that a woman (conceited, middle-aged, too much foundation...) ends up inside the body of an old baggy potato of a prison cop. the story took me back to my favorite town of residence, Portland, Oregon: the apparition of a young dark haired woman in a black dress (with a small white rose pattern and white lace collar) who smelled liked lilac at my Broadway victorian home, Skyline, Forest Park, Northwest 23rd, Southeast, Burnside, Cornell, Portland State, OHSU, I-84 (to Hood River), Candlelight Room, the Red Sea, Key Largo, Dandelion Pub, Coffee People, Zupans, 26 to Powell Butte and Mt. Hood, Arlene Schnitz..... Taylor Street. i,m moving back into one of the haunted houses
Rating:
Summary: Lullaby Review
Review: "Do we have free will, or do the mass media and our culture control us, our desires and actions, from the moment we're born?" (Palahniuk 228)Insightful questions such as these appear throughout Chuck's book which starts off to be about a solitary widower who is reporting on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Through seemingly unimportant events and random plot twists, this reporter, Carl Streator,connects the deaths to a book wich contains a poem that is a culling spell and kills whoever hears it. He meets Helen, her wiccan secretary Mona, and Mona's boyfriend Oyster and together the 'family' drive cross country to root out the existance of the book whithout killing everyone in the process.
Lullaby presents the reader with many questions and ideas that were probably not considered at first. "Imagine a plague you catch through your ears..." It becomes a series of plot twists and suprising events that lead to the truth that Palahniuk is a literary genius of dark humor.
Rating: 
Summary: Trippy and dark is the name of the game
Review: This is a very trippy novel. Chuck has a dark style quite effectively compared to Vonnegut. His examination of the seamier side of the human psyche and of the dangers of invoking ancient magic chronicles a journey and transformation that the main character Mr. Streater undergoes through the course of the novel. Tackling increasingly unnatural and disturbing elements of society, both past and present, Palahniuk keeps the reader riveted, while strangely disgusted at the same time. While not exactly graphic in its writing, the images conjured by the content and what is implied are more than enough to make the novel considerably more dark and unnerving than most. It is however, one of Chuck's less disturbing titles. Other novels he has written, such as Fight Club or Choke, are probably much higher on the "I'm disgusted, but can't look away scale," but Lullaby is by no means a piece of literature for anyone who can't appreciate a dark look at what happens when nobler aspirations are taken to the extreme. People are trying to save the human race and Mother Earth, but are trying to accomplish this goal through mass murder and magic. Anyway, it's a very gravy book. Chuck is an excellent writer and this is an excellent book as well.
Rating:
Summary: I am god.
Review: series of articles about S.I.D.S. (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) He makes a shocking discovery when he goes to the scenes. At the scene of every death, he found a copy of the same anthology of poems and lullabies all open to the same African chant. This chant is lethal when spoken or thought in anyone's direction. Once it becomes "lodged" in his brain, he finds himself being an involuntary serial killer. He and Helen Hoover Boyle team up to eliminate all copies of the book from libraries and bookstores. Mona Sabbat and her eco-terrorist boyfriend, Oyster also tag along in this adventure. This book was an amazing book that stretches the imagination and makes the senses feel alive. You can really feel this book. Once you pick it up, you won't want to put it down. This book is a great book for anyone who wants an exciting book. To quote Chuck Palahniuk himself, "This book makes Fight Club look like little women." This book will keep you on the edge of your seat and if you've seen or read Fight Club and liked it, you'll love this book. This is a "blackly comic tour de force" This book definitely reinstates him as our funniest nihilist. ~Erick Galinkin
Rating:
Summary: Chuck's supernatural page-turner
Review: Lullabye is a story about a poem that can kill any person who hears it. Once the poem is memorized by Carl Streater, it slowly begins to affect his life and the lives of those around him for the worst. Carl, with the help of Helen Hoover Boyle plans to find every copy of the poem and destroy it. Palahniuk is entertaining, interesting, unique, and delightfully offensive in Lullabye. The story sets itself up for an interesting climax and unsettled ending. The characters become lovable in their own hatable ways. The supernatural aspects of Lullabye stretch the mind just the right amount to keep most any reader attentive. While this story may not be as dense as Palahniuk's other works, it definately earns its place in his collection of oddly entertaining and unique novels.
Rating:
Summary: Unexpected of Chuck
Review: I have to say, I really thought this book was uncharacteristic of Palahniuk, but still entertaining nonetheless. Like some of the other reviewers, I too was confused a little throughout the book trying to figure out where the hell in the book I was, and awaited patiently, how, and when he was going to explain what had already happened. But when it finally came around, it was another typical reaction of, "Oh man!" that I had to utter like I did after everyone of his other books. I'm normally not a big fan of witchy stuff, but he pulled it out. Chuck is the man.
Rating: 
Summary: 3.50 stars
Review: well, hes always good and this is no differant. this one just wasnt my favorite.
Starts out great, but towards the middle, it turned into another story and became a little weird and confusing.
A reporter begins researching the deaths of babies, whose parents all have mysteriously sung them a lullaby (culling song) from the same book........
thats how it begins.
that ISNT how it ends.
a good read but very strange
he is very "readale" and keeps your attention,
but
this wasnt his best work
even though it was good
Rating:
Summary: simply........wow.....
Review: This was my first book by Chuck and I was blown away. I never figured the narration tecniques used in Fight Club could be written and inturpreted in a novel. How beautiful it is. I'm now reading Choke and will continue with his other books. His style is amazing. I used to think Anne Rice was a decent author... now I have to laugh at the way Chuck makes her work look like a fairy tale. The only complaint I can have about this book is that it ended. I would have liked to read on forever. He's so damned original. Best novel I've ever read to date.
Rating:
Summary: Wow? Yikes? Wow.
Review: I finished this book last night. I can't stop thinking about it, really. Chuck Palahniuk is probably the best horror writer I've ever read, hands down. You won't find the book in the horror section with the werewolves and ghouls, because he manages to turn a cross country drive through rural America into a head-trip of horror. Every word, every thought, every fast food restaraunt is a ticking time bomb. And strangely enough, it's also a very funny book. The ending left me speechless. And a bit freaked out. This book is really a masterpiece of American literature. Get it now.
Rating:
Summary: The Man Cannot Write A Bad Book
Review: Well, I read "Lullaby," and it was spectacular. This is typical of a Palahniuk novel, because his stories all feature extremely amazing characters with equally awesome first-person narrations, twisted and compelling plots, and dark, funny, and always thought-provoking social commentaries. The narrator in this story is reporter Carl Streator, who is assigned to check out multiple cases of SIDs. After a close look into each case, he finds out that the "culling song" has been read to each victim; a culling song is a song or poem read to someone to put them out of their misery. The problem: it kills even if it's recited in your head, and Carl has definitely read it enough to know it in his mind. Further investigation takes him to a woman named Helen Hoover Boyle, a real estate agent who sells people houses that are possessed by demons (one of the many funny things about the narration in this one is the descriptions of the houses), her strange friend and secretary, Mona, and Mona's extremely, well, opinionated boyfriend Oyster. Together, the four of them go all over the country looking to destroy every remaining copy of the book that features the culling song, and the story just gets crazier and weirder and more and more exciting as you read. Making you laugh, making you shudder, and making you think, "Lullaby" is a great novel by one of the best writers to date, and you need to check it out.
|
