Rating: 
Summary: Postcards From The Edge?
Review: I should have been forewarned. Mr. Palahniuk is certainly upfront about what path he will take in this book. After all, the title is "Fugitives and Refugees" and I believe those are leopard skin pasties with tassels on the cover. I still hoped, however, that I would read about how vibrant Portland's downtown is, how Powell's Bookstore is unique for Portland and all the world and how Portland is a mecca for artists. Instead I get chapters on strange museums, strange restaurants and all the sex clubs in Portland-- and more about the author's own life than I care to know, most of which he tells in his "postcards" between the other chapters.Oh, sure. It's nice to know that there is an annual Emily Dickinson Sing-Along at Cafe Lena, for example. The bit about the Santas in the Portland SantaCon '96 is amusing. The chapter on Portland's zoo I found by far to be the most interesting, a telling commentary on my reaction to this book since zoos are usually the last place I visit in a new city. This book would not make me want to visit Portland.
Rating: 
Summary: Funny, Personal, Informative..A Unique View of The Rose City
Review: I was born in Portland and spent my first 27 years there, but I guess I lived something of a sheltered life. Sure, I'd been to Powells Book's (many times), to Darcelle's (once) and had seen the 24-hour Church of Elvis, but in this book, Chuck Palahniuk introduced me to a lot of Portland I never knew. Oh, what I was missing! In a coversation with writer Katherine Dunn at the beginning of the book, she shares with Palahniuk a theory I've heard others advance--that the city (and this region) attracts more than its share of offbeat folks because of its geographic position at the western end of the continent. People who are dissatisfied or don't feel like they fit in where they are have a tendency to keep moving. By the time they reach Oregon, they've run out of places to go. It makes sense to me, and seems as good an explanation as any for the whacky, wonderful subculture Chuck celebrates in this book. It's a unique blend of travel guide and personal memoir, and while it won't replace the traditional city handbooks, it's a great supplement for anybody wanting to explore the city's heart, soul, and sometimes seamy underside in a little more depth.
Rating: 
Summary: A Bit of Memoir, a Bit of Quirk
Review: If you're reading this you probably already have plans to buy the book and nothing here, good or bad, will sway you either way. And that's fine. If you stumbled here not because of the author, but because you are interested in Portland, I may have a few words for you. If you love Palahniuk and haven't paid much attention to what this book is about then let me tell you, it isn't a novel. It is in essence and collection of oddball sites and shops and things to see in Portland interjected with memoir. The memoir is enough to sell the book to the rabid fan. There is this feeling of connection that people want when they have a favorite artist of any kind, a need for the personal. And this fulfills that need like a gourmet dinner. Quality sustenance, small meal. If you are interested in the Oregon side of things, I'll say this: It depends what you're after. If you want the typical mall-tour of America, just looking to shop at the same stores in a different location, eat at chain restraints and have a need for safety in thought and presentation, this isn't for you. I don't want to describe this as a tour through the seedier side of town. How about a tour through the quirkier side of town. This is the stuff only long time residents can know about and you're a houseguests of Chuck and he's showing you around. A little shock, a little kitsch, but all fun. It's written in Chuck's minimalist style and flows nice enough. It's short and you'll certainly read it in one sitting.
Rating:
Summary: A very fresh look at Portland
Review: In Fugitives and Refugees: A Walk in Portland, Oregon Mr. Palahniuk comes at the Rose City from two directions: Offbeat points of interest and very offbeat personal memoir. In the former, the curiosities he offers as worthy of investigation are very refreshing and dig deeper than the usual pap regarding trendy restaurants and standard tourist attractions. For example, the section on haunted places included sites that were new to me and did not overlap at all with the usual list that shows up in the Oregonian every Halloween. Additionally, his exploration of the Oregon Zoo is very entertaining and focuses on the eccentricities of the animals as told from the very off-the-cuff perspective of the keepers, insights you will never get from a Tracy (never met a zoo story I didn't like!!!) Barry KGW News 8 broadcast. The personal memoir takes the form of vignettes spread throughout the book detailing the kind of stories you might tell your drinking buddies after the second pitcher at Produce Row and are uniformly compelling and often hilarious. I was lucky enough to hear Mr. Palahniuk offer up the "Acid Trip at Laser Floyd" story at a library reading earlier this year and this coupled with the "Midnight Rock Video Shoot at the Cornos Meat Counter" are worth the price of the book alone. Fugitives and Refugees is a very unique and breezy read that I highly recommend to anyone living in, near or at least familiar with Portland, Oregon.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome
Review: It is really cool how you get to know all the places where Chuck Palahniuk got his inspiration. You will want to visit Portland after this, you should be able to finish it in one sitting. The perfect thing to hold you over until DIARY comes out.
Rating:
Summary: Portland for the pulp reader
Review: It seems rather fitting that Chuck Palahniuk's FUGITIVES AND REFUGEES: A WALK IN PORTLAND, OREGON should list Powell's City of Books (the world's largest new and used bookstore, occupying an entire city block) as an interesting Portland attraction because this is where I first met the man himself. It was a book signing for Susan Faludi's STIFFED. I had never read any of his books, but Faludi had recommended the movie FIGHT CLUB which is based upon Palahniuk's book of the same name. So, after speaking with Faludi, I figured it was worth a shot: I approached Palahniuk and talked with him briefly. He was such a polite man, so energetic, and so approachable (the last man I would have expected to write a book with such a violent title), even frail, that I decided to take his advice and see his movie. He was right; I loved it. I then decided to read the book upon which the movie is based, and I couldn't relate. I put it down before finishing it. I decided to read INVISIBLE MONSTERS, and I still couldn't relate. I decided that his books just were not for me. But I remained somewhat proud of the fact that a hometown boy had become a national, perhaps even international, success. I cheered him on. With FUGITIVES AND REFUGEES: A WALK IN PORTLAND, OREGON Chuck is now cheering us on. He is celebrating the oddballs that make up Portland, Oregon (though I don't live there anymore, I still consider Portland to be my hometown), and doing something that most tourist books do not: he is actually telling you where the locals frequent, sharing history that the Chamber of Commerce may prefer you not have (did you know that Portland has more strip clubs and porno theaters per capita than any other city in the US, earning it the nickname "Pornland"?). But, as with the rest of Palahniuk's work, for the most part I just can't relate to the style he employs in FUGITIVES AND REFUGEES: A WALK IN PORTLAND, OREGON. Palahniuk is a very likable man and a magnetic personality (if you ever have a chance to attend one of his speaking engagements or books signing events, I highly recommend it; he is a great story teller), but his work seems largely intended for a very specific readership: the pulp audience of the white, male, suburban, twentysomething crowd. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this crowd, it's just I am not among them. So, carry on hometown hero! Thank you for writing a book about our eccentric city-of-origin (maybe future editions can eulogize Satyricon, the legendary Portland nightclub where Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain first met). I wish you all the success in the world. Now, back to Powell's political science and metaphysical section for me.... :)
Rating:
Summary: Northwest Passages
Review: Let me start by saying that I didn't pick this book up 'cause I'm a huge Chuck P fan. I liked the film of his book Fight Club, but the only novel of his I've read is Choke, and I found it to be muddled and rather weak. However, I did live in Portland for four years in the early '90s, when I was going to college there, so this seemed like a cool book to check out. Palahniuk's vibe is clearly aimed at the 15-50 quirkster/hipster demographic, and he hits on all cylinders with his portrait of the city nicknamed "Little Beirut" by Ronald Reagan and George Bush the Elder. The book is broken up into twelve chapters. "Talk the Talk" presents the key bits of PDX slang you'll need to sound like a local (most of which were unknown to me). "Quests" lists fourteen different "adventures" or things to do in and around the city. Samples include visiting the famous self-cleaning house, or spending an afternoon in eviction court. "Chow" is on food, of course, and is probably the most disappointing chapter. "Haunts" lists sixteen places to commune with ghosts and spirits in places like haunted hotels and bathrooms. "Souvenirs" is a throwaway two-page chapter listing five offbeat places to buy stuff. "Unholy Relics" is a list of nine offbeat museums, like the Vacuum Cleaner Museum. "Getting Off" is the longest chapter, and as one might guess, it's all about the city's sex scene, from strip bars to swinger clubs. Notable is the annual "I-Tit-A-Rod" race, in which the goal is to visit as many strip clubs in twelve hours as possible (no one has come close to making all fifty). A more genteel chapter follows this, highlighting the city's more interesting gardens and parks. "Getting Around" is a relatively tame hodgepodge of transportation related sights, including a decommissioned nuclear submarine. "Animal Acts" is almost entirely about the Portland Zoo, with small sections about the feral cats of Portland Stadium, and a few pug-related items. "The Shanghai Tunnels" is about Portland's legendary tunnel system and the
variety of tours one can take through them. Palahniuk moved to Portland after graduating high school in 1981, and separating each chapter are "postcards" of his time in the city. These are brief stories and escapades that chart a chronological course of his becoming more and more involved in Portland. Particularly hilarious are his tales of the annual "Santa Rampage" (imagine several hundred Santas battling riot police), and an end of the millennium party at the old Baghdad Theater. As a whole, the book is not one likely to be endorsed by the Portland Visitors Bureau, which is kind of the whole point of it. Like any city, Portland's civic leaders would like to present a shiny, happy facade of bland progress. Fortunately, we now have Palahniuk's valuable unsugarcoated portrait, one which only someone who truly loves the city could have penned.
Rating:
Summary: In the mood to take a different kind of vacation?
Review: Palahniuk, author of some of the most original novels in the past 10 years, has written a new "travel guide" to Portland, Oregon. His home since he graduated from High School, Palahniuk spent his college age years hanging out in some of the most interesting, yet out of the mainstream places in the city. He knows the haunted hotels, the weird museums, the local restaraunts, and of course, the great places for anything and everything related to sex. I'm not going to list or detail any of them because I don't wish to spoil the fun of reading it, but I will say that after reading this book, I am beginning to think of Minneapolis as a bit dull. Highly Recommended!
Rating:
Summary: An unusually funky guide to an unusually funky city
Review: Rare for American cities, Portland, Oregon is widely loved by its inhabitants despite the fact that the city has so few of the typical tourist attractions other American cities can claim. One of Portland's finest novelists, Chuck Pahlaniuk, had the great idea of celebrating the weirdness of the city in a guide book that emphasizes what makes Portland so singular a city: its odd urban legends, its ghosts, its ever-increasing and especially its ever-present opportunities for seaminess and sex. What you get in the end is a very funny look at a very funky city, enlivened by Palahniuk's sober wittiness. The book does seem a bit of a rush-job in that it doesn't sustain a narrative as much as it could have: many of the ideas seem tossed together, and the work could have benefitted from more historical material (Portland's history is every bit as weird as its present). But nonetheless this is an inexpensive delight.
Rating:
Summary: Palahniuk's Hometown View
Review: Reading this travelogue makes one feel as though they now know the hidden side of Portland, Oregon that is really out in the open for all to experience. Palahniuk acts as a tour guide through Portland and the surrounding areas pointing out places of interest that one would not find in a typical travel guide. From haunted places, to Chuck's favorite restaurants, to quirky museums and wanton sex clubs, everything is here. There are even guides to local zoos and gardens. Thoughout, Palahniuk makes these places come alive to the reader through the narrative and history that he gives. Between each section of the book, Chuck gives the reader a little glimpse into his life at various points from 1980 to the present. While this is not a true autobiography, it gives little glimpses into the life of the man who has given us such great novels. I found these excerpts to be the most interesting and enjoyable parts of the book. While this isn't the usual Palahniuk fiction, it is a wonderful read and an insight into Palahniuk and the city he calls home.
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