Rating: 
Summary: Crazy Man's Tour of Portland -- I like it!
Review: Regardless of your sanity, Fugitives and Refugees is a snapshot of Portland life, life gone insane, and for good reason. Portland has a distinct history, chock full of pirates, prostitutes, and other ne'er-do-wells, setting it apart from most of mainline America. It's a cheap place to live, according to Chuck, and hordes of Artists and other extremists have given themselves over to the charms of Portland's insanity. "This gives us the most cracked of the crackpots. The misfits among misfits." And Chuck Palahniuk calls it home. His crowned jewel of western America. His muse and creative energy. A place where everyone lives three lives, with no regrets or inhibitions. I am sane, by comparison to these folks. And its good to know there are crazier places than California. This is a totally cool book! Other recent books I recommend, full of misfits and fun: The Fan Man by Kotzwinkle, The Losers' Club by Richard Perez
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Summary: A Walking Tour On The Wild Side
Review: The main draw of this book for me is Palahniuk's "postcards", his one to two page long memories scattered throughout the book. These are models of economy, which immediately grab the reader's interest and have lots of little surprises (not all of them pleasant). Especially hilarious are his tales of his role in an MTV video, and of a protest stunt by anarchists that ended up looking like a protest against Italy. (Sorry to be vague, but it defies summary.)The rest of the book is a altie travel guide of the _Lonely Planet_ backroads style. Sights range from the scenic to the seedy, emphasis on the off-beat, though there is a welcome, and unexpected, chapter on the city's gardens. His affection for his town shines through most every passage of every section. There may not be much left of the frontier, which a century and a half ago prompted Thoreau to say "I must walk toward Oregon, and not toward Europe", but what's left is wild enough, and still distinctively American.
Rating:
Summary: A Walking Tour On The Wild Side
Review: The main draw of this book for me is Palahniuk's "postcards", his one to two page long memories scattered throughout the book. These are models of economy, which immediately grab the reader's interest and have lots of little surprises (not all of them pleasant). Especially hilarious are his tales of his role in an MTV video, and of a protest stunt by anarchists that ended up looking like a protest against Italy. (Sorry to be vague, but it defies summary.) The rest of the book is a altie travel guide of the _Lonely Planet_ backroads style. Sights range from the scenic to the seedy, emphasis on the off-beat, though there is a welcome, and unexpected, chapter on the city's gardens. His affection for his town shines through most every passage of every section. There may not be much left of the frontier, which a century and a half ago prompted Thoreau to say "I must walk toward Oregon, and not toward Europe", but what's left is wild enough, and still distinctively American.
Rating: 
Summary: The underbelly of civilization
Review: The map is the first indication that all is not what it seems. A basic ink rendering, it lays out the streets and rivers of Portland, Oregon, using numbers to denote areas of interest. The legend, however, lists details not found on a common map. Three Groins in a Fountain. The Feral Cat Races. Scum Center. Chuck Got Beat Up Here. Places not customarily located in a simple guidebook, or tourist bureau. These are wild neighbourhoods. Unusual locales. Odd people. Areas and events only a Portland native might be familiar with. Luckily for the armchair traveller, American fiction author Chuck Palahniuk knows and loves Portland inside and out. Fugitives and Refugees: A Walk in Portland, Oregon is part of an ongoing series of guidebooks baring cities and countries to the idiosyncratic eyes of authors of fiction, each revealing far more of the character and eccentricities of a place than a standard travel guide might provide. Michael Cunningham (author of The Hours) explores Provincetown. Christopher Buckley (Little Green Men) humourously gazes upon Washington. Laura Esquivel (Like Water For Chocolate) walks through Mexico. Now, Chuck Palahniuk, the bitterly satirical novelist best known for his scalding Fight Club and last year's brilliant Lullaby, introduces the unconventional nature of the city dubbed "Little Beirut" by Ronald Reagan. Appropriately enough, Palahniuk's entertaining exposé of Portland, "a sort-of photo album of the moment," exposes an esoteric underbelly few might want to acknowledge, a profane world of sex clubs, rampaging Santas, and "the most cracked of the crackpots." This is very much a personality-fuelled travel guide. Palahniuk provides concise, valuable information on how to find such attractions as the World's Largest Ten Commandments, the Self-Cleaning House, the Shanghai Tunnels, and Leprechaun Park, a park "about the size of a big dinner plate." Palahniuk does not sugarcoat the city; sizable chunks of the narrative are devoted to haunted hotels, strange museums, and places where the more baser instincts can be sated. Interspersed amidst the arcana are autobiographical commentaries one would expect from the author of Fight Club. Through alternately comical and obscene stories of the annual Apocalypse Café, his introduction to LSD, and his volunteer job chauffeuring relatives of the dying to the airport, he adds another layer to the city already infamous as the birthplace of Tonya Harding and Bob Packwood. Palahniuk does something more significant than simply reveal Portland's sordid secrets; he reminds the reader of the specific nature of every city, those localities and personalities that define a metropolis beyond what officials would flaunt to tourists. In every municipality, despite an ostensible masquerade of civility, "the wilderness is always nearby." Eventually, Palahniuk confesses the fruitlessness in categorically defining the essence of the city. "The most I can ever do is write things down. To remember them. The details. To honor them in some way. This book is not Portland, Oregon. At best, it's a series of moments with interesting people." Every city should be so lucky to have such an estimable tourguide.
Rating:
Summary: "A fun exploration--not for the un-experienced"
Review: This book is a total break from Chucks novels, which is refreshing. It's easy to see where he has picked up a lot of the material for his other books. I've passed through Portland a couple of times, however, the only thing I've ever done is gas up and stop for some fast-food. Every girl I've met from Portland was hot. It's a place I'd like to explore, especially after reading this book. I did live in Seattle for 6 months, and did some exploring. There is a lot of history in the great northwestern United States. As for the sleazy strip clubs and such; I feel they cheapen an area, and give it an undesirable atmosphere. Chuck never tries to sweeten the pot. He goes for the guts, which I find 'fresh' and compelling. Like another reviewer stated--the Chamber of Commerce wouldn't like potential citizens of Portland to use this book as a guide to the city. I for one would.
Rating:
Summary: "A fun exploration--not for the un-experienced"
Review: This book is a total break from Chucks novels, which is refreshing. It's easy to see where he has picked up a lot of the material for his other books. I've passed through Portland a couple of times, however, the only thing I've ever done is gas up and stop for some fast-food. Every girl I've met from Portland was hot. It's a place I'd like to explore, especially after reading this book. I did live in Seattle for 6 months, and did some exploring. There is a lot of history in the great northwestern United States. As for the sleazy strip clubs and such; I feel they cheapen an area, and give it an undesirable atmosphere. Chuck never tries to sweeten the pot. He goes for the guts, which I find 'fresh' and compelling. Like another reviewer stated--the Chamber of Commerce wouldn't like potential citizens of Portland to use this book as a guide to the city. I for one would.
Rating:
Summary: This book RULES!!!
Review: This is about as close as you are going to get to a autobiography of Chuck Palahniuk, but hey, it is all good. Fugitives and Refuggees is not your ordinary travel book. This book looks deep into the "other" side of Portland. Most of the book talks about places to eat, see, and also one of my most favorite chapters where you can go for some good strip shows in Portland. I have to say that I love Laurie (Chuck's roomate) and how when she was younger, she would go sneak into her father's bed, and give him "oral pleasure". Some of the thing's that Chuck did when he was younger was strange, but yet I am glad to see that I got to know a little bit more about one of my favorite authors. So if you want to go to Portland, then read this book. There are some strange landmarks there too, and some of the shows there are fun to go to. Some of them are strange, but they still worth checking out.
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Summary: not your average travel guide
Review: This is Chuck Palahniuk's travel guide to Portland, Oregon. He gives a pronunciation/terms list so that visitors won't sound so much like outsiders when talking to local residents. Knowing the other work of Palahniuk, you can go into this book expecting this to be an unconventional travel guide. Palahniuk has a unique outlook on life and what is worth seeing and he presents that in this book. There is no narrative in this travel book, but it is broken up into sections. In each section, Palahniuk lists (and describes) various things to see and do in Portland. One section may be on eateries, another on haunted locations, yet another on gardens. In each section, we are given off-the-beaten-path ideas of what to do and where to go in Portland. Even if you have no interest in traveling to Portland, this makes for an interesting book to read. You get a sense of the city and the city's fringe elements. It gives a different flavor than what you might expect from a Fodor's travel guide. I would recommend this book to fans of Palahniuk or anyone looking to read an interesting and different travel guide.
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Summary: I like this book... but was it has some definite problems.
Review: This isn't a novel, it's something of a travel guide, just in case anyone was still uncertain about this aspect. This is almost like William Burroughs' "Junky" being a guide to New York City in the 1940s, except it's not in a novel format. It's not your traditional Fodor's Guide to Nonsensical Travel, this is a pretty loose, irreverent, and different take on the city Palahniuk calls home, Portland, Oregon. This is almost like William Burroughs' "Junky" being a guide to New York City in the 1940s, except it's not in a novel format. I like this book because it introduces you to a side of Portland that is not often seen or written about in mainstream and tells the reader about the oddball characters, bizarre happenings and goings on, and provides a guide to some irreverent, half-assed, and often fascinating landmarks that you wouldn't find elsewhere, including many places special to Palahniuk himself. That said, Palahniuk is flat-out misrepresenting his city. I've been to Portland frequently, and while it is an interesting place, Palahniuk really hams up his prose and descriptions here to the point of being disingenuous. Palahniuk manages to make Portland out to be as addictively seedy as a 1980s-era Times Square, as full of creative miscreants as pre-tech boom San Francisco, and as gloriously full of bohemian life as 1920s Paris. This is simply not the case, Portland exists on a much smaller scale, as I'm certain its residents would attest to. It is somewhat disappointing to see Palahniuk shill so badly for his city as to distort matters this far... reading this one would think you're going to run into a mad drunken artist every moment. I also have to question the wisdom of Palahniuk writing this novel. Since it has been published, Palahniuk has publicly bemoaned that some of what he has written about has disappeared, or even been changed by the attention he's brought. It seems rather blind of him not to have anticipated this... as it's been throughout time with humanity, like in Alex Garland's fine novel "The Beach," when you bring relatively unknown things to wider audience, often they are ruined or changed for the worse. If my feelings about this book seem mixed, I can assure you - they are.
Rating:
Summary: Damn good book for Palahniuk Fans
Review: Well i guess the first is to say that this book is non-fiction. Its basically a bizarre travel guide to Chuck's hometown of Portland. The power of chuck is that he can take a place that i have never been to or have seen pictures of and make i feel like have lived there my whole life. Basically he explores all the aspects of Portland that most people wouldn't cover in a travel guide. These topics include: where to get a piece of bum in Portland, the strange museums, the sewers, and haunted places. An while most chapters have some really interesting stories, there are some damn boring ones in the collection. Things that you read and go "i really didn't need to know that," but luckily that only happened 2 or 3 times in the 176 page book. I think the real gems are the "postcards" that separate each chapter. These are autobiographical glimpses into Palahniuk's past and they give you a look at the man who would later write bestsellers like Fight Club, Choke, and Lullaby. Chuck made this book interesting and I'm happy to have read it. Any Palahniuk fans will enjoy this book for at the least the autobiographical postcards. For new Palahniuk fans i suggest this fictional work that i mentioned above and his novel Survivor.
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