This document provides biographical information about author Chuck Palahniuk and summarizes his novel "Survivor". It notes that Palahniuk was born in 1962 in Washington, and that "Survivor" tells the story of the last surviving member of a cult recalling events on a crashing plane. The excerpt examines society's focus on attention and fame surrounding death.
2. Chuck Palahniuk “ A moment of perfection was worth the effort. A moment was the most you could ever expect from perfection.”
3. Biography Chuck Palahniuk was born on February 21, 1962 in Burbank, Washington. He graduated from Colombia High School in 1980 and won the “Most Wittiest” award, one that would come into play later in life. From there, he attended the University of Oregon.
4. Biography (cont.) Palahniuk worked blue collar jobs which allowed him to observe people, which later influenced much of his work. His first novel, Invisible Monsters , was turned down by publishers, so he wrote Fight Club , which later became a cult hit and a movie.
5. Biography (cont.) Though his family appeared to be a typical American family, violence had been a problem, as his grandfather tried to murder Chuck's father and succeeded in murdering his wife. The Palahniuks were not done suffering violence, however. In 2000, Chuck's father and his father's girlfriend were murdered by her ex-husband.
8. Book Review Survivor is a fictional piece which concerns Tender Branson, a member of the Creedish “deat cult” and last living survivor of said cult recalling how he ended up alone on a plane flying over the Pacific. This plane will shortly be crashing into the outback of Australia, but Tender is recording his story of how things ended up like this into the flight recorder.
9. Book Review (cont.) Palahniuk's second novel is hysterically funny and ironic while somehow managing to be absolutely desperate. His attention to detail and research makes this novel very lifelike and believable. Told starting at chapter 47 and moving backwards, this novel is a true gem.
10. Excerpt from Survivor The truth is that all of this was just a part of the suicide process. Because tanning and steroids are only a problem if you plan to live a long time. Because the only difference between a suicide and a martyrdom really is the amount of press coverage. If a tree falls in the forest, and nobody is around to hear it, doesn't it just lie there and rot? And if Christ had died from a barbiturate overdose, alone on the bathroom floor, would He be in Heaven? This wasn't a question of whether or not I was going to kill myself. This, this effort, the writing team, the drugs, the diet, the agent, the flights of stairs going up to nowhere, all this was so I could off myself with everyone's full attention. - Survivor
11. Analysis of Excerpt Essesnntially, Palahniuk is stressing that the public's attention to someone has come to define their importance in society. If a stranger dies, it doesn't affect nearly as many people as when a celebrity, such as Marilyn Monroe, dies. The social concepts that Palahniuk examines here are the basic want of attention becoming much more.
12. I Chose This Excerpt Because... This excerpt was chosen for the reason that it not only sums up the novel, but it's a fairly famous quote that I had heard before. Originally I thought Panic! At The Disco came up with it, as it is a title of a song they wrote, but after reading this novel, I understood its origin. The “suicide” idea is Tender's driving force for much of his actions in this novel and this excerpt was what brought it full circle.
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14. In Conclusion... Survivor was filled with cleaning tips, quotable passages, and a great, page-turning story. Chuck Palahniuk is one of my favorite modern authors, and he never disappoints.
