The Book List are mini-posts about books I have on my shelf (or digital shelf) that I have yet to read.
Death and hell have a certain beautiful connection, as one seems to inform the other, or at least call the fears of the latter to mind as doomsday approaches. I can’t help but link Hank Morgan’s journey in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court to a doomed expedition of a naïve crew embarking to hell.
Today, we outline and summarize the book Doomed by Chuck Palahniuk, author of Fight Club, which details the exploits of noxious teen Madison Spencer.
Summary
The book tells the story of Madison Spencer, a young woman who manages to escape from Hell after a “botched Halloween ritual.” She is the protagonist from Palahniuk’s first novel Damned. Madison delves into a world filled with supernatural creatures and challenges that test her bravery and determination. It also critiques social media if only to speak to the torture of updating a profile. Yet, through technology, Madison communicates with her vapid parents, and she uncovers the mysteries of her past. Additionally, Madison is also forced to confront the consequences of her actions and the responsibility that comes with being a pawn in the devil’s own plan.
Book blurb
From the book: “After a Halloween ritual gone awry, Madison finds herself trapped in Purgatory—or, as mortals like you and I know it, Earth. She can see and hear every detail of the world she left behind, yet she’s invisible to everyone who’s still alive. Not only do people look right through her, they walk right through her as well. The upside is that, no longer subject to physical limitations, she can pass through doors and walls. Her first stop is her parents’ luxurious apartment, where she encounters the ghost of her long-deceased grandmother. For Madison, the encounter triggers memories of the awful summer she spent upstate with Nana Minnie and her grandfather, Papadaddy. As she revisits the painful truth of what transpired over those months (including a disturbing and finally fatal meeting in a rest stop’s fetid men’s room, in which . . . well, never mind), her saga of eternal damnation takes on a new and sinister meaning. Satan has had Madison in his sights from the very beginning: through her and her narcissistic celebrity parents, he plans to engineer an era of eternal damnation. For everyone.”
Critical response
Goodreads has Doomed rated as a 3.31 with 2,137 five-star reviews and 778 one-star reviews.
Five-star reviews comment on the “disgusting” aspects of the book. “This is perhaps the most brilliant end-of-the-world story” one reviewer comments. Other favorable reviews point out Palahniuk’s “‘satire” being “on point” and that “Any Palahniuk fan and/or anyone who enjoyed Damned” should read this one, too.
One-star reviews also address the raunchy aspects of the book, but in a much different light. “He really needed to keep the thirteen year-old, insufferably vapid Madison Spencer banished in hell,” said a reviewer. Other reviewers were willing to let Palahniuk’s books go altogether by saying that his “ratio of good : bad books has tipped in the wrong direction,” and “it was written in the most obnoxious way possible by the most annoying guy you know.”
Impressions
I truly believe Palahniuk’s Choke is one of the greatest pieces of transgressive fiction ever written. It’s strange and unnerving, and has some moments that you will never forget. Yet, I also felt that Survivor was a let down, as it didn’t deliver the more philosophical aspects of Choke, which addressed obsession, insecurity, and gave us a strange perspective from which to look at the world.
With that said, I can understand why Doomed has close to a 3-star rating, because Palahniuk is a divisive writer. Either you love him or you hate him, and there is no in between. Doomed sounds like a book I am going to read because I love Palahniuk’s style and he approaches severely taboo subjects and often does it in an overly comedic way, so you know he must be joking (even if it’s a stomach-churning description).
Works cited
Palahniuk, Chuck. “Doomed.” Doubleday, 2013.
