“It’s so hard to forget pain, but it’s even harder to remember sweetness. We have no scar to show for happiness. We learn so little from peace.”
—Diary by Chuck Palahniuk
Title: Diary
Author: Chuck
Palahniuk
Page Count: 260
Synopsis:
Diary takes the
form of a ‘coma diary’ kept by one Misty Wilmot as her husband lies senseless
in hospital after a suicide attempt. Once she was an art student dreaming of
creativity and freedom; now, after marrying Peter at art school and being
brought back to once quaint, now tourist-overrun Waytansea Island, she’s been
reduced to the condition of a resort hotel maid. Peter, it turns out, has been
hiding rooms in houses he’s refurbished and scrawling vile messages all over
the walls. Angry homeowners are suing, and Misty’s dreams of artistic greatness
are in ashes. But then, as if possessed by the spirit of Maura Kincaid, a
fabled Waytansea artist of the nineteenth century, Misty begins painting again,
compulsively. The canvases are taken away by her mother-in-law and her doctor,
who seem to have a plan for Misty—and for all those annoying tourists…
Thoughts:
Hiyaaa~ Apologies for not posting for two weeks!! I picked
up my next book right after the last review but I’m still experiencing some
days when I can’t bring myself to open a book and read. Please bear with me. The
first half of this book actually took me a whiiiile to get through but I’m
determined!٩( ￣^￣ｏ )و
I saw the book in Booksale and recognized the author. I got it initially because I don’t have any of his books yet but I heard and read mixed reviews about them. Hey, I’m just your typical curious bibliophile. I couldn’t help myself! And then it just sat on my pile and I forgot I have it like the good old hoarder that I am. _(┐「ε:)_ Sorry!
At first, I found it hard to immerse into the book. The
writing style definitely took some getting used to. I thought the main character
has a unique sentence pattern and I had to re-read passages (especially in her
first entry) to make sure I was reading it correctly. For example: “Today is the longest day of the year—but anymore,
every day is.” I was convinced it was missing the word ‘not’ but when I read it again, it made
sense. I just needed a double take. And then, Misty started using terms she learned from
her art class days on facial muscles and skin. It was interesting so I had to stop every once in a
while to search those up as I am the type to imagine the whole thing in my head
as I read. I had to know what those terms were so that I could picture them or
else I’ll have a hard time proceeding. *laughs*
The narrative is very unapologetic. It was written as if to
address the husband, Peter, if he would ever wake up and recover from his coma.
The entries contain curses, though. I mentioned before that I am personally okay with it so long as the character and/or story warrants them. But still, I want to be good so I’ll say: Only read if
you are of age. ( ˘^˘ ) If you decide to read it anyway, don’t pick up words
and actions, young one~! Regardless, the story is nice and the twist is reeeaally
good. I’m amused~! There was so much to learn from a book with only less than
three hundred pages. Especially if you are into art, I think you will enjoy and
relate with this book. Besides art, anatomy and graphology lessons, the book
has some good lines to reflect on as well (and I was tabbing like crazy again).
Some of my favorites aside from the one I quoted above are: “Everything is nothing by itself.”, and ”...you can find fresh pain every time you discover what you pretty much already know.” I tabbed a whole lot more but I have to stop here or
I’ll quote the whole book. Heh~v
I breezed through the remaining third of the book when Misty started
painting again. I got engrossed when everything was happening so fast near the end. I let it take me wherever—I just want to know what happens next! The connections from past entries keep on coming as
they reveal one thing after another. Even after finishing the book, I still had gazillion questions and a curious mind leading to flipping back the pages just
to see if there was anything I've missed.
I had to write this review the next day because when I
finished the book, it was almost three in the morning and my brain could only
produce a ‘Whoa, what did I just read’ O_O kind of reaction. Happy with my first
Chuck Palahniuk read.
