"Burnt Tongues", edited by Chuck Palahniuk

Burnt Tongues by Chuck Palahniuk
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book is a collection of short stories, edited by Chuck Palahniuk, the author of "Fight Club", or more relevantly, of “Guts” and “Haunted”. He characterizes these stories as “transgressive literature”, stuff that pushes the edge and sometimes go right past it. Basically, it’s stuff that should be taboo, or disgusting, or from the mind of a disturbed individual, definitely something you do not talk about in polite conversation; and it’s eye-opening and wildly entertaining!

If you have read “Guts”, “Haunted”, or some of Palahniuk’s short stories, then you know what this is about (“Fight Club” is tame by comparison). But while I love Palahniuk’s work, this collection is only so-so. The quality of the stories vary a lot. There are a few stories there (like the first one, “Live This Down") that feel like something that Palahniuk would have written himself, from the subject to the style to the dialogue, and most of them have themes that must make Palahniuk proud (like a Special Ed class revolting against a bully, with terrible consequences). But while all stories are “transgressive”, not all are entertaining. They touch on a taboo subject, describe it, then peter out. Most of them end in an anti-climax. They are good, but not great.

Still, there are some gems in there - again, “Live This Down”, and also “Ingredients”, “Dietary", “Heavier Petting” and “Zombie Whorehouse”, among others. They are not for everyone - they are twisted, messed up stuff. If you like crazy and you like it with style, pick this up, it’s a good read.

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