Tom Lynch

It's safe to say that Chuck Palahniuk, the Portland author of cult favorites "Fight Club" and "Survivor," has gained a fairly large number of admirers. Then again, with Palahniuk, nothing is safe, and nothing is without hurt. His most recent journey in fiction is "Diary," about a young, torturous painter/waitress who keeps a coma diary next to her unconscious husband after he tries to kill himself with carbon monoxide. To phrase it like Chuck P., why he did it is the mystery. In many ways, the book has a larger scope than his earlier efforts, not really in plot, but certainly in character. His lead, Misty Wilmot, will suffer endlessly for her art, as "Diary" documents in explicit detail. Palahniuk asks the reader "Where do you get your inspiration?" in large block letters at the start of the novel, but it'd be more interesting if he turned the question on himself. When he hits Chicago on Tuesday, maybe he'll do just that.

Chuck Palahniuk discusses "Diary" on September 28 at Harold Washington Library Center, 400 South State, (312)747-4300, at 6pm. Free.

(2004-09-23)

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