Book Review: Snuff by Chuck Palahniuk

To be fair, this isn’t the worst book I’ve read, but god… I wonder why this book exists. 
Okay, maybe I sounded a little bit too harsh on that. Snuff is the book about porn stars that I’ve been talking about. I didn’t plan on buying this book, I just felt the need to buy it because it was 10% off from the Powerbooks Sale last February. The blurb mentioned something about murder too, so I bought it, without knowing I was basically trapped under false promotion.

What is it about? 

Cassie Wright, a known sex priestest is about to set the world record by having sex with 600 men, and some people (or maybe everyone) expects her to die in the process. A cardiac arrest. Vaginal embolism. Stroke. She’s doing this to give her abandoned child a great fortune, whoever that is. The story is told from 4 POVs. Sheila, Cassie’s personal assistant, and the three men from the 600 – the porn man who allegedly fathered Cassie’s lost child, a TV star who’s career is spiriling down the drain and believes that this project could be his salvation, and a young man who sincerely believes he is Cassie Wright’s son. 

What I think about it

I  can’t figure out what the author is trying to point out in this book. I mean, it’s fascinating to know that Marilyn Monroe once imagined herself as a well-read, cultured and dignified woman by the name of Zelda Zonk. It’s good to be informed that a woman could die of cunnilingus as I initially thought it was fellatio that’s only fatal. I haven’t read anything else by Palahniuk but by the looks of it, Snuff could have been a better book. Like, way better it won’t remind me of that book I was forced to review because I got paid for it ahead of time and I had to marathon five Disney films after reading and reviewing it so I could finally push it off my head. Despite the incorrect grammars. Despite the typo errors. 
I’m not gonna lie though, the first few chapters actually gave me the impression that this was going to be good. I had high hopes that this was going to be a huge satirical commentary about how fucked up the porn industry in a much wider sense. A few years spent on researching and writing term papers for lazy students in the states exposed me to the dark and brutal reality of the people in this lucrative industry, the multi-billion-dollar business that’s surprisingly still a taboo despite the fact that erotic literature is everywhere and we’re gladly talking about it, plus it’s mostly the result of prostitution and human trafficking (or maybe vise versa). I really think we should talk about how some people are forced into this business, like the young Japanese young woman who killed herself because she was forced to sign a contract to make adult films. Like how Cassie Wright was drugged and raped the first time she was filmed. Or how Dan Banyan became a star in a gay porn movie to prove his dad (and maybe himself) that he’s right about his sexuality, and not influenced by the fact that he was molested by his own father when he was a boy. Or how Darin spent his money on buying the sex doll replica of Cassie Wright because his mom and dad were busy with their own vices, albeit being good adoptive parents. I believe this book could have been a great avenue so that people would think porn as a dirty business for the right reasons. 
This book isn’t a cliffhanger, but I really do hope people died in the end. Give Shiela and Darin and Dan the happy ending they deserve. There’s so much more they can do to redeem themselves. And Bacardi. He has a special place in hell. That, I’m sure of. 
Read it at bedtime, or on a stay-home Friday night so you’d regret not ever going out at all. Just kidding! Read the book and prove me wrong about my thoughts.
xo

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.