Palahniuk continues to amaze, in that he is unabashedly his own style, while continuously altering the style of his own writing. This time he takes on "Behind the Music" type biography structure to spin an oral retelling of a man celebrated for all the wrong reasons. At times a horror vampire zombie tale (kind of like Haunted), while also exploring theological themes and religious behaviour (like Survivor), while continuing to explore subcultures that exist to circumvent how unalive our lives have become (like Fight Club), he manages to conjure up all these styles, all these modes and genres, into a new tale that may actually be his first crack at science fiction.
He continues to amaze, and though Rant doesn't quite have the pacing and narration that makes his better books crackle like a skid on a bonfire, it may be his most mature work in the sense that he enters into even bigger concepts and thought provoking speculation that challenges our society's beliefs of racism, god, celebrity, belonging and chronology.
Give it some time, and like an infectious disease, it will grow on you.
4 1/2 stars out of 5
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