Review by Booklist Review
A novel by Palahniuk (Not Forever, but For Now, 2023) almost defies attempts to describe it, which may be exactly what he intends. In his newest dark satire, high-school students, the cream of the crop, are dying, apparently from suicide. What is driving them to this extreme act? A rash of suicides among young people is not a new plot; John Saul tackled it in Punish the Sinners, back in 1978. But nobody takes an idea and runs with it the way Palahniuk does. His teen-suicide story is set in a brilliantly realized near-future in which the super-wealthy keep students under surveillance from the day they're born, deciding which will be offered a job--and a lifetime spent under the control of their employer (even this is just a tiny sampling of the wonderful, scary, funny ideas in this book). The author's writing style isn't for everyone: he bounces from idea to idea, shifts gears stylistically, and rambles on from time to time, but it's all completely intentional and an integral part of his unique storytelling mode. Palahniuk's fans will be delighted.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In the latest bracing satire from Palahniuk (Fight Club), a wave of high school suicides roils the country. The narrative centers on Samantha Deel, a brilliant and resourceful teenager who's hit hard by the suicide of her boyfriend, Garson. When her excellent academic record attracts the notice of an organization called Greener Pastures, she agrees to enter its mysterious program. Passages from the group's "Guide," which blends calls for Stepford Wives--esque conformity with a vision for a new order ("The family is over"), are interspersed throughout the novel. The excerpts provide an eerie contrast to Sam's dangerous odyssey as a complex series of events brings the teen, who is secretly pregnant with Garson's baby, to the Orphanage, an affiliate of Greener Pastures, where her process of "induction" begins. The patchwork structure accommodates periodic sidebars and ironic observations on references high and low, from Hitler to Captains Courageous, as the narrator muses on totalitarianism and mind control. Many of the one-liners target low-hanging fruit, but there's a cleverness to the depiction of Sam as a survivor ("Unlike Jay Gatsby," Palahniuk writes, "Samantha Deel would live beyond her early infatuation"). Die-hard Palahniuk fans will lap this up. Agents: Sloan Harris and Dan Kirschen, ICM Partners. (Oct.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
The kids are most definitely not all right in a near future that can't decide whether to drug them, kill them, or promote them. "WAKE UP, YOU BASTARDS!" That barbaric yelp might not be the most traditional finale, but here we are back in the land of Chuck. This is not Palahniuk's first foray into teen angst--seeDamned (2011) andDoomed (2013) for lighter fare. This time he's way more interested in pulling apart the building blocks of story and self than subverting conventional dystopian tropes. In this bizarro version of America, the powers that be launch an ill-fated attempt to rescue society---covertly encouraging the country's largely illiterate youth to read books laced with everything from Ritalin to powerful hallucinogenics. Simultaneously, our best and brightest are targeted with a standardized test that neutralizes societal disruptors: "You cherry-pick. You hunt for kids likely to create seismic shifts in culture and technology, and you weed them out." Once ripe, they're sold by their parents to a postmodern slave market and repurposed from saviors into heads of state and corporate overlords: "Okay, it was a severly fucked-up system, buut a systm." Here comes steely-eyed Samantha Deel, destined to become the actual Queen of England, but so unhappy to be losing her dreams of singing that she maims herself. Yes, she's the hero, along with her formerly dead boyfriend, Garson, and a gender-bent, self-described "interventionist" named War Dog, but don't get too excited. Although there are a few familiar wisps of YA dystopia here,The Hunger Games it's not. Peppering his book with passages and phrases fromThe Great Gatsby,Anna Karenina, andThe Hunchback of Notre-Dame, Palahniuk is clearly enjoying himself, but he's also drilling down into the titular idea--a psychic or spiritual kick that gets you out of your own head for once. Readers' choice whether this is a coded message, a spiked cocktail, or just a secret love letter to art. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
