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Rant
by
Chuck Palahniuk
Review by James Maddox
When I first picked up Chuck Palahniuk's new book, Rant: An Oral History of Buster Casey, I wasn't sure if I was going to enjoy it like I had Survivor or Diary. With Palahniuk's last book, Haunted, I found that I was reading a collage of short fiction that had a thin thread going through it, and now, looking through the pages of his latest work, I saw what seemed to be interviews. Before reading even the first word I had to give it to the guy. He had changed his formulaic prose, which is hard for any author under a deadline. Since Fight Club had hit it big onscreen, Palahniuk had been in high demand, and it's after that demand that I started noticing how similar most of his works were. Choke, Lullaby, Diary: They all seemed to have the same voice, nearly the same narrator as his first three books, but now I'm getting the sense that the author wants to start finding other ways to tell his stories, and though he might not be there just yet, he's trying to create a new way for us to read his work, and that deserves some positive recognition.
Rant is the story of a man that breaks the mold in more ways than one. We see echoes of Tyler Durden in this character, as so many of Palahniuk's main characters fall into the form of Gatsby at one point or another, but we also see that Rant has weaknesses, which make him more of a man and less of a martyr.
Reading through rant we also find Palahniuk heading into uncharted territory, as the book starts picking up ideas connected to sci-fi. Time travel, ports that allow brain downloads and uploads, Palahniuk has even given what could possibly be the origins of the Morlock/Eloi society as we get differing points of views by the day dwellers and the night dwellers on the life of Rant Casey. Rant also deals with identity issues that comes with meeting yourself on the path of time.
There are a number of ideas that Palahniuk has packed into this novel of voices. One of the prevalent messages that comes from the work, however, is that a single man can effect massive change in his society. Be it with a car or with a disease, Rant challenges the status quo, gaining more than a few stories that follow him far beyond his "death."
I've always been an advocate of Palahniuk's plots. The themes that interweave through his stories always make me happy, and if anyone was going to give a time travel piece a go, I'm happy that Palahniuk threw in his two cents on the topic. The book is a little confusing, but keeps you thinking long after the last page is turned. As far as I'm concerned, Rant is a good start at a new direction while still holding its own as an excellent tale, a must read for anyone interested in smart science fiction.
James Maddox is a wanted fugitive from justice. Any transmissions sent to or received by James Maddox must be immediately reported to the House Commission on Un-cytizen Activities.
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