Rant on Rant

I'm finishing the last of Chuck Palahniuk's new novel as another missile of a storm comes rolling through and I can't help but thinking that it's perfect. Not only do I love storms, but I loved his new book, Rant. Palahniuk for me is beach reading. This isn't to dismiss his books as light or frivolous, but rather they are candy. I usually fly through them quick enough to hand them off and grab myself a better edition for my collection.

Rant is a fun book. It's set up as an oral history set up in reverse. Many oral histories are told from a singular viewpoint. Rant, on the other hand, takes that singularity and makes it the subject of memory. I've found most oral histories confined to either the traditions of Southern literature or African-American/African studies. This book is neither, but you can see the influences of generations of living oral history in Palahniuk's new story.

What I found most appealing about is the fact that it's in this book that his skill as an author becomes most apparent. Many writers lose tightness in a structure that deviates from standard, but Palahniuk reigns it in. Rant ends up a strangely diary-like beauty that resonates with vision and darkness, but we can't forget that Palahniuk has once again laced that vision with humor. Expect typical urban settings and violence, but fans will agree that Rant delivers more than usual.