Good not great

Great start to the story but it fails off in the last 3rd and I felt myself less engaged. That being said it is still solid and definitely worth a look but not in the same league as Fight Club, Survior or choke. Narration is solid and didn’t make me want to switch off as so many narrators do. It would be great to get Chuck reading a few of his books. I’ve been to one of his signings and his readings were awesome

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Loved it, but...

I loved the ideas in this book and I felt it made a lot of extremely valid political points delivered with the writer's trademark graphic punchiness. The writer asks "what if the American dream of the 21st century came true?", and his answer is equal parts shocking, hilarious and even, on some level, attractive. Unfortunately it sometimes felt as though some plot elements could have been explained better and some characters could have been explored in more depth (and there are a lot of exciting characters here). Not Chuck's best book, but still worth a read I reckon.

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Not Fight Club 2

Took me awhile, couldn't do it in one burst but that isn't an issue for me. This book was strange, it had some great turns around, the language was easy to understand and the story fluid. The end was a bit... odd... I understand what happened and the 1984 references, alongside Fahrenheit 451 and a slew of others, it's definitely a love letter to them and all the other books mentioned, this world that could so easily be imagined is thankfully quite far away. I'd say this is more digestible for younger readers than 1984 itself and would be a good stepping stone into more bleak/politic centric dystopian novels. In the end I enjoyed it and that's what matters to me, it won't sit with fight club upon my bookshelf but I will listen to it again

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Excellent Entertainment!

This is great, great fun! The plot is twisty and, in parts, head-melting! Super narration!

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1 person found this helpful

Interesting thought experiment but lacking spark

The story elements seem like an excuse for the book to be fiction, rather than a thought experiment. There are a few too many characters since there are so many ideas to cover, leaving them difficult to engage with. And there is too much self-awareness for my tastes. But a timely reminder that cultures do not last, and can change completely.

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storyline hard to keep up with

The story jumped between characters and the narration was fast paced often with no discernable break between characters.

I think maybe as a book it would work but audio I struggled with.

the story never really got me hooked either. I wasn't into any of the characters so didn't really care what happened to them.

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a great first draft

a great first draft of what could of been a fantastic compelling story but all falls into a an incomprehensible mess near the end, that leave a taste of self indulgence.

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Should have trusted the reviews

Well, now i know that he can write cr*p, hated every minute of it, thought it will get better if i kept listening. it did not.

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Story was cluttered and rambling

Tried to stick with it but didn't make it to the end . Story seemed like a good idea at the start but it rambled on and didn't go anywhere for a long time and I gave up on it .

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Has the Fight Gone Out of Chuck?

When I read Fight Club I re-learned the lesson of not judging a book by its cover because it really was a far more intelligent and absorbing read than I had imagined. Adjustment Day taught me a new lesson: Never judge an author's latest book by one of his earlier ones!

This simply never got going for me, a mish-mash of characters and scenes stopped it ever gaining momentum and never once presented me with a character that I cared about. It stuttered and stumbled its way rather than ever accelerating smoothly towards a satisfactory conclusion.

The narration by Christopher Ragland is just fine. Clear concise and with enough variety to make it a decent performance but it was never going to be enough to lift this material.

So, while there are moments in this when Palahnuik shows his talent you have to wade through a lot that just doesn't feel like it matters to find them. I can't really recommend this one.

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12 people found this helpful