While I generally love Chuck Palahniuk's work, this one I only liked. It had some funny moments here and there, and it's commentary on earthly subjects as seen from hell was surely interesting, but overall I found myself slightly uninterested at parts. I loved the characters, and the usual bits of random knowledge that show Chuck recently read an entire encyclopedia on ancient Demons and Gods, but the main character seemed dull, and so it made it hard to care about much else. In the end I found it a good read though, just not his best.

crying because it's perfect

Damned was an amusing novel. I liked how the Satan as God and free will themes played out. This is not a book for fundamentalist Christians or others who process information literally.

For all the grossness, perversion and freakishness that characterized books like Rant, Snuff, or Choke, Damned is remarkably restrained for a book about hell. Probably the most plot-driven book Palahniuk has written in a decade, it tells the story of a too-smart-for-her-own good 13 year old who ends up in hell after her darkly tragicomic death and gets to learn the ropes from a motley group of peers that evokes the characters from The Breakfast Club. Alternating between innocent sweetness and vicious smartass-ness in the way that only a teenager can, Madison is probably the most sympathetic character Palahniuk has created. However, some of the trademark verbal and thematic riffs repeated ad infinitum ultimately reveal an author who is also too smart for his own good. As always, I couldn't actually tell whether Palahniuk intended readers to enjoy reading this book or not. I did ultimately finish it, but considered abandoning it several times. Not one of Chuck's best, but still weirdly engaging.

This is the same guy who wrote the book "Fight Club" that was a hit movie. I've read 2 or 3 other books by Chuck P. and after you get over the general weirdness in the his writing style, he is pretty edgy and and interesting. He is an odd duck and and his mind is wired a little off-center, but I like the books that I've read by him. I also like his strange subject matters, but it's not for everyone and definitely not for young kids.

Chuck Palahniuk's DAMNED is a clever, pointed social commentary about a 13-year-old daughter of a famous movie star who unceremoniously dies and finds herself in hell. In her quest to meet Satan and rid herself of that pesky feeling of hope, Madison learns difficult truths about herself and the world while amassing political clout and power in the netherworld. Imaginative and fun, DAMNED feels like it could have been even more.

amusing, but in the end a little pointless.