Survivor

I just finished reading Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk and I think the book is GREAT! I think this is easily as good a book as Fight Club (which I also liked a great deal). I started reading this book on my flight to Memphis at the suggestion of a friend. The irony is that the book begins with the hijacking of an airplane - which made me laugh a little to myself on the flights coming and going. The books anti hero is Tender Branson, a survivor of the Creedish Church mass suicide. The Creedish Church is a cross between the Amish and the Jonestown cult. As Tender Branson makes his way in the world outside of the Creedish compound, he finds work as a kind of indentured servant to a boorish wealthy couple and he starts his own suicide hot line - with a twist. Instead of talking people out of suicide, he encourages them to off themselves. I have recently become a Palahniuk devotee and of the three books I have read, so far, I think this is my favorite. I liked Haunted, but had difficulty keeping the characters straight, because of the code names. I also enjoyed Fight Club, but Survivor appealed to my sense of macabre and my sense of humor just a little bit more than the other books.