I have to admit that I have a thing for Chuck Palahniuk books. They are just the oddest fictional books I have read thus far in my life. Survivor is no different. A survivor of a religious cult that sent him out in the workforce as a slave for the elders, he works day in and day out. Then one day everything he knows blows up in his face with his whole following committing mass suicide. He is suppose to follow the law and kill himself when he hears of this as many of the other followers do around the world. After 10 years go by he is the last one left standing, (or so he thinks) and becomes famous overnight. Tender Branson is the main character who never ever thought for himself, and after being famous he gives in to all the indulgences of normal everyday life besides sex. The whole concept behind the book is completely backwards, it starts off at the last page and works it way to the first one. Tender is on a plane that will soon run out of fuel and crash, but before he dies he leaves his whole life story on the black tape. Shockingly enough there is little to do with sex in this book except one thing, he donates all the 20,000 acres of his cult to the porno industry for disposing of porn. The whole time he is still contemplating suicide to follow his cult, then he meets up with is older brother just when he thought he was the last one. He learns a lot from his brother since he was the first born, and the first born stay in the community and live off the slaves sent out into the world to work (Branson).
As with his other books he exposes the flaws in society and the way we are controlled by everything around us. How the rich live in complete control and take advantage of innocence of youth so that they can gain from it. Then there are the religious views Palahniuk also tackles. I love the part about rebelling and becoming your own person. The first step to doing this is having sex, and most people who don't have sex, will never develop into anything. They will be controlled and afraid to break rules, that sex is the first rule to break. Once you start doing this you become your own person. That religions try to make sex bad because they know that if you have sex you will develop your own identity, but if you have sex on their terms they are still in control. Great point here, and probably one of the best points in all his books. Maybe that is why he refers to sex so much in all his books, maybe it his way of saying break free and become who you are meant to be. The book is not as sexual as other Palahniuk books, and the character is a little less lovable because he doesn't think for himself. The story keeps you wanting to read on, just as all the other Chuck books do. The twist and turns of the ill-fated Tender is quite interesting, and if you are wondering how to do little household chores like taking out stains of clothes there are lots and lots of tips of how to do that in here. It is a completely different book and concept for out times, but the timing is also perfect. There are lots of weird little controlling cults out there, and this gives a look at the innocent, misunderstood life of a Survivor. 4 out 5 because the story is already over when you open the book, plus I was hoping for a more mind bending ending this time around and got what I saw coming from page one.
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