Diary » (Reprint)

With a disturbing but mordantly funny body of work that began with 1996's Fight Club, Chuck Palahniuk has become a cult author who regularly attracts both the interest of Hollywood and the bewilderment of readers who have never seen writing so fearless, modern, and smart.

DIARY takes the form of a coma diary kept by one Misty Tracy Wilmot as her husband lies senseless in a hospital after a suicide attempt. Once she was an art student dreaming of creativity and freedom; now, after marrying Peter and moving back to quaint, but tourist-overrun Waytansea Island, she's been reduced to the condition of a resort hotel maid, only to discover that her husband has descended into a world of madness. But then, as if possessed by the spirit of Maura Kinkaid, a fabled Waytansea artist of the nineteenth century, Misty begins painting again, compulsively. But the canvases are taken away by her mother-in-law and her doctor, who seem to have a plan for Misty -- and for all those annoying tourists....

The New York Times

Diary really hits its stride when the blood starts flowing (one memorable scene involves an unwanted leg cast and a steak knife). Palahniuk is better at sensation than philosophy, a pulp writer who excels when he stops worrying the big ideas and channels his wild, misfit heart. — Taylor Antrim