具體描述
編輯推薦
What elevates Palahniuk's best novels (e.g., Fight Club) above their shocking premises is his ability to find humanity in deeply grotesque characters. But such generosity of spirit is not evident in his latest, which charts the trials of a group of aspiring writers brought together for a three-month writer's retreat in an abandoned theater. The novel intersperses the writers' poems and short stories with tales of the indignities they heap upon themselves after deciding to turn their lives into a "true-life horror story with a happy ending." They lock themselves in the theater, reasoning that once they're found, they'll all become rich and famous. They raise the stakes of their story by first depriving themselves of phones, and then of food and electricity; eventually they cut off their own fingers, toes and unmentionables before they start dying off and eating each other. Palahniuk tells his story with such blithe disregard for these characters that it's hard not to wish he had dispensed with the novel altogether and published, instead, the 23 short stories that pop up throughout the book. For instance, "Obsolete," about a young girl about to commit state-mandated suicide, and "Slumming," about rich couples who pretend to be homeless, play so deftly with expectations and have an emotional core so surprising that they consistently, powerfully transcend their macabre premises to showcase the heart beating beneath the horrors. 內容簡介
Haunted is a novel made up of twenty-three horrifying, hilarious, and stomach-churning stories. They're told by people who have answered an ad for a writer's retreat and unwittingly joined a "Survivor"-like scenario where the host withholds heat, power, and food. As the storytellers grow more desperate, their tales become more extreme, and they ruthlessly plot to make themselves the hero of the reality show that will surely be made from their plight. This is one of the most disturbing and outrageous books you'll ever read, one that could only come from the mind of Chuck Palahniuk. 作者簡介
Chuck Palahniuk's six novels are the bestselling Diary, Choke, Lullaby, Fight Club--which was made into a film by director David Fincher--Survivor, and Invisible Monsters. He is also the author of a profile of Portland, Fugitives and Refugees, and the nonfiction collection Stranger Than Fiction. He lives in the Pacific Northwest. 精彩書評
"Reading a Palahniuk novel is like getting zipped inside a boxer's heavy bag while the author goes to work on you, pounding you until there is nothing left but a big bag of bones and blood and pain."
——The Miami Herald
"To Palahniuk's credit, there is something here to appall almost every sensibility. The author has a singular knack for coming up with inventive new ways to shock and degrade."
——The New York Post
"Frequently entertaining [and] often appalling... There are paragraphs here-entire pages, in fact-that are as disgusting as anything I've ever read. Truly vivid and harrowing (and often quite funny)."
——Minneapolis Star Tribune
"Summer reading for people who like their lit doused in bodily fluids... Haunted has an anarchic sensibility that hurdles over the top."
——Time Out New York
"Chuck Palahniuk is one of the most intriguing writers of our time. [Haunted ] is a blend of stories that are among the most horrifying, stomach-churning and mind-blowing tales ever encountered."
——Tucson Citizen
"Chuck Palahniuk's rightful place is among literary giants. He combines the masculinity of Ernest Hemingway, the satirical bent of Juvenal and the attitude of Lenny Bruce."
——Greensboro News & Record
"To Palahniuk's credit, there is something here to appall almost every sensibility. The author has a singular knack for coming up with inventive new ways to shock and degrade."
——New York Post
遺落的航程:一艘幽靈船的絕唱 類型: 曆史懸疑/海上冒險 核心主題: 失去的文明、曆史的重構、個體在宏大災難麵前的求生掙紮與道德抉擇 字數預估: 約1500字 --- 引言: 在時間的迷霧深處,有些故事被海水無情地吞噬,隻留下冰冷的傳說與銹跡斑斑的殘骸。本書並非聚焦於鬼魂徘徊的走廊,亦非圍繞著被詛咒的莊園,而是將場景拉嚮瞭浩瀚、無邊、且比任何古堡都更令人心悸的公海上。這是一部關於一艘失蹤已久的探險船的史詩,一趟深入人類知識邊界的探尋,以及在極端環境下,人性如何被分解與重塑的深刻描摹。 第一部分:消失的坐標 故事始於1923年的倫敦,一個科學與迷信交織的時代。彼時,對地球深處和未知的海洋的探索仍是驅動探險傢們前行的終極動力。 主角伊萊亞斯·範德比爾特,一位天賦異稟但聲名狼藉的海洋地理學傢,堅信在南大西洋深處,存在著一片尚未被現代地圖標記的“靜默海域”。他聲稱,那裏保存著一個前哥倫布時期(Pre-Columbian)文明的證據,一個可能比古埃及更古老、掌握著非凡航海技術的文化。 範德比爾特集結瞭一支由精英科學傢、經驗豐富的船員和幾位懷揣不同目的的資助人組成的團隊,登上瞭他精心改裝的破冰探險船——“奧德賽號”(The Odyssey)。這艘船的名字本身就預示著漫長而充滿磨難的旅程。 船上的氣氛從一開始就潛藏著不安。資助人之一,來自德國的工業巨頭卡爾·馮·裏希特,他資助的真正目的並非科學,而是追逐傳說中那片海域蘊藏的稀有礦産。船長西濛·霍爾,一個恪守舊日海軍信條的老派人物,對範德比爾特的“異端”理論嗤之以鼻,他隻相信羅盤和海圖,不信模糊的星象學。 “奧德賽號”起航瞭。最初的航行是順遂的,他們穿過風暴帶,抵達瞭位於南緯40度、西經20度的“已知世界的盡頭”。然而,當他們進入範德比爾特所指引的坐標時,一切都變瞭。 指南針開始瘋狂鏇轉,無綫電信號被一種低沉的、無法識彆的頻率乾擾。天氣沒有突變,但空氣中彌漫著一種令人窒息的沉重感,仿佛海洋本身正在屏住呼吸。船員們開始報告怪異的現象:深海的迴聲探測儀捕捉到巨大、規則的結構體在水下移動,但它們不像是自然形成的冰山或礁石。 第二部分:靜默海域的法則 進入“靜默海域”後,“奧德賽號”遭遇瞭前所未有的挑戰。他們發現自己被睏在一個由異常洋流和終年不散的濃霧構成的迷宮中。 範德比爾特的研究筆記開始齣現瘋狂的塗鴉,他堅信他們已經進入瞭一個被時間遺忘的物理空間。他根據古老文獻的殘片,推斷齣這片海域的洋流是人為操控的,目的是為瞭保護海域中心——“鏡湖”。 隨著船隻的深入,船員們的精神狀態急劇惡化。不是因為飢餓或缺水,而是源於“深度焦慮”——一種對無限空間的恐懼被放大到極緻的心理崩潰。他們開始看到水下有光綫的閃爍,形狀像是巨大的、沉睡的建築物的輪廓。 在一次例行深潛作業中,他們發現瞭第一個確鑿的證據:一塊由一種從未被地球科學界記錄的、類似黑曜石的物質構成的石碑。石碑上雕刻的文字,被船上的語言學傢破譯齣寥寥數語:“我們選擇瞭沉沒,以求永恒的寜靜。” 馮·裏希特為瞭爭奪石碑和控製權,與範德比爾特爆發瞭緻命衝突。船上的秩序開始瓦解,船員們分裂成忠於科學探索的“理想主義者”和隻關心財富與生存的“實用主義者”。 第三部分:知識的重量與代價 “奧德賽號”最終沒有找到傳說中的黃金或失落的城市,他們找到的,是遠比物質財富更沉重的東西:一個無法被現代文明接受的真相。 範德比爾特發現,“鏡湖”並非一個地理位置,而是一個巨大的、處於休眠狀態的信息儲存庫。這片海域的異常現象,是這個古老文明為瞭阻止其知識被誤用而設置的防禦係統。 在最後的幾章中,故事聚焦於船上幸存的幾人,他們必須做齣一個決定:是冒著被這片海域徹底吞噬的風險,將這些顛覆性的知識帶迴現代世界,還是像那些古人一樣,選擇讓秘密永遠沉睡。 船長霍爾,這位曾經最頑固的懷疑論者,在目睹瞭海洋深處那非人類的智慧後,他的世界觀徹底崩塌。他必須在履行保護船員的職責和守護一個可能毀滅現有文明的秘密之間做齣選擇。 故事的高潮不是海難,而是對“發現”本身的倫理拷問。當“奧德賽號”在一次罕見的洋流逆轉中,奇跡般地脫離瞭“靜默海域”的控製時,他們帶迴來的隻有殘破的設備、被恐懼扭麯的記憶,以及一塊他們不敢再直視的、能夠揭示宇宙秩序的碎片。 尾聲:沉默的歸來 “奧德賽號”的殘骸最終被一艘漁船發現,船上僅有三人幸存,他們被送迴文明社會。他們對這次航行的敘述,被官方定性為集體幻覺與惡性營養不良導緻的神經錯亂。範德比爾特失蹤,裏希特被判定死亡。 本書以檔案的碎片、幸存者的精神分析報告以及打撈上來的、無法辨認的殘骸記錄收尾。它留給讀者一個懸而未決的問題:那些沉默的海域下,究竟埋藏著什麼,是值得人類冒著自我毀滅的風險去探索的終極奧秘,還是一份隻有遺忘纔能守護的和平契約? 《遺落的航程》是一部探討人類探索欲望的界限,以及某些知識是否注定應該被曆史遺棄的深刻作品。它將帶領讀者進行一場精神上而非地理上的遠航,去麵對比深海更廣闊的,人心的幽暗與光芒。