I’m not sure how to review this book. It was hard to polish this one off, specifically because the content was extreme by nature. This book is the first x-rated main stream book I have ever read.

Snuff had me really tied up in a weird world.On first reading foul words in regards to the female anatomy and figuring out the premise revolves around several people waiting to have sex with one woman…who is attempting to break the gangbang record, I was ready to close the book.

But I’m a sucker.

I am a person who HATES not knowing culture, or not being ready to answer any question that modern man might throw at me, as well as stumping people that think they are really smart and in need of a reality check.

But that’s besides the point, the book itself intrigued me because it was the latest from the guy that wrote Fight Club. Fight Club is definitely a great book, and is relatively short in comparison to Snuff.

Snuff follows a few people, all in a small “green” room waiting for the big show. The story then in detail goes back through each persons back story in a large amount of details that take you out of the pornographic world and into the sons and daughters of Americans. Why are they in line? What happened to their childhood? And several other questions are answered in the sub text of this fascinating character study in an unlikely scenario.

Here’s the wikipedia version:

“Snuff follows three men who are waiting to immortalize themselves into pornography history as they wait to bed Cassie Wright, a former porn queen who has fallen into harder times. Each chapter follows a different guy (Mr. 72, Mr. 137, and Mr. 600), as well as Sheila, the female wrangler who dictates who is the next to be filmed with Cassie Wright. As the three men wait, each starts to divulge their true reasons for wanting to be filmed, as well as discuss the sordid history of Cassie Wright and her reason for suddenly dropping out of the pornography industry for a year. As backgrounds, secrets, and would-be children start to appear, the tensions in the room start to rise and in the end the true secrets of her comeback, and who really is Cassie Wright’s porn child, are the last things any of them suspect.”

I actually enjoyed this one, and after each time I read through chapters, I really thought about the global picture. It started a conversation with myself and my own past, including my days of dumpster diving and finding boxes of thrown away porn. I also really considered the world around me and how desensitized we have all become to everything. Sexuality in our worlds is treated with such disregard, and on the flip side it is treated as such a taboo. Try talking to someone about sex, then talk about a gangbang, and you’re in for some long drawn out uncomfortable pauses, if not a curtailing of the conversation completely.
Sex is dirty, yet it’s so mainstream to the point that sex doesn’t really sell any longer.

Or does it?

I somehow started receiving Maxim Magazine and noticed that the majority of the ads were sexualized. I don’t want to buy chewing tobacco, even though it now comes in pre-sized packets, and I don’t need Axe Body spray to get women to notice me.

On second thought, had I not been married, maybe that is the answer? (joking)

No, No, No…I’m rambling now, sorry.

In regards to the subject at hand, Snuff presents an interesting world that no one really talks about, and few ever even consider. World Record Gangbangs are not something that comes up in everyday conversation. In fact, I have only talked about the House 600 once in my life time, and that’s to tell someone how gross it was to consider that a porn star would want to have sex with 600 plus men…and not to mention how 600 men would stand naked in line for hours on end for a shot to be in this stupid scenario.

Has man become so deprave?

This book will not be read by most people, and I’ll probably even lose a lot of readers on this site because the graphic details that are found in this review as well as the book itself.

It is a very hard subject to tackle and I think Snuff proves that it can be done intelligently and is a welcome book in anybodies library, although I don’t think it’s for children, teenagers, or even those that are closed minded by nature.

Take this one for what its worth, a hard look into the psychology of people and sexuality. Snuff by Chuck Palahniuk is available in my online store, via Amazon.com or at your local bookstore. It was well worth the time it took to read this thing, and even my wife agrees that the psychology and depravity of society, juxtaposed within this books characters is daunting.

Oh and before you throw stones at me, remember, I’m not a professional writer or get paid to review books, I simply do it for the heck of it.