Lullaby: A Novel
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Lullaby: A Novel description
The consequences of media saturation are the basis for an urban nightmare in Lullaby, Chuck Palahniuk's darkly comic and often dazzling thriller. Assigned to write a series of feature articles investigating SIDS, troubled newspaper reporter Carl Streator begins to notice a pattern among the cases he encounters: each child was read the same poem prior to his or her death. His research and a tip from a necrophilic paramedic lead him to Helen Hoover Boyle, a real estate agent who sells "distressed" (demonized) homes, assured of their instant turnover. Boyle and Streator have both lost children to "crib death," and she confirms Streator's suspicions: the poem is an ancient lullaby or "culling song" that is lethal if spoken--or even thought--in a victim's direction. The misanthropic Streator, now armed with a deadly and uncontrollably catchy tune, goes on a minor killing spree until he recognizes his crimes and the song's devastating potential. Lullaby then turns into something of a road trip narrative, with Streator, Boyle, her empty-headed Wiccan secretary Mona, and Mona's vigilante boyfriend Oyster setting out across the U.S. to track down and destroy all copies of the poem. In his previous works, including the cult favorite Fight Club, Palahniuk has demonstrated a fondness for making statements about the condition of humanity, and he uses Lullaby like a blunt object to repeatedly overstate his generally dim view. Such dogmatic venom undermines the persuasiveness of his thesis about mass communication and free will, but thankfully, Palahniuk offers some respite here by allowing for sympathy and love, as well as through his razor-sharp humor, such as his mock listings for Helen's possessed properties: "six bedrooms, four baths, pine-paneled entryway, and blood running down the kitchen walls...." At such moments, Lullaby casts a powerful spell. --Ross Doll |
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Lullaby: A Novel Customer Reviews
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♥♥♥♥♥
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A Very Unique, Wonderfully Written Novel
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I'm not overly familiar with Chuck Palahniuk's work. I've read "Fight Club" and I've seen the brilliant film adaptation as well. "Lullaby" is a short novel (260 pages) and can easily be identified as a Palahniuk novel. Much in the same way you can instantly recognize a Yes or Elvis song when it comes on the radio; you can instantly see echoes of "Fight Club" in this work. Critics aren't joking when they say that Palahniuk's novels almost seem to fall into their own category. Carl Streator is a reporter investigating SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome). Soon, Carl notices that before the infant's death they were read a poem...And, soon after his discovery, after a tip from his friend Nash (a necrophiliac paramedic) he meets Helen Hoover Boyle, who sells haunted houses. She confirms that there is a poem called a "culling song" and Carl unwittingly kills a few people using this poem. About halfway through the novel; Helen, Carl, and Helen's assistant Mona and her boyfriend Oyster begin searching for the books with the intent to destroy the poem and keep anyone else from getting ahold of the "culling song." From that brief synopsis, it's hard to deny the story sounds unique at the least. This is not a book short on uniqueness. But, beyond that, "Lullaby" is entertaining and beyond interesting. Palahniuk himself has a unique writing style that is incomparable to anyone else. If you want to read something that's entertaining, a quick read, and completely unlikely anything else you've read...Read "Lullaby." If anyone decides to adapt another novel by Palahniuk, this one would be terrific...Some pages scream "motion picture."
GRADE: A-
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