'Lullaby' by Chuck Palahniuk is a dark and twisted tale about a journalist who stumbles upon a deadly poem that causes the listener to die when read aloud. The book explores themes of power, control, and the consequences of words, all presented in Palahniuk's signature bizarre and provocative style. The story follows the journalist as he uncovers the origins of the lethal poem and embarks on a journey with other characters affected by its deadly effects, creating a narrative filled with satire, horror, and social commentary.

Characters:

The characters are intentionally flawed and designed to further the narrative, often embodying exaggerated traits and emotions that reflect broader societal themes.

Writing/Prose:

The writing is characterized by concise, impactful prose peppered with dark humor and social commentary, often blending surreal elements with a real-world perspective.

Plot/Storyline:

The plot centers on a journalist uncovering a deadly lullaby, leading to explorations of loss, mortality, and control as he and a group work to eliminate its threat.

Setting:

The setting is primarily modern America, infused with a sense of dark surrealism as characters embark on a cross-country road trip.

Pacing:

The pacing is quick and engaging, featuring frequent temporal shifts that maintain a sense of urgency throughout the narrative.

The problem with every story is you tell it after the fact. Even play-by-play description on the radio, the home runs and strikeouts, even that’s delayed a few minutes. Even live television is postpon...

Notes:

The main character, Carl Streator, discovers a lethal lullaby that causes those who hear it to die.

The lullaby is part of a children's book called 'Poems and Rhymes Around the World'.

Streator, haunted by his own losses, uncovers a pattern linking sudden infant death cases to this book.

The culling song becomes more powerful due to Streator's emotional turmoil, allowing him to kill just by thinking it.

Streator teams up with a real estate agent named Helen, who has her own tragic connection to the lullaby.

Helen specializes in selling haunted houses, adding a unique twist to the narrative.

The journey involves finding and destroying all copies of the book containing the lullaby.

Helen's assistant, Mona, and her eco-terrorist boyfriend, Oyster, join the quest, each with their own motives.

The story explores deep themes like death and control over life, framed within an absurd and darkly humorous narrative.

Characters in the book are often unlikable, reflecting Palahniuk's satirical take on modern society.

Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings

The book features numerous triggers including themes of child death, necrophilia, violence, and ecological destruction, prompting high content warnings.

From The Publisher:

Ever heard of a culling song? It's a lullaby sung in Africa to give a painless death to the old or infirm. The lyrics of a culling song kill, whether spoken or even just thought. You can find one on page 27 of Poems and Rhymes from Around the World, an anthology that is sitting on the shelves of libraries across the country, waiting to be picked up by unsuspecting readers.

Reporter Carl Streator discovers the song's lethal nature while researching Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, and before he knows it, he's reciting the poem to anyone who bothers him. As the body count rises, Streator glimpses the potential catastrophe if someone truly malicious finds out about the song. The only answer is to find and destroy every copy of the book in the country. Accompanied by a shady real-estate agent, her Wiccan assistant, and the assistant's truly annoying ecoterrorist boyfriend, Streator begins a desperate cross-country quest to put the culling song to rest.

Written with a style and imagination that could only come from Chuck Palahniuk, Lullaby is the latest outrage from one of our most exciting writers at work today.

Ratings (35)

Incredible (8)
Loved It (15)
Liked It (8)
It Was OK (3)
Did Not Like (1)

Reader Stats (51):

Read It (37)
Want To Read (10)
Did Not Finish (1)
Not Interested (3)

1 comment(s)

pincus

Loved It

2 months

Another witty plot line from Chuck Palahniuk but not his most interesting work.

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About the Author:

CHUCK PALAHNIUK is the author of fourteen novels-Beautiful You, Doomed, Damned, Tell-All, Pygmy, Snuff, Rant, Haunted, Diary, Lullaby, Choke, Invisible Monsters, Survivor, and Fight Club-which have sold more than five million copies altogether in the United States. He is also the…

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Lullaby

Chuck Palahniuk