I've read some weird stuff, much of it by Chuck Palahniuk. I've read some metaphysical stuff where the author has inserted himself as a character - Paul Auster and Stephen King spring immediately to mind.
This has to take the biscuit for sheer bizzarreness. The first book is hardly "normal" but this is in a different league.
It starts with a brief recap of the final couple of chapters of the original novel
We then jump about 10 years, the nameless narrator from the novel is now called Sebastian and is amarried to his girlfriend, Marla, from the first book. They have a 10 year old son - who is nameless.
Sebastian thinks he has Tyler under control through strict medication. However Marla has been swapping out his medication for sugar pills because she's bored of the surburban life and is cheating on him with Tyler.
By the end of chapter one, the house has been blown up and the boy apparently kidnapped. To get him back, Sebastian must rejoin Project Mayhem to try to track him down.
After that, things get weird.
A few chapters into the book, Marla contacts an author with a weird name who's composing a story at a "Write Club". These characters develop a more and more prominent role as the story continues. To say more would be spoilerific in the extreme. Suffice to say, this is on a par with Paul Auster's Travels in the Scriptorium for meta writing, maybe even more meta.
The artwork is impressive throughout. The cover art from the original issues of the comic is stunning. The writing is funny, fast paced and exciting, even if there are many places that make me say WTF.
I still think the film is better than the first book, and I really liked the first book, and I have to say I think the first book is better than this one. Mainly because it was easier to work out what was happening.
It's still well worth reading. If you like Palahniuk, you'll enjoy it as much as I did.
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