I've liked nearly every Palahniuk book, but this one wasn't nearly as good as any of his others. The only one of his I haven't read, aside from that Portland tour guide thing, is Tell-All, which was so strangely written that I couldn't get into it. I'm not sure who has changed. Chuck or myself. One of us has, and I'm not sure the gap is reconcilable any longer.

Damned is about a 13 year old girl who dies and goes to Hell. It's written from her perspective, and while she's smart as 13 year olds go, she has her fair share of colloquialisms and it reads like a lot like Christopher Moore's "Bite Me" in its "omg" style tone.

The usual suspects in a Palahniuk are still there: gruesome descriptions that hold nothing back, satirical observations on popular culture, and biting retorts about racism/sexism/class-ism. And the story is fine in a Dante-esque way, but the thing as a whole just doesn't hold up for me.

Like I said, I'm not sure who has changed over the years, but regardless, Damned didn't push my buttons the way nearly every other Chuck Palahniuk book has, and it makes me sad to say it. I feel like an era has passed.