Snuff
Chuck Palahniuk


Cassie Wright, an adult movie actress, is planning to go down in history by having sex with 600 men on film.
The story unfolds from the points of view of Mr 72, Mr 137, Mr 600 and Sheila, the set manager as well as the person responsible for putting the project together.
It eventually emerges that she is doing the film for the sake of her child, accidentally fathered by a fellow professional on a shoot and later given up for adoption.
There is a possibility she could die making it, hence the title of the book. That would, however, result in phenomenal sales and life insurance policy payouts, thus securing her child’s future.
Best known for the nihilistic Fight Club, Chuck Palahniuk here takes the dysfunctional family drama and gives it a twist by setting it within another American institution – the porn industry.
Palahniuk also trots out the rationalisation of porn as female empowerment but it is clear from the book that the women, from Annabel Chong to Cassie Wright, are very much victims as well.
Chong is the real-life Singaporean porn star who set a record in 1995 by reportedly having sex with 251 men. Her exploit is both referenced and analysed in Snuff.
A brooding fatalism underscores much of the novel and the ever-present link between sex and death is made explicit here.
The climax, when it finally arrives, strikes a deliciously demented note. Too bad he couldn't keep it up throughout.

If you like this, read: Damage by Josephine Hart (1996, US$13.50 or S$18.41, amazon.com) Another dark aspect of sex is explored in this tale of an obsessive love between a man and his son’s fiancee.
(ST)