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Content snapshot
Flag an inaccuracy →What's in this book, at a glance — five things readers want to know before they start.
Violence
Some
Some violence; a mass suicide as backstory; some physical confrontations
Language
A lot
Pervasive strong language throughout
Sexual Content
A lot
Explicit sexual content; some graphic descriptions
Substance Use
A lot
Heavy drug use; the narrator is drugged, sedated, and controlled throughout much of the novel
Emotional Intensity
A lot
The psychology of cult programming and its aftermath; the emptiness of celebrity; a narrator moving toward his own death with strange equanimity
What this book is about
Tender Branson, sole surviving member of the Creedish Church, has hijacked a Boeing 747 and is dictating his autobiography into the plane's flight recorder before it crashes. The novel is numbered backwards. Tender was one of hundreds of 'household helpers' trained by the cult; after a mass suicide order is given to all remaining members, he accidentally becomes a celebrity self-help guru. Palahniuk's dark satire of American media, religion, and the hunger for spectacle is less sexually explicit than Fight Club but equally transgressive and darkly funny.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
Explicit sexual content
Heavy drug content
Mass suicide as backstory
Satire of religion that some may find offensive
Adults only
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