I finally pushed my way through Chuck Palahniuk's latest novel, Rant, in the wee hours of the morning. There's a lot of in depth reviews out there so I'm just going to hit a few points. If you're a fan of Palahniuk you should read this book, if you're not a fan you can probably skip it.
Rant is written in the form of an Oral Biography, it's a collection of interviews (with fictional characters) smashed into one semi-coherent string of events which eventually reveal a story. Palahniuk's books are usually all over the place, but holy shit, this book is bananas.
The majority of the book takes place in a future segregated not by races, but by time. Perspective of what's happening ranges from hillbilly's, historians, car salesmen, journalists, city dwellers, and your normal bit characters. The book delves into a concept called "boosting" which is essentially a recording of all five senses during any experience which anyone else can later experience via a "port" in their neck (Matrix?). Mix that with a pandemic of rabies and thoroughly confusing concepts of time travel, and liminoid and liminal time and you've got yourself a rough concept of what's going on.
Honestly, after reading the book, I feel like it was all an exciting series of events, but it never comes together as a whole for me. I might have to re-read it. However, Palahniuk has stated that there will be two more related books (in 2011 and 2013) which may or may not tie things up.
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