Not Forever, But For Now

By: Chuck Palahniuk

Narrated by: Raphael Corkhill

From the bestselling author of Fight Club comes a hilarious horror satire “equal parts saccharine caricature and startling raunch” (Kirkus Reviews) about a family of professional killers responsible for the most atrocious events in history and the young brothers that are destined to take over.

Meet Otto and Cecil. Two brothers who grew up privileged in the Welsh countryside. They enjoyed watching nature shows, playing with their pet pony, impersonating their Grandfather…and killing the help. Murder is the family business after all. Downton Abbey, this is not.

However, it’s not so easy to continue the family legacy with the constant stream of threats and distractions seemingly leaping from the hedgerow. First, there is the matter of the veritable cavalcade of escaped convicts that keep showing up at their door. Not to mention the debaucherous new tutor who has a penchant for speaking Greek and dismembering sex dolls. Then there’s Mummy’s burgeoning opioid addiction. And who knows where Daddy is. He just vanished one day after he and Mummy took a walk in the so-called “Ghost Forest.”

With Grandfather putting pressure on Otto to step up, it becomes clear that this will all end in only two ways: a nuclear apocalypse or just another day among the creeping thistle and tree peonies. And in a novel written by Chuck Palahniuk, either are equally possible.

Hmmm

Like The Turn Of The Screw—only more perverse and graphic. Not a book for the easily disgusted.
Outstanding narration.

Meh…

What I imagine a book written and performed by Stewie Griffin from Family Guy would be like.

Chuck has evolved as a writer!

Aside from the dark humor and social commentary, I wouldn't have known this was a Palanuik book.

The only reason I didn’t quit this book was my own obstinacy.

I could not wait for it to be over, seriously. I counted down the hours. The story felt somehow both convoluted and monotonous. This is beyond a slow burn. I found this frustrating, because I liked the concept. I liked that it was kind of like a nature documentary voiceover of horrible spoiled rich serial killers. I just couldn’t get into it.
Palahniuk was my favorite author for years and I have a great fondness for a lot of his older novels. The two recent ones I read both failed to enrapture me. The only part of the story I liked was the last, like, 5 minutes.
Shoutout to the narrator, though, because I know it was no small feat going through those enormous strings of one’s and zero’s. That was the most impressive part of this whole thing tbh.

Repetitive

The story is absurd and dark, not unlike some of the other books by the author, which i really liked. I much anticipated this book’s release. To me, the story was too slow and way too repetitive.

Praise for mr Corkhill, as his voice and intonation are fantastic.