Rant (novel)
 First edition cover (wraparound view) | |
| Author | Chuck Palahniuk |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Jacket design: Rodrigo Corral Jacket illustration: Jacob Magraw-Mickelson |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Novel, satire |
| Publisher | Doubleday |
Publication date | May 1, 2007 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 319 pp (first edition, hardcover) |
| ISBN | ISBN 978-0-385-51787-4 (first edition, hardcover) Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character |
Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey is a novel by Chuck Palahniuk released on May 1, 2007.[1]
Rant is told in the form of an oral biography. The main character, Buster Landru "Rant" Casey, is already deceased. Various people discuss their memories of Buster and the world he lived in, presenting stories that occasionally conflict. In the first sentence of the first interview, a character says he "didn't meet and talk to Rant Casey until after he was dead," setting the stage for the convolutions later in the story.
Real-life author Victor Turner is briefly quoted as one of the contributors.
Plot summary
Buster Casey was born in the rural town of Middleton, the son of Chester and Irene Casey, gifted with a sense of smell and taste as acute as a bloodhound's.
One of his childhood pranks involving animal organs resulted in numerous townsfolk getting sick. As each person threw up, they made a sound that resembled the word "rant," which became a local synonym for "vomit" and Buster's nickname. Underscoring the book's theme that two people can see the same person very differently are the names used by the Casey family. Buster calls his parents Mom and Dad. Irene calls her son Buddy and her husband Chet. Chester calls his wife Reen and his son Buster, although late in the in the book, he uncharacteristically refers to his son as Rant.
Obsessed with getting bitten by animals, Buster uncovers great hidden wealth, threatens his way to an early diploma and a check in order to leave school early and leaves town to start a nation-wide epidemic of rabies. It isn't until Buster arrives in the city that it becomes clear that the novel takes place in a dystopian future, where urban dwellers are forcefully divided by curfew into two separate classes: the respectable Daytimers and the oppressed Nighttimers.
Buster becomes a Nighttimer and finds himself swept up in Party Crashing, a covert demolition derby played out on city streets at night. The game is organized by an unknown entity, speculated by some to be the government, providing an outlet for Nighttimer aggression that won't affect the Daytimers. Set during a designated window of time, the object is to crash, not too forcefully, into other players who sport a certain flag, such as a Christmas tree on the car's roof or the words "Just Married" scrawled on the rear windshield.
Rant eventually dies while Party Crashing, his death viewed by millions on national television. However, when the car is pried open, his body is inexplicably missing. As the rabies continues to spread, the various interviewees share their speculations about Rant's strange fate and its implications for society. Crashing a car while in a given state of mind, many theorize, jars a person outside of time. Buster has supposedly gone back in time to stop Green Taylor Simms, a previous time-travelling incarnation of himself, from raping his mother. Buster fails, opts to change his name to Chester and weds his mother to help raise himself.
Future
During his "Rant 2007" tour, Palahniuk has indicated that he will continue to write two more books based on Rant, to be released tentatively in 2011 and 2013 but also stated that he will be writing other books in between, with his next to be titled Snuff. [2]
References
- ^ Chuckpalahniuk.net. Retrieved July 12, 2006
- ^ ""Interview with Chuck Palahniuk" by Dan Frazier". Pine Magazine. May 8 2007. Retrieved 2007-05-17.
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