Survivor (novel)
Survivor is a
novel by
Chuck Palahniuk. It's a cynical book about a
man named Tender Branson who is in the Creedish
death cult. In this cult, every member learns how to be a
servant for the
human race—most of them are butlers and maids—and
fear most human pleasures. They await a sign from
God to tell them to deliver themselves unto Him, that is, commit
suicide. The sign finally comes, and a good ten
years later, Tender becomes the last surviving member of the cult. He's thrown into mainstream
culture and becomes a personal
icon for many people.
An excerpt from chapter 25:
- "This one time, the agent asked me where I saw myself in five years. Dead, I said. I see myself dead and rotting. Or ashes, I can see myself burned to ashes. I remember I had a loaded gun in my pocket. Just the two of us were standing in the back of a crowded, dark auditorium.
- 'I see myself dead and in hell.'
- I remember I was planning to kill myself that night. It was the night of my first big public appearance. I told the agent, I figured I'd spend my first thousand years in hell in some entry-level position, but after that I wanted to move into management. Be a real team player. Hell is going to see enormous growth in market share over the next millennium, and I wanted to ride the crest.
- The agent said that sounded pretty realistic."
ISBN numbers