Invisible Monsters
First edition cover
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| Author | Chuck Palahniuk |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Archie Ferguson Tommy Ewasko |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Novel, transgressive fiction, satire |
| Publisher | W. W. Norton |
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Publication date
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September 1999 |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages | 297 |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 40954244 |
| 813/.54 21 | |
| LC Class | PS3566.A4554 I58 1999 |
| Preceded by | Survivor |
| Followed by | Choke |
Invisible Monsters is a novel by Chuck Palahniuk, published in 1999. It is his third novel to be published, though it was his second written novel (after Insomnia: If You Lived Here, You'd Be Home Already). The novel was originally supposed to be Palahniuk's first novel to be published, but it was rejected by the publisher for being too disturbing. After the success of his novel Fight Club, Invisible Monsters was given a second chance, and a revised version of it was published. The first edition was released in paperback in 1999, and on June 11, 2012, it was published in hardcover, in a revised edition titled Invisible Monsters Remix (). The novel has been adapted into a graphic novel by comic artist KGZ, a.k.a. Gabor Kiss.
The narrator of the story is an unnamed disfigured woman who goes by multiple identities, notably Daisy St. Patience and Bubba Joan — identities that were given to her by Brandy Alexander, with whom she spends the majority of the book. The novel opens on the wedding day of Evie Cottrell, whose house is burning to the ground.
Brandy has been shot by Evie, and asks the narrator to tell her life story. She remembers how she first met Brandy, and the story is told in a non-linear sequence of memories.
The narrator is the daughter of a farmer. Her older brother, Shane, was kicked out of the house for being gay after a test for strep throat revealed itself to be gonorrhea. After their parents receive a stranger's phone call that Shane is dead from AIDS, they become obsessive supporters of gay rights, so that even in death, Shane gets more parental attention than the narrator. This attention is a huge source of resentment and hate for the narrator towards her brother. The narrator sought a career in modeling in attempt to get attention for herself.
Her best friend in modeling school is Evelyn "Evie" Cottrell. Evie begins a secret relationship with the narrator's policeman boyfriend, Manus Kelley.
While driving down the highway, the narrator is shot in the face and her jaw is ripped off. She immediately drives to the hospital where she recovers, her lower jaw lost and modeling career destroyed. In speech therapy she meets Brandy Alexander, a trans woman. During their sessions, Brandy attempts to teach the narrator how to give herself a new life and a new identity, giving her a new name, Daisy St. Patience, the first among many new identities given to the narrator.
Evie begs the narrator to come live with her. As soon as the narrator arrives Evie goes to Cancún, leaving the narrator alone in the house. The first night, someone breaks in. It's her boyfriend, Manus Kelley, holding a huge kitchen knife.
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