\Imagine a plague you catch through your ears. The new death, this plague, can come from anywhere; a song, an overhead announcement, a news bulletin, a sermon. Imagine a higher and higher resistance to language. No one talks because no one dares to listen. The deaf shall inherit the earth.
Sticks and stones will break your bones, but now words can kill, too.""
This is the premise for Chuck Palahniuk's latest novel and masterpiece, ""Lullaby."" His previous work, ""Fight Club,"" became a cult favorite that was later adapted for the Hollywood film. Taking a surface turn from his usual scathing social commentary, Palahniuk moves towards the horror genre.
""Lullaby"" follows downtrodden journalist Carl Streator. As the book begins, Carl embarks on a human interest piece about sudden infant death syndrome. As he makes his way through the five families for the article, he discovers that all five homes contain a copy of the same book: ""Poems and Rhymes from Around the World."" All five lie open to page 27, containing an ancient Zulu lullaby. After some investigation, he discovers that it was a culling song'a song read to the ailing and young of the Zulu during times of famine, causing them to die overnight and thus thinning the tribe.
Streator resolves to destroy all copies of this book, realizing the devastating potential of a culling song. Before long, Carl discovers that the poem doesn't necessarily have to be read aloud'it infests his thoughts like a pop song that you can't get out of your head and suddenly the song is beyond Streator's control. Killing people left and right, Streator calls on the help of Helen Hoover Boyle, a real-estate agent specializing in haunted houses (quicker turnaround sales) because he suspects she knew the culling song. Setting up the latter two-thirds of the book, Carl, Helen, Helen's secretary Mona and Mona's boyfriend embark on a cross-country road trip to destroy all 500 copies of the book.
Like the rest of Palahniuk's books, ""Lullaby"" serves up harsh statements of modern life. Palahniuk takes aim at our media-frenzied lives, often claiming that George Orwell was wrong'Big Brother doesn't watch us; rather, he's doing a song and dance. He is doing everything in his power to distract you. ""He's making sure your imagination withers. Until it's as useful as your appendix. He's making sure your attention is always filled. With the world always filling you, no one has to worry about what's in your mind. With everyone's imagination atrophied, no one will ever be a threat to the world.""
He cleverly lambastes the ""quiet-o-phobics"" via Streator's neighbors'those people who seem to constantly engage in a audio war to see whose stereo or television can produce the most sound.
Streator himself embodies those who attempt to escape their problems; according to him, ""The trick to forgetting the big picture is to look at everything close-up. The shortcut to closing a door is to bury yourself in the details."" As the story progresses, the primary theme is revealed'do we really have free will? Is what we want set against what we have been programmed to want?
A book as ambitious as ""Lullaby"" is rare and precious and Palahniuk's captivating, stream-of-consciousness writing style is irresistible. Few writers in a generation are able to capture the sentiment of the time as well as captivate the kind of cult audience that Palahniuk has.
With ""Lullaby,"" Palahniuk embraces the horror genre, reaching a mainstream audience that is desperately in need of the social voice that he provides.
