This book has created quite a bit of controversy with its suggestion in the course of the story that racial groups in the U.S. should inhabit different homelands. And in fact, the first half of the book reads like a serious, reasonable proposition put forth by a group of essentially white suprematists.
You have to continue to the last half of the book, however, once the whites, blacks, gays and latinos have all been resettled (or shipped out in the case of the latinos). As the distinct homelands establish themselves and develop, Palahniuk begins to bring out the essential absurdities of all the current identity politics and doctrines. Every community becomes a ridiculous and pathetic parody of itself. In the end, we are left with a small group of fugitives from the various homelands who want to start again in a world where they are not defined by their narrow group identity.
Great sarcasm and parody, but somehow the writing in the last part didn't hold my attention well.
Still worth a read.
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