The dark story of Waytensea Island revovles around an ex-art Student named Misty who marries an Islander, and moves on to the Island with him. Tragedy strikes when her husband, Peter, attempts suicide, and is left comatose in hospital. Misty is bitter, no less, about his attempt and mocks his comatose body with insults.
Things take a strange turn for the worse, when Islanders return to their home’s to find that the houses Peter worked on are each missing a room. It’s with the help of Angel Delaporte, one of the victims of the hidden rooms, that Misty uncovers dark scrawlings across the wall the predict a dark time ahead. Misty becomes ill, and is prescribed an unknown natural medication which only seems to work when she’s painting. When she paints, the pain disappears and she forgets about her comatose husband. For some reason her daughter and mother-in-law care little for Misty’s well being, instead pushing her to paint. Paint to save Waytensea Island from its darkest hour.
Diary reads like a new, modern day version of Rosemary’s Baby or The Wicker Man. A dark foretelling of doom is about to hit the Island, and the only person that can change that doom is the stranger who’s come to the Island. One way or another, she will save the Island, even at the cost of everything else. It’s a dark and brooding tale, full of angst and violent language which engrosses the reader to further continue down the perilous journey that Misty must take in order to gain her freedom back, held down by forces of evil in human nature.
Palahniuk manages to capture to essence of the evil doers who are forcing Misty to paint to save their Island
At first I felt for Misty, but then it started to get a but long in the the tooth. You understand that this woman is bitter, and is full of resentment, but it seems to be the whole emtoions that she can express. Duped into coming to the Island, and thinking she would live the life of luxury, she spends her time waiting on tables trying to scrape enough money together to feed herself and her daughter, while housing her mother-in-law who spends money like it’s running out of fashion.
Diary is supposedly written by Misty, but it may also have been written by her predecessors who never amanged to escape from the tortured destiny that befell them. Misty starts to find clues and begins to piece together a tragic misfortune that will befall her, and there seems no escape from this inevitability.
Palahniuk manages to capture to essence of the evil doers who are forcing Misty to paint to save their Island, as he manages to capture the angst and violent thoughts that Misty has towards both the Island, and in particular her husband. There are many moments of creepiness in the book, in particular one of the closer characters to Misty, who it is I won’t spoil, but it was splendidly handled and disturbing at the same time.
Diary reads like a new, modern day version of Rosemary’s Baby or The Wicker Man
Disturbing is perhaps a word that can describe Palahniuk’s works, as he ventures in the nihilism of human nature, the darker recesses of the mind and offers a journey that will tingle your spine as well as ask you to piece the puzzle together for yourself. Too soon I had thought I had solved the mystery, only to be flummoxed by the supernatural occurences which are as dark as anything I’ve read.
Diary is an entertaining book, perhaps not as entertaining or as creepy as Rosemary’s Baby, but near enough the most accessible and darkest book I’ve read for a while. Stephen King fans, and fans of other genres may be all to familiar with the evil Islanders motif, and although done to death already, Palahniuk manages to put enough of a spin on it to make it his own.
Verdict: An enjoyable dark tale from the mind of Palahniuk