Chuck Palahniuk, born in 1962 with a seemingly functional lifestyle, has made a name for himself in the literary world over the past decade by amplifying the many facets of human habits of dysfunction . After his first published novel, Fight Club, made a splash in 1999, Palahniuk continued to take the world of fiction by storm with novels like Diary, Lullaby, Invisible Monsters, and many others, cementing a reputation "as an accomplished writer who continues to make his readers uncomfortable” (“Chuck Palahniuk”). The author has also published two works of nonfiction, but it is the raw cynicism of his fiction and its inability to be assigned to a genre that have made Palahniuk the success he is today. By many accounts, he struggled to find his way throughout his young life, working everything from dishwasher to movie projectionist, before finding success and sanity in the professional writing process ("Chuck Palahniuk"). Palahniuk's ability to combine the intellectual and the political with the disgusting, the graphic, and the degrading is what distinguishes his writings from other satirists on the current literary scene. For example, in Haunted he uses a reality show gone wrong to create an image of the superficial human condition. Similarly, in Invisible Monsters the reader follows the story of a former model, Shannon McFarland, who is missing the lower half of her face, and a beautiful male-to-female transvestite, Brandy Alexander, as they travel across the country to confront The Shannon's former best friend. Invisible Monsters was Palahniuk's fictional depiction of the nonfiction world of the fashion industry and the impact it has on self-image (“Chuck Palahniuk”). In this essay I will discuss Palahniuk's least satirical work of fiction, Llull... middle of paper... Philip Jones Why it matters that fiction is uncomfortable." The Bookseller Mar (2007): 27. Literature Resource Center. Web. March 15, 2011. Kaplan, Michael. “Chuck Palahniuk: Fight Club Author Tries Horror Fiction — After Silencing His Demons.” Web Literary Resource Center. April 17, 2011. “Lullaby. (Fiction)." Publishers Weekly July (2002). Literature Resource Center. Web. March 16, 2011. Palahniuk, Chuck. Lullaby. New York: Anchor, 2003. Print. Palahniuk, Chuck. Stranger Than Fiction: True Stories. New York : Anchor, 2004. 207-08.Zackheim, Ben (2002).. 2011.