Chuck Palanick’s “Lullaby”
Chuck Palahniuk became world famous thanks to his novel Fight Club – his film adaptation with Brad Pitt, Edward Norton and Helena Bonham Carter became a cult movie. The first novel, which garnered several literary awards, was followed by the second, “The Choke,” and the third, “The Lullaby.” The latter is a little different from the previous ones: it was written under the influence of the author’s deep personal experiences.
“Lullaby” summary
Most lullabies and nursery rhymes are harmless: they are meant to soothe or distract the infant, they help development, memorize words spoken in a soft mother’s voice.
But in primitive society, when people believed in the magic of words, there were other lullabies. Such lullabies were sung to children when more were born than the tribe could feed, they were also recalled when a member of the community was too old to work and hunt, terminally ill or mortally wounded. There is a powerful power in these poems – their recipient dies quickly and painlessly, as if falling into a deep sleep.
Carl
Journalist Carl Streitor investigates the recurring cases of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Nothing portends trouble, the baby is healthy and eating well, but at one point he closes his eyes and no longer wakes up. It happens at night when everyone is asleep, or even in the arms of parents who can never recover from the shock.
Carl visited families, talked to relatives, and gradually fumbled for a linking detail – in each case a collection of poems and nursery rhymes from around the world. An ancient lullaby of a forgotten African tribe was read to all the dead children. Perhaps long ago, collectors of folklore mistook the spell for a nursery rhyme, and it ended up in a collection of poems for the very young.
The reporter manages to get a copy of the book. It turns out that the hunches were correct and the ancient magic of words does not lose its power over time. The victims of the spell check are the chief editor who yelled at Karl, then a noisy neighbor upstairs and a careless stranger on the street.
Helen
Carl is not the first to discover the secret of the African lullaby. Destructive magic has long been used by unscrupulous realtor Ellen Boyle. The more often the tenants change, the more she earns. In addition to the spell, the lady does not shy away from using stories about ghosts and poltergeists for her own selfish ends – usually no one stays in her apartments for more than a month or two.
Carl and Ellen get acquainted and, along with even more dubious partners, set out to find copies of “Poems” with a published lullaby. Listen to the novel Lullaby online and find out what the characters will have to face on this strange car crusade across the States.
Why was death the novel’s title theme?
When Palahniq was just beginning work on his new book, there was a brutal murder: his father and his wife were killed by a psychopath and their bodies burned in a fire. Later the writer admitted in interviews that in the course of writing the novel all the time he tried to answer the question: would he have wanted death for the murderer of his parents.
Palahniq’s character in the novel concludes that murder is not the worst crime, because indifference is much scarier. Standing idly by and watching the self-destruction of his loved ones is what he believes is truly unforgivable.
Another theme that runs through the book: the abuse of power over people. When the opportunity arises to control destinies with a single word, few are able to resist the temptation.