Survivor, Chuck Palahnuik's second novel, after the massively popular and cult classic debut of Fight Club, was released in 1999, keeping with the the author's favoured genre of trangressional fiction.
The book addresses the topics of capitalism and religious fanaticism, exploring how they overlap in our society and the commercialisation of spirituality. Our protagonist, Tender Branson, narrates our non-linear timeline from the last moment chronologically in the novel, from a plane that he is stolen, recording his story into the black box. He talks about the cult that he was raised in, that taught its followers that when the time of reckoning arrived, every one of them, no matter where they were in the world, had to follow the light and meet the saviour. As he eventually becomes the last survivor of this religion, the book tracks his rise to power, commentating on the dangerous world of the media and realistically describes the hounding and struggling people can face when forced into the public eye, even when they have come from such vulnerable situations as the Creedish Church, in Branson's case.
This book became even more controversial in the wake of 2001, when the 9/11 attacks made the plane crashing elements of the narrative hit very close to home. At the time, a film was in the early stages of production of the novel, but this was shelved out of respect for the aftermath at the time. In 2016, it was announced that the screenwriter of Fight Club, Jim Uhls, would be teaming up again with Palahnuik to develop the novel into a short TV series, but no updates were released and this appears to also have been undeveloped.
