tasha robinson of "the a.v. club" reviewed the novel soon after its release giving it a positive review, stating "...palahniuk is as unique and colorful as ever, with his predilection for odd factoids and weird twists. but none of this makes the arbitrary deaths, the ludicrous behavior, or the pages upon pages about corpse-rot and vivisection any easier to deal with. like his characters, palahniuk sometimes seems to be operating under the presumption that he can never sink too low, or vomit up too much. here's hoping he's wrong, for everyone's sake."