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A review by ambermarshall
Make Something Up: Stories You Can't Unread by Chuck Palahniuk
4.0
This one is a mixed bag, so I'm going to do like I usually try to with collections and summarize and review each story separately. 5 stars usually go to ones I could read a whole novel of.
"Knock Knock": A guy whose shitty father thought it was funny to teach his kid dirty racist jokes finally realizes he was the butt of the joke all along. 3 stars.
"Eleanor": Ugh, I hated this narrative style when he did it in Pygmy. It's such a chore to parse. The story would have been fine without it. 2 stars
"How Monkey Got Married...": First of a few semi-connected stories in this volume told in a Aesop's fables/Coyote stories style where everyone is a type of animal. Salesperson Monkey is given a seemingly impossible task. 4 stars.
"Zombies": Is being brain damaged so bad if it means easy happiness? I read this previously when it was published somewhere online, still pretty great. 5 stars.
"Loser": Another "is winning really worth it?" question-raiser that Chuck is so fond of, in the frame of an acid-tripping frat boy on The Price is Right (basically). 5 stars.
"Red Sultan's Big Boy": Gross beastiality and kids trying to profit off of a viral video (what is with the crafty scheming teenagers in several of these stories?) Unexpected ending. 5 stars.
"Romance": Ignorance is bliss again. Who cares if she's dumb if she's blistering smoking hot? 4 stars.
"Cannibal": Pretty sure you can't perform an abortion like this. Also, fucking gross, Chuck. 1 star.
"Why Coyote Never had Money for Parking": Monkey might have envied Coyote his posting but in Chuck's world the grass is only ever green from the next yard over. 3 stars.
"Phoenix": I read this when it was a Kindle Single and loved it ever since. A business traveler deals with her stubbornly silent blind daughter, her weak-willed husband, and the "ghost" of a cat who more or less ruined their lives. 5 stars.
"The Facts of Life": An ultimate cautionary tale about premarital sex. I admit I laughed at the ending. Unexpected. 4 stars.
"Cold Calling": A telemarketer who can't get anyone to believe him and a customer who isn't who she pretends to be. A little cut-short feeling. 3 stars.
"The Toad Prince": Body modification and "natural male enhancement" taken to a pretty gross extreme. 2 stars.
"Smoke": a writer feeling like a slave to language. Pretty short. 3 stars.
"Torcher": Stoner meets hard-boiled noir detective at Burning Man. Make this a novel please? 5 stars.
"Liturgy": Good pacing and drawing out suspense, also does a great job of sketching out an HOA neighborhood. 4 stars.
"Why Aardvark Never Landed on the Moon": When excellence is punished, go for mediocrity. This one made me sad and pissed off. Fucking bullies. 4 stars.
"Fetch": A haunted tennis ball leads a teenager on a treasure hunt. No, really. I wouldn't mind a book of their adventures. Maybe I'm a weirdo, I dunno. 4 stars.
"Expedition": Some history of the Tyler Durden entity/mythos introduced in Fight Club 2 (the comic book). Interesting. 4 stars.
"Mr Elegant": Someone always has it worse than you even if you end up a viral embarrassment. I want a novel about what happens to the troupe that forms at the end. 5 stars.
"Tunnel of Love": A dying woman seeks a massage therapist's help to hasten the process. Fascinating. 4 stars.
"Inclinations": Kids pretending to be gay, hoping to scam their parents for money in return for attending a gay conversion program end up caught in a more sinister scam. 5 stars.
"How a Jew Saved Christmas": Secret Santa drama. 4 stars.
So in all, a good chunk of my favorite kind of Chuck stories, some gross-out, a few duds, ultimately worth the read.
"Knock Knock": A guy whose shitty father thought it was funny to teach his kid dirty racist jokes finally realizes he was the butt of the joke all along. 3 stars.
"Eleanor": Ugh, I hated this narrative style when he did it in Pygmy. It's such a chore to parse. The story would have been fine without it. 2 stars
"How Monkey Got Married...": First of a few semi-connected stories in this volume told in a Aesop's fables/Coyote stories style where everyone is a type of animal. Salesperson Monkey is given a seemingly impossible task. 4 stars.
"Zombies": Is being brain damaged so bad if it means easy happiness? I read this previously when it was published somewhere online, still pretty great. 5 stars.
"Loser": Another "is winning really worth it?" question-raiser that Chuck is so fond of, in the frame of an acid-tripping frat boy on The Price is Right (basically). 5 stars.
"Red Sultan's Big Boy": Gross beastiality and kids trying to profit off of a viral video (what is with the crafty scheming teenagers in several of these stories?) Unexpected ending. 5 stars.
"Romance": Ignorance is bliss again. Who cares if she's dumb if she's blistering smoking hot? 4 stars.
"Cannibal": Pretty sure you can't perform an abortion like this. Also, fucking gross, Chuck. 1 star.
"Why Coyote Never had Money for Parking": Monkey might have envied Coyote his posting but in Chuck's world the grass is only ever green from the next yard over. 3 stars.
"Phoenix": I read this when it was a Kindle Single and loved it ever since. A business traveler deals with her stubbornly silent blind daughter, her weak-willed husband, and the "ghost" of a cat who more or less ruined their lives. 5 stars.
"The Facts of Life": An ultimate cautionary tale about premarital sex. I admit I laughed at the ending. Unexpected. 4 stars.
"Cold Calling": A telemarketer who can't get anyone to believe him and a customer who isn't who she pretends to be. A little cut-short feeling. 3 stars.
"The Toad Prince": Body modification and "natural male enhancement" taken to a pretty gross extreme. 2 stars.
"Smoke": a writer feeling like a slave to language. Pretty short. 3 stars.
"Torcher": Stoner meets hard-boiled noir detective at Burning Man. Make this a novel please? 5 stars.
"Liturgy": Good pacing and drawing out suspense, also does a great job of sketching out an HOA neighborhood. 4 stars.
"Why Aardvark Never Landed on the Moon": When excellence is punished, go for mediocrity. This one made me sad and pissed off. Fucking bullies. 4 stars.
"Fetch": A haunted tennis ball leads a teenager on a treasure hunt. No, really. I wouldn't mind a book of their adventures. Maybe I'm a weirdo, I dunno. 4 stars.
"Expedition": Some history of the Tyler Durden entity/mythos introduced in Fight Club 2 (the comic book). Interesting. 4 stars.
"Mr Elegant": Someone always has it worse than you even if you end up a viral embarrassment. I want a novel about what happens to the troupe that forms at the end. 5 stars.
"Tunnel of Love": A dying woman seeks a massage therapist's help to hasten the process. Fascinating. 4 stars.
"Inclinations": Kids pretending to be gay, hoping to scam their parents for money in return for attending a gay conversion program end up caught in a more sinister scam. 5 stars.
"How a Jew Saved Christmas": Secret Santa drama. 4 stars.
So in all, a good chunk of my favorite kind of Chuck stories, some gross-out, a few duds, ultimately worth the read.