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A review by karieh13
Tell-All by Chuck Palahniuk
2.0
True, I’ve only read one other of Chuck Palahniuk’s books – “Haunted” – which I liked – but maybe I am just not the right audience for this story. Because? I am not at all sure what this book was about.
Wait – I don’t mean that exactly… I guess I mean that I am not sure what the author was trying to do here – what the point of the book was. If it was something along the lines of “Hollywood is superficial and it’s all about names and brands” – well – I think I got that point VERY early on. But that doesn’t explain why the book keeps going.
This story of a Hollywood actress and the woman who stands behind her belabors most of its points. “Beyond her first few words, Lillian’s talk becomes one of those jungle sound tracks one hears looping in the background of every Tarzan film, just tropical birds and Johnny Weissmuller and howler monkeys repeating. Bark, bark, screech…Emerald Cunard. Bark, growl, screech…”
And this narrative device, introduced on page 3, is still being used on page 178. My copy of the book – has 179 pages.
I shouldn’t go on – again – maybe I just didn’t get it. But there were flashes of what I think have earned Palahniuk his devoted following that made me wonder what this story could have been:
“Imagine every compliment you’ve ever received, made manifest, etched into metal or stone and filling your home. That terrible accumulating burden of your Dedication and Talent, your Contributions and Achievements, forgotten by everyone except yourself. Katherine Kenton, the Great Humanitarian.”
But maybe my feelings are best expressed by the author himself: “The priceless diamond itself lost in this heap of so many worthless, dazzling glass shards.”
Wait – I don’t mean that exactly… I guess I mean that I am not sure what the author was trying to do here – what the point of the book was. If it was something along the lines of “Hollywood is superficial and it’s all about names and brands” – well – I think I got that point VERY early on. But that doesn’t explain why the book keeps going.
This story of a Hollywood actress and the woman who stands behind her belabors most of its points. “Beyond her first few words, Lillian’s talk becomes one of those jungle sound tracks one hears looping in the background of every Tarzan film, just tropical birds and Johnny Weissmuller and howler monkeys repeating. Bark, bark, screech…Emerald Cunard. Bark, growl, screech…”
And this narrative device, introduced on page 3, is still being used on page 178. My copy of the book – has 179 pages.
I shouldn’t go on – again – maybe I just didn’t get it. But there were flashes of what I think have earned Palahniuk his devoted following that made me wonder what this story could have been:
“Imagine every compliment you’ve ever received, made manifest, etched into metal or stone and filling your home. That terrible accumulating burden of your Dedication and Talent, your Contributions and Achievements, forgotten by everyone except yourself. Katherine Kenton, the Great Humanitarian.”
But maybe my feelings are best expressed by the author himself: “The priceless diamond itself lost in this heap of so many worthless, dazzling glass shards.”