I read Chuck' Pahlaniuk's new book Tell-All a couple weeks ago while I was traveling. Like most of his books published in the last couple years, I read the entire thing in a couple hours. That's not to say that his recent books are bad, but they aren't 'Fight Club' or 'Invisible Monsters' where passages would hit me like a ton of bricks and demand that I re-read them 3 or 4 times before I could move on. I couldn't say if it's his writing or me that has changed.
Anyway, Long story short: I liked it. It was very entertaining and much better than his last book, 'Pygmy', which I think had no redeeming qualities. His pattern over the last 5 or 6 years has been to publish books I love and ones that disappoint me in roughly equal measure. He's built up enough goodwill with me over the years, however, that his work is pretty much buy on sight.
The book follows Katherine Kenton, a film-star in the twilight of her career, who just met the man who is likely to be next on her long list of husbands, Webster Carlton Westward III. It is narrated by her aide/confidant/career consultant Mazie Coogan who is none too happy with this development.
The first half dragged a little bit, especially since I don't know much about '50s hollywood celebrity culture. In the second half Mazie discovers the tell-all memoir Webster is writing about Katherine, that includes details of her yet-to-occur death. This is where the book delves into darkly absurd humor and really starts to work. Each thwarted assassination attempt leads to a ridiculous revision of the manuscript that keeps building to more and more cartoonish situations. Once the book found its rhythm, I was actually laughing out loud on the plane and drawing attention from the other passengers.
The book has some insight into how people on the edge, or those closest to death live life more fully than when they are simply stagnant; about how vanity and insecurity can define a person; and how the image that someone projects can be more important to someone than who they actually are. Maybe it's just me, but these insights didn't seem particularly novel or revelatory the way that those in 'Haunted' or Invisible Monsters did. However, because of the brevity of the book the sheer entertainment value leads me to recommend this.
In the front of the book there was a list of all of Chuck's published work. I was, of course, immediately compelled to rearrange the list in order from most to least favorite. This list is by no means based on any sort of objective literary merit. It is simply the books that hit me the hardest emotionally when I read them and the ones that have stuck with me the longest. Enjoy!
1. Invisible Monsters
2. Fight Club
3. Haunted
4. Choke
5. Rant
6. Stranger Than Fiction: True Stories
7. Survivor
8. Fugitives and Refugees: A Walk in Portland, Oregon
9. Tell-All
10. Diary
11. Snuff
12. Lullaby
13. Pygmy
Of all the books on this list the only ones I legitimately don't like are the last two, and I would classify the first 8 as 'Highly Recommended.'
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