Customer Reviews

Tell-All

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(29)
2 star:		(32)
1 star:		(18)

 

 

Discovering someone has gone missing is nothing short of tragic.

There's just no other possible explanation. Tell-All cannot be written by the same Chuck Palahniuk who wrote the brilliant novels Fight Club, Choke, and Survivor. Alien abduction, demonic possession, mind control, something. Anything. I refuse to accept depreciation of creativity and talent as a viable option.

That being said, let me explain.

Slightly Commendable:
- There's a somewhat amusing span of three pages that describes Katherine's attempt at adoption. Matching the correct shade of pink paint to a baby's skin is of the utmost importance.
- Occasionally, the shock and awe Palahniuk loves so much is relevant and entertaining (although often overdone).
- It's quite short, at less than 200 pages.

Consider Yourself Warned:
- The bolded name-droppings are annoying; fine, I get it, Hollywood revolves around brands and people.
- Speaking of unnecessary, the breaking down of the text into acts and scenes is a weak and unoriginal device. The narrator rhetorically asking me if breaking down the fourth wall is acceptable whenever I'm supposedly being made privy to some great piece of information is also ineffective.
- There is nothing prolific about exaggerated, blatant irony. Don't even try to pull the "the obvious irony is ironic" excuse.
- The characters are flat, uninteresting, and generic.
- The storyline is predictable, and in all honesty, pretty uneventful.
- Palahniuk should be beyond recycling, already having done the "poking fun at guilty pleasures" genre with Haunted, where he spoofs reality television.

Biographies are not literature. When I read fiction I want something to hold on to; characters, plot, themes, or great writing. Unfortunately, Tell-All fails to provide.

And, to whoever is holding Chuck hostage, please let us know the ransom so we can take up a collection (middle age, collection agencies, or demanding publishers need not apply).

Before I begin, I would prefer to give a bit of my background. I have been following Chuck since 2003, and have a 1/1 (1st edition 1st printing) signed of all his books (Random side note: if anyone is interested in having your books singed, and can not make the book Tour, go to Chuck's webpage and there is a link to a book store called St. Helen's Bookstore. He will go their a few times a year to sign books). The purpose of the latter setence is not to brag, but to explain just how much of a fan I am.

I believe that fans need to realize that Chuck will probably never write another Fight Club, Invisible Monsters, Lullaby, or Survivor. The reason I believe the latter is that the basis for those books were in his head for decades. He is now publishing a book once a year, but it takes time for the book to be edited, published, distributed, etc. My point is that how much actual time is he putting into his newer novels? Personally, I feel very little, and it shows in certain books.

Also, people need to realize that Chuck's style has completely changed starting around Haunted. At his point in his career we all know what we are going to get American satire. Personally, I continue to read to see how he delivers his message. I agree with another reviewer that Chuck is trying to experiment with different styles of writing. In Haunted each chapter had a poem about a character, followed by their back story, then interwoven into the actual story. There was no actual narrator in Rant, instead it was a collection of people giving telling their stories of the main character (IMO this is his most underrated book, and is in my Top 3). Snuff, didnt Chuck just use this style of story telling in Rant? Pygmy, I will say that it took me a while to get use to the style of writing, but once you get use the style of writing the book is a piece of art.

Tell All seems to be written as a screenplay. This is the first time that I have ever been bored reading one of his books. For those who thought Pygmy was a tough read, Tell All is a lot harder. Also, I feel Chuck really messed up by using names in the bold face that most generations have no idea who they are.

In conclusion, if you have never read Chuck, then this should not be the first book of his you read. For all the die hard Chuck fans out there, this book is terrible, and I have never said that about any of his books. I am guessing that since he is putting out a book a year he might be under some type of contract. However, if he is not, then he needs to take some time off, and regroup. I know that he will never write material like he did in the beginning, but not to long ago he wrote Rant, which shows he still has something left.

To criticize a Chuck Palahniuk book is to invite the howls of rabid fans who will die trying to convince you that either, you don't get it, or you're stupid. I guess I'm prepared for both.

I love literature, I love what words can do when put together by a master writer. Most of what I read are novels by the tried and true practitioners of the art form: Don Deillo, William Gaddis, Philip Roth, Paul Auster, Denis Johnson etc. So, Palahniuk is not necessarily my cup of tea in terms of literature, however, I have found several of his novels to be clever if not entertaining reads. Especially Lullaby and Diary.

In recent years Palahniuk has devlolved into writing some incredibly half hearted, almost insulting books. I hesitate to speak for him, but it comes across as though he knows full well he has a cult like following, and regardless of the quality of the work...it will sell.

Tell-All falls into the same category as his last two novels, "Snuff" and "Pygmy." It is brief and uninspired, an added twist seems to be present simply for the sake of itself. It is alluded to if not completely given away long before the final pages.

Palahniuk is a writer in love with gimmicks: be it sing-song repition, backwards counting page numbers, broken english etc. Most reviews have already mentioned the celebrity names in bold type, which in and of itself is not as bothersome as the lack of creativity in the writing.

I would love to see Palahniuk set himself to writing a novel that challenges not only his skills, but those of his readers. I can't help but thinking it's time for him to grow and mature as an artist, I don't want to believe that he reached his peak with "Diary."

In his newest book, Chuck Palahniuk gives us Tell All, a tedious recitation vintage Hollywood names, places, and objects that saturate the pages so thoroughly that the story itself becomes secondary. Told via narrator Hazie Coogan, the maid and confidant for movie star Katherine Kenton, the book is a regurgitation of Palahniuk's well researched style which usually captivates. It follows the pair through the politics, scandals and dangers of Hollywood's elite until a shocking surprise changes Kenton's life forever.

Chuck's got a niche carved out, and his literary hook carves it. In Survivor it is cleaning tips. In Pygmy it is crazy martial arts moves. In Lullaby it's ads in the paper and counting one, counting two, counting three...

This time the hook is a tool used by screenwriters, a bold application to names, places, objects. The problem is that it's self-referentially described as a name-dropping form of Tourette's Syndrome. It doesn't work. A complete distraction that glazed my eyes over with an insatiable desire to nap. To hibernate. To skip sentences. It is literally a reason to skip entire paragraphs, inserted for no other reason than to show of the efforts of extensive research. For less than a 200-page book, it took me an eternity to read.

I'm a big fan of Chuck, and I don't mind the change, the risk, but this is a clear misfire.

I've been reading Chuck's books since I picked up Choke. Somewhere along the road he's changed gears from great story and characters to maddening formulas that totally hamper the reading of his novels. Maybe he should stop putting out a novel every year and focus on writing a great novel every few years. Hell, I'd rather get one fight Club every five years than the stuff he's churning out now.
So I better actually review the book in question. Not awful, but way to heavy on the formula. Calling out all of the scenes as shots gets old fast and the name dropping could have stopped after the first few chapters and not been missed. Chuck, you rule but you need a vacation or something. Get back to the characters buddy.

I went into this book with a lot of enthusiasm -- I loved Fight Club, Choke, and Stranger Than Fiction -- but I just couldn't like it.

First of all, the damn name-dropping device. Every time Palahniuk drops a name, Hollywood-style, it is in bold type, and it is a huge visual distractor, and I was just unspeakably annoyed with it after the first chapter, when it was clear that he was going to keep doing this for the entire book. Other satire writers (Buckley springs to mind) have skewered Hollywood attitudes without trying such a dud of a trick. Secondly, the breakup of chapters into acts and scenes was pretty lame. Thirdly, I just couldn't get into the characters.

I think that somehow Palahniuk got caught up in the *idea* of this book, like the bold font and the twee chapter breaks, and tried to force the rest of it to follow. And it just doesn't work. I guess every writer needs a dud of a book, and this is Palahniuk's. There are a few funny moments, but for the most part everything rings just a bit false. Now that he has this out of his system, hopefully he can get back to writing great humor.

*Sigh*...the bedazzled book still sits on the coffee table, staring at me, but I've given up on it - even though it's so short I feel guilty for doing that. I was so sure everyone who complained was wrong, or didn't understand his books, or whatever. But UGH. First of all, the incessant bolding of names - half of those people I've never heard of - is completely annoying (and I'm 40, it's not like I'm 20). It makes it hard to follow the plot (and following Palahniuk's plots are hard enough to begin with, one thing I love about the man).

Palihnuik's books are supposed to make you go "erm?", then make you go "wow" and "ewww" and make your stomach turn but not so much that you throw the book away and stop reading. Then, just when you're about to lose your cookies, insert a joke, although a not normal one. Like one person I lent it to who asked me if I was psychotic and "why I liked that crap". Insert sarcasm and more black humor...and we have Palihnuik.

Anyway, I was sad, I'm hoping this was a one off blip...and I'll look for his next book and preorder it with the equal intensity I ordered this book. I hope I'm not sad. I did like the sparkly cover though. Chances are I'll probably skim the rest of it but I can't commit to it.

I have never, and I mean NEVER, had so much trouble choking down a novel written by Chuck Palahniuk. Even his less successful efforts (ala `Rant' or `Choke') have at least proven to be entertaining rides and breezy reads. I have always admired the unique vision that Chuck brings to his work, and so even when I don't particularly care for a novel as a whole, I have been able to enjoy it in parts.

And no one can really refute that his novels `Fight Club', `Survivor' and `Invisible Monsters' are just amazing.

All of that said, `Tell-All' is a ridiculously clichéd and trashy mess that leaves Chuck coming off less like a visionary and more like a gimmick; a poor one at that. I often praise Chuck for adding that `gimmick' to his books, for it gives them a unique edge. Palahniuk really needs to find another subject though. How many novels can you work around the singular thought that the media is evil? Celebrity is harmful; I get it, but you are starting to come across like a one-trick pony. Maybe it's because he releases a book or more a year, which means that he's not taking the time to really formulate ideas. He's focusing more of his time on formulating a catchy gimmick to sell his new book, but he'd be better off coming up with a really intriguing and DIFFERENT scenario.

`Tell-All' tells the story about Katherine Kenton, a movie star who has done it all. She is being cared for by our narrator, Hazie Coogan. Hazie becomes rather distressed with Kenton starts shacking up with the handsome Webster Carlton Westward III, and her fears are realized when Katherine finds a manuscript in his belongings. Westward is writing a tell-all that exposes the sordid affair he is having with Kenton, and he plans on killing her in order to publish it. Without a single idea as to how to stop him, Kenton and Hazie decide to foil his plans. Using the final chapter of his manuscript (as well as each revised final chapter) they find out how Kenton is to die and then write a new future.

Chuck has a habit of bombarding us with the gross to disguise the fact that his books tend to lack any real substance. I can't believe I'm actually ripping into his talent here. You have to know that I generally like him a lot, and I respect what he has been able to create, but this book is just ridiculously poor.

It is unbearable to get through. The decision to write this book as if it were a screenplay could have been effective had he actually written a screenplay. Instead he still insists on writing it as if it were in novel form, and so it reads very clunky. The bold names come off distracting and very gimmick-like. On top of all that, the story is just boring. It was such a chore to get through. I wanted to stop reading it so many times, but I felt like I needed to FORCE myself to get through it. Another thing I found rather off-putting was the way in which the `script' is constructed. Instead of mirroring it off of the great film noirs of the 40's and 50's (the time period in which this novel takes place), the book is written as if it were being filmed by David Lynch. I love David Lynch (and if he ever adapts this into a film I have a feeling it will fare FAR better than this preposterous novel) but this book just wound up feeling very awkward. The main characters didn't feel fresh either, but mere distortions of Chuck's more finely crafted characters.

The most interesting character here was Lillian Hellman!

I read this because I own all of Palahniuk's books and will continue to own and read them all. I feel as though he has a unique voice, I just urge him to slow down and focus because if he turns out another disaster like this one he will surely start to lose my respect.

I love, and have read multiple times, Lullaby, Diary, Choke, Invisible Monster, Fight Club, Haunted, and, ,for the most part, Snuff, but I could not finish Tell All. As a writer myself, I can be fairly critical and believe in holding authors accountable for their work. I have read what Chuck is capable of, and this fell short. By a lot. The style of the novel seemed to be more important than the story. I didn't care about any of the characters. The paragraphs of names varying from American pop-culture idols to obscure references become old really quickly. It all felt like a gimmick. Disappointing, to say the least. It was obvious in his writing that there was a real lack of effort. I hope this isn't a permanent rut he has found himself in.

I have ingested every single Chuck novel like an insatiable lit junkie. It's usually cover-to-cover as fast as my brain can consume it. I usually cannot wait to see what Chuck has up his always-shocking, always-hilarious, always-erotic (in a yucky kind of way) sleeve. I was so bummed after trying to read Tell All. I must have stopped and started five times before I gave up. I wonder if he owed a book to the publisher and pulled the spoiled writer move. The story goes no where. I don't get the stars in bold. I didn't fall for any of the characters. Chuck, what up brother? Please don't stop trying. You are a drug to me. I need a fix bad. But, Tell All was a bad dose.