The problem
with having an author that I admire, is that I tend to hold their novels to a
higher standard than might be fair. Chuck Palahnuik is one such author. He is
definitely in my top five, and both Fight Club and Survivor make
my top ten list. This is probably why I thought that Tell-All was only
okay. Had I not been comparing it to his other novels, I would have enjoyed it
more, but alas it does not hold up to the majority of books Palahnuik has
written.
Tell All is written in the form of a movie script and chronicles the final
days of famous actress Katherine Kenton and her doting assistant Hazel Coogan.
Hazel has spent her life trying to keep Katherine’s reputation perfect and
preserve her legacy, often lying and keeping would-be suitors away by any means
possible. Everything begins to unravel for both women when a man named Webster
Carlton Westward III appears in Katherine’s life. In her own words Hazel says, "My purpose is to impose order
on Miss Kathie's chaos … to instill discipline in her legendary artistic
caprice. I am the person Lolly Parsons once referred to as a 'surrogate spine.'
"
Appearing to
love and care for Katherine, she ignores all of Hazel’s warnings, even making
accusations that Hazel is working against her. That is, until the two women
discover that Webster has written a tell all book to be published after
Katherine’s death. It details intimate moments of their time together, and
downright lies about things they did together. In fact, the end of the book
even details how Katherine is going to die!
But more is going on behind the
scenes of Katherine’s life, and Hazel might not just be looking out for her
mistress, but for herself. With echoes of Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca and
Hollywood life in the 1950s, the potential of a novel of worth and merit was
there, especially with a writer like Palahnuik creating the world, but it fell
short. Very Short.
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