MixedThe Irish TimesBest known to readers as the author of Fight Club, the cult novel which has become something of a bible to a generation of Angry Young Men, Palahniuk here swaps shock value for an odd sentimentalism ... It’s a sentimentalism which tinges reflections both on his own career...and those on the state of literature in general ... One question niggled at this reader throughout: who is this book for? Presumably, it’s for the aforementioned Angry Young Men, now setting out to write their own generation-defining opuses. (A peculiar attribute of the book is its illustrations. Certain pull quotes are accompanied by classic tattoo designs daggers, snakes, skulls all the better for ripping out and pinning to your dorm wall, or maybe even for having inked on your bicep.) Palahniuk appears keenly attuned to the expectations of his readership ... There’s something performative less than authentic in his authorial stance, even as he purports to delve deep into his own writerly psyche. While the introduction tells us that Consider This aspires to the status of a dialogue with the reader, it has the air of a sermon to those already-converted ... Why should you model your writing after Palahniuk’s, when even reading his suggestions feels like a slog? More successful are the moments when he reflects on his apprenticeship as a writer, on trying and failing to make his stories sing, then trying again. With these rare instances of vulnerability, I was reminded of the value of another writing maxim: show, don’t tell. It’s a maxim which Palahniuk would have done well to follow more closely.
