Dubi reviewed Adjustment Day by Chuck Palahniuk
Review of 'Adjustment Day' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
Chuck Palahniuk has a problem. He has seen his most successful work appropriated by alt.right bros. His parody of toxic masculinity misunderstand by the stupid masses as a how-to guide. So he wanted to write a book about that. He wanted to write a book about a terrible how-to guide. But he was petrified by the fear or having it misunderstood once more. So the book he wrote spends pages and pages and pages trying to make it as clear as possible that this how-to guide is a terrible, awful thing that must never be emulated. To ward off the alt.right bros he goes so far as to depict the Black people as the greatest winners of its implementation, and the white population reduced to a horrid joke. He even goes the extra mile to explicitly mock his own books, just so everybody is extra clear.
Which is understandable, but …
Chuck Palahniuk has a problem. He has seen his most successful work appropriated by alt.right bros. His parody of toxic masculinity misunderstand by the stupid masses as a how-to guide. So he wanted to write a book about that. He wanted to write a book about a terrible how-to guide. But he was petrified by the fear or having it misunderstood once more. So the book he wrote spends pages and pages and pages trying to make it as clear as possible that this how-to guide is a terrible, awful thing that must never be emulated. To ward off the alt.right bros he goes so far as to depict the Black people as the greatest winners of its implementation, and the white population reduced to a horrid joke. He even goes the extra mile to explicitly mock his own books, just so everybody is extra clear.
Which is understandable, but doesn't really make for a good book, I'm afraid. Chuck needs to look inwards and figure out why his work, even if misunderstood, is so appealing to these people, and then maybe not do that kind of stuff anymore.