Chicagoans: there is a cool reading tonight being put on by friend of Zulkey.com's Aaron Burch of Hobart--stop by if you can!
This fall, make sure to check out the must-see film of the season, sure to warm hearts across the country. Six Californians start a club to discuss the works of a beloved author, only to find their relationships -- both old and new -- begin to resemble modern versions of his novels. Get all your girlfriends together and head to the theaters: it's "The Chuck Palahniuk Book Club."
Women of all ages will find a character to identify with in the film. Henrietta and Holly are a mother and daughter who have grown apart over the years and just can't seem to speak each other's language. They join the Chuck Palahniuk Book Club in a last ditch effort to find some common ground. Nothing seems to work, not the book club, not the tasty shortbread served at the meetings, until a tearful drive home after the meeting one day, when Henrietta says to Holly, "I want you to hit me as hard as you can." Henrietta and Holly never tell the other book club members why they show up to meetings with black eyes and broken noses, but they seem closer than ever before.
Then there's Olga, an old lady who is dying of cancer of some sort who is very wise. She's joined the Chuck Palahniuk book club in an attempt to find a reason to live, after having grown up enjoying Paluhniuk's books as a young girl during the Depression. She dispenses gently humorous life lessons until it's revealed that she's not actually an old lady, but a young woman who suffers from progeria who has amassed wealth by convincing middle-aged married men to sleep with her, telling them that she was an eighteen year old virgin, then blackmailing them into giving her money. "That's so Chuck!" the ladies say when they find out.
And finally, Lillian is a beautiful, broken divorcee who has lost her faith in love after her husband left her for his secretary. "I'm hopeless at relationships!" she weeps. "You're such a Carl Streator," Olga tells Lillian with a wink, and hands her Lullaby. Will Lillian learn to love again? No, but she learns how to sing an African "culling song" that can kill anyone who crosses her path.
You'll laugh! You'll live! You'll love! Next time you're faced with a scewball that life tosses at you, wonder, "What Would Chuck Do?" And then be sure to join a Creedish Death Cult.
That's so Chuck!