Yet, we waste this freedom we write nice books. So books can deal with stories that other mass media never could. No, you must make an effort to read them. No one has to broadcast them on television or radio. They're consensual - like Fight Club was. The fact is, books can be the most cutting-edge of our media. Laura Bush even said this on the Oprah show. Why?ĬP: We seem to have this idea that books must be nice, nice objects that sit on the shelf until it's time for them to bore us to sleep. Q: In the Guardian interview a few days ago, I read that you are keeping count of how many people fainted while you read guts. And there's no chance it will become a movie. It's a fast read, and deals with a lot of environmental stuff I feel tortured about. So my question is this: which of your works would you prefer people to read first? Is there one piece you're most proud of, or one that you feel sums up what you're about?ĬP: Take a look at Lullaby. Guts was also the first thing I have read by you and, after chatting to my (clearly far more literate) friends about it, they all recommended different books.

So you can add another to your tally I guess. Q: Congratulations on Guts - I have never read any piece of literature before now that has made me feel physically faint, but I nearly blacked out a couple of times reading that. That's what I like in friends: a strong stomach. My friends in writers workshop said it needed more of a twisted laugh near the end.

Did you ever consider trying to make it more 'real'? Also, it would be interesting to know to what extent you did base the story on urban myth?ĬP: Your wife is right about the abortion - even the sister getting pregnant is added.

It seemed that the story was too well-crafted as a story to convince as reportage. I said it wasn't because the sister's abortion was too neat at the end. Q:Guts is quite extraordinary, to the extent that my wife suspected the last ('pearl diving') section might be a true story. But one that movies will never make, so books must. It's that final pathos that saves the story and reveals the endless shame of the narrator. The ending to Guts (with the family dog) is so sad it hurts for me to read it out loud. Were you consciously trying to write a story that people would find unpleasant, or was that a side effect of a story that you wanted to write for other reasons?ĬP: My goal is always to make you laugh, make you feel something in your stomach, and finally, to break your heart.

Haunted by chuck palahniuk guts