Colson Whitehead’s Rules For A Being Smug Cliche

by evanmcmurry

I saw this schmo read these at the Strand last week, at the “free” event that cost $10. He introduced them as coming from a friend of his, though I guess that friend was made up, which is definitely in keeping with his “Ha ha I’m 2 steps ahead of you” reading (he didn’t actually read, but acted out staged bullshit and then pretended he’d run out of time, with a level of self-satisfaction wholly out of step with someone who’d just written a zombie novel as if that were some new thing). Anyway, they’re just a big bag of cliches, and if you don’t see rule #11 coming from a mile away, I’ve got a condo in Williamsburg to sell you.