Fight Club: A Novel

C Palahniuk

A must-read for any guy who is bothered by the fact that he finds himself going to tanning...more

A must-read for any guy who is bothered by the fact that he finds himself going to tanning salons, returning day after day and year after year to a job he hates, getting manicures. facials, or having his chest waxed on a regular basis. REAL men don't (or at least shouldn't) do these things, as some of us (including Palahniuk) know. Modern men (some of them, maybe even most of them) have become feminized and that is one of the main issues that this book is warning us about. This novel is nihilistic ("Losing all hope was freedom"), pessimistic ("The great depression is our lives. We have a spiritual depression"), and frighteningly accurate when it comes to modern man's plight in a politically correct, anti-male, feminized world. Nihilism and pessimism, it's clear, are sane and natural reactions in this insane, upside-down world. One of the 20th- and 21st-century's maladies is rampant materialism and consumerism. "You have a class of young strong men and women, and they want to give their lives to something. Advertising has these people chasing cars and clothes they don't need. Generations have been working in jobs they hate, just so they can buy what they don't really need." Another modern-day malady Palahniuk dubs "the nesting instinct": "You buy furniture. You tell yourself, this is the last sofa I will ever need in my life. Buy the sofa, then for a couple years you're satisfied that no matter what goes wrong, at least you've got the sofa issue handled. Then the right set of dishes. Then the perfect bed. The drapes. The rug. ... Then you're trapped in your lovely nest, and the things you used to own, now they own you." The purpose of men-only fight clubs is to allow men to temporarily forget the dreariness and emptiness of their daily lives. Fighting allows these men to vent their rage at the world--in particular, their bosses, their jobs, their feeling of emptiness. A fight between two men is REAL, you can't fake it and when it's through the men have been rejuvenated by their cathartic fight experience. As Jim Morrison once said, "I feel most alive when I'm closest to death." Mike Tyson made a similar comment in an interview with Joyce Carol Oates: "Outside of the boxing ring life is so boring." Another important thing to keep in mind here is that today there are almost no exclusively male bastions. (I can't think of even one at the moment.) Even hockey and boxing (all sports, actually) have become co-ed. Palahniuk understands and emphasizes that men need a place to be with other men, to talk about "guy" things without women around to distract them. "Fight Club" is a modern and accurate commentary on the plight of men in today's society. Masculinists will love and appreciate this novel; feminists will hate it.    hide

I had seen the film before reading the book and that normally prevents me from reading it, however...more

I had seen the film before reading the book and that normally prevents me from reading it, however enough people suggested that I do whilst praising it that I finally succumbed. Chuck’s style of writing is one that isn’t copied by thousands of others in the main stream yet and so his fast moving script, even with descriptions makes you focus on the deterioration of the narrators mind and the growing dominance of Tyler Durden. The sense of not fitting in with society and with the possibility of ‘God hating you’ I believe appeals to many men of this generation who just can’t fit in with the whole politically correct emasculating world that we live in now, and why the appeal of the fight club would be so strong. The loyalty that this could bring to a group and the manner that Tyler creates this family and how his destructive personality brings everything to a head. The happy ever after ending both in the building and the hospital was a little disappointing and I can understand why the film went the other way, as its just that little bit more of an ending, but I guess that Chuck’s point might have been that there wasn’t an ending. I just have a mind that likes to ‘finish things’ though. Overall if just for the writing style and the larger than life characters this book is well worth a read, although I have a feeling that its surprisingly going to be liked by more men than woman. It’s definitely not a chicks book.    hide

Palahniuk is one of my favorite authors, I discovered his writing in all of its gritty glory when I...more

Palahniuk is one of my favorite authors, I discovered his writing in all of its gritty glory when I was 8 or 9 in a back issue of Playboy, I believe it was an excerpt of "Survivor." Anyway, this book was my reintroduction to Palahniuk and it could not have come at a better time. When you are fourteen or fifteen this book can be a bit of a bad influence. Tracing the unnamed main character, the reader is thrown into a world of your everyday insurace employeee who has traveled a bit too much and who has a bad case of insomnia and depression. Needless to say, mayhem ensues as our friend meets Tyler Durden, a wandering soap salesman, What drew me to both the book and movie is the overall message, it's idealistic, yes, but if you read the book and you are a product of a modern consumer society, then it can be quite inspiring. Change must occur and in this case, its a defunct and corrupt system which places material goods over the space monkeys who serve your food, clean your homes and walk your dogs. It can be disturbiing, most critics have regarded the movie as pure dreck, infantile and shallow if I can recall, and I would agree, but I love it because it gives you the feeling of youth and energy, where the entire world is malleable, which is not the case after you get out there. To Close, consider this thought though, "Do I really need that new Dinette set?"    hide

his is one of the few books I’ve read where I think the movie was actually better than the...more

his is one of the few books I’ve read where I think the movie was actually better than the book. Even then, I don’t think it’s so much that the movie was BETTER, but the book just works better as a movie. It plays out nicer. The book stayed right on par with the movie and only a few tiny events were changed.If you don’t know the premise, fight club is about a guy who shall forever remain nameless. He can’t sleep at night, so he goes to support groups for diseases and problems he doesn’t have. He meets a woman named Marla Singer and they form a hate-hate relationship. Then the guy meets a man named Tyler and his entire life changes. He goes from a condo filled with IKEA furniture to a crack-house reject of a house. He forms a club called Fight Club with Tyler. Men beat each other up and feel great about it afterwards. Woo.It was a quick read and a poor book. I’d absolutely recommend renting the movie over wasting your time reading the book.   hide

Much better than the movie,as should be when comparing book to movie adaptations. It's very fast...more

Much better than the movie,as should be when comparing book to movie adaptations. It's very fast paced,very dark and there are certain parts that can make you cringe inwardly, and Tyler Durden's cockiness is amazing. The ending too is a lot more sensible than that of the movie's, and I wish I had read the book before watching the movie.The buildup is very good too, and despite having watched the movie, the sudden revelation to Tyler's actual nature still can take you by surprise.   hide