Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
I am going to say something that might startle quite a few of you. As of writing this, I have never seen the movie Fight Club. Not that I had never heard of it, it just never really caught my interest. I remember telling my boyfriend this when we first started dating and he looked at me like I was crazy. So I finally decided before returning to my usual genre, I was going to read Fight Club and then I can finally watch the movie and make him happy (it's the little things). Also, it knocks another book off of my 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime. I also want it noted that I called the twist by the second page.
Our unnamed protagonist suffers from insomnia when he is introduced to Tyler Durden and from there, they create Fight Club. Fight Club has eight simple rules:
1. You do not talk about Fight Club.
2. You do not talk about Fight Club!
3. Someone yells stop, goes limp, taps out, the fight is over.
4. Only two guys to a fight.
5. One fight at a time.
6. No shirts, no shoes.
7. Fights will go as long as they have to.
8. If this is your first night at Fight Club, you have to fight.
But what starts as a simple Fight Club soon gets out of hand and when our narrator wants out, he finds out he is much farther in than he ever wanted and life will never be able to return to how it was before Fight Club.
I somehow avoided spoilers the entire time because when I told my boyfriend I was going to read it, he said that it would ruin the spoiler for the movie. I didn't know what he meant. I had no clue the book was about a guy a dissociative disorder. I didn't know there was any disorder. I really thought it was strictly about a fight club. Like I said, I never had any interest in it, it's always just kind of been there. But because he told me there was a twist, I started looking the minute the book started. I didn't have to look long. Almost immediately, the narrator says "I knew this because Tyler knew this." Maybe you can fool an ordinary reader, but I read too much. Hell, I've read two books about Sybil, one of the original multiple personalities. So I called it right there, but my boyfriend refused to tell me. I worked off the assumption that I was correct, but played with other ideas. Maybe we were experience a season two of Mr. Robot and he is in prison and just making up a different story. Maybe it is all happening as he says. I doubted it, but I toyed with the ideas.
Even still, it was an interesting book. I can't say a good book, because it is a bit disturbing. I know, this coming from the person who loved The Alienist and watches serial killer documentaries to wind down. The narrator is clearly unstable. He finds he is able to sleep only after he discovers a testicular cancer group and cries with the other men. He also visits other support groups and cries with them. He does not have any of these disorders. That is a certain kind of sickness that really creeps me out. It almost makes me not want to ever go to a support group. I realize he is doing it for the relief of sleep, but I would not want to share my misery with someone who isn't going through it.
His relationship with Marla is also bizarre. Of course, it makes sense when you know that he is not always himself. Not to kink shame, but calling someone a butt wipe during sex is a good way to get me to never have sex with you. Marla has a lot of her own issues. She attempts suicide at one point, which is when she meets "Tyler." While she met the narrator at a group because she also visits groups she doesn't have any business attending, the narrator uses fake names in these groups. Tyler saves her from an almost accidental suicide attempt, and the relationship starts.
I kind of wish I had a time frame for the book. There is a lot of back and forth and sideways that makes a timeline difficult. By the end of it, Fight Club has spread quite a bit and has many chapters, and that doesn't seem like something that could easily happen. However, the book is really short, and it moves quickly. It kind of makes me feel crazy, but that is usually the point when you have an unstable narrator.
Besides reading this for my boyfriend, it is on my list of 100 Books. I have a feeling it is on the list because of its cult status movie, but the writing is definitely good. After I watch the movie, I'll be able to see if it holds its own.
Rating: 7/10
Author: Chuck Palahniuk
Genres: Contemporary, Classics, Thrillers
Dates Read: March 4-5, 2020
Our unnamed protagonist suffers from insomnia when he is introduced to Tyler Durden and from there, they create Fight Club. Fight Club has eight simple rules:
 |
| (Source: Kelsey Darling) |
2. You do not talk about Fight Club!
3. Someone yells stop, goes limp, taps out, the fight is over.
4. Only two guys to a fight.
5. One fight at a time.
6. No shirts, no shoes.
7. Fights will go as long as they have to.
8. If this is your first night at Fight Club, you have to fight.
But what starts as a simple Fight Club soon gets out of hand and when our narrator wants out, he finds out he is much farther in than he ever wanted and life will never be able to return to how it was before Fight Club.
I somehow avoided spoilers the entire time because when I told my boyfriend I was going to read it, he said that it would ruin the spoiler for the movie. I didn't know what he meant. I had no clue the book was about a guy a dissociative disorder. I didn't know there was any disorder. I really thought it was strictly about a fight club. Like I said, I never had any interest in it, it's always just kind of been there. But because he told me there was a twist, I started looking the minute the book started. I didn't have to look long. Almost immediately, the narrator says "I knew this because Tyler knew this." Maybe you can fool an ordinary reader, but I read too much. Hell, I've read two books about Sybil, one of the original multiple personalities. So I called it right there, but my boyfriend refused to tell me. I worked off the assumption that I was correct, but played with other ideas. Maybe we were experience a season two of Mr. Robot and he is in prison and just making up a different story. Maybe it is all happening as he says. I doubted it, but I toyed with the ideas.
 |
| (Source: Giphy) |
His relationship with Marla is also bizarre. Of course, it makes sense when you know that he is not always himself. Not to kink shame, but calling someone a butt wipe during sex is a good way to get me to never have sex with you. Marla has a lot of her own issues. She attempts suicide at one point, which is when she meets "Tyler." While she met the narrator at a group because she also visits groups she doesn't have any business attending, the narrator uses fake names in these groups. Tyler saves her from an almost accidental suicide attempt, and the relationship starts.
 |
| (Source: Giphy) |
Besides reading this for my boyfriend, it is on my list of 100 Books. I have a feeling it is on the list because of its cult status movie, but the writing is definitely good. After I watch the movie, I'll be able to see if it holds its own.
Rating: 7/10
Author: Chuck Palahniuk
Genres: Contemporary, Classics, Thrillers
Dates Read: March 4-5, 2020
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