

Loading... Fight Club (1996)by Chuck Palahniuk
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» 32 more 20th Century Literature (358) 1990s (30) Unreliable Narrators (56) Best Satire (89) Books Read in 2015 (1,701) First Novels (41) Existentialism (18) Books Read in 2020 (3,279) Metafiction (70) Books I've Read (15) Books Read in 2003 (44) Books tagged favorites (292) Books on my Kindle (160) Page Turners (176) Biggest Disappointments (446) Unread books (901) No current Talk conversations about this book. I was impressed with how well this book had been captured by the movie. I was even more pleasantly surprised with the different ending. A good, twisted read that has convinced me to read more of his work. Oh, yeah, and it's another good read from my local library. ( ![]() At times I find myself worrying that this might all just be shocking for the sake of it bullshit, but it's very well written whatever it is. Super tight prose and extremely compelling. Now, this is a movie that was better than the book. I liked the book because it had some great quotes, but I think the movie took the best quotes from the book. Dead. I'm never going to finish this. I got halfway through, and I don't really want to force myself to go further. I'm tired of feeling about how 'phony' these people are, I'm tired of hearing about how they're terrible to people around them, I'm tired of the descriptions of Tyler Durden's dick. Since I'm no longer in school, I don't have to force myself to finish something that I hate so much. This was unusual in that I rarely read the book after seeing the movie, especially a movie which I have seen so many times. Certainly, much of the dark satire around our consumer culture, our spiritual dissatisfaction and ennui-manifesting-as-violence felt like a more fresh idea when this book first emerged. But the societal ills still remain, so it still feels pretty relevant. Just replace IKEA with Facebook and I think the song remains the same. I was impressed with how faithful the film was to the book, and intrigued by the differences (where Tyler met our protagonist, Marla's mom's ashes, the changing of "I am Joe's..." to "I am Jack's..." when going from page to screen). The criticisms of Fight Club are, in many respects, fair. There's a lot of poseur machismo going on here, but I see it as a criticism of it rather than an attempt to cater to it. Yes, Tyler attacks "the system" and then goes on to create one of his own, but it's one he cant' stop, which I think is the message here. Even revolution eventually leads to hierarchy and structure. The big plot twist seems less so in the rear view mirror, but at the time I saw the film, I was too caught up in the message to see it coming. And a lot of the "message" may seem trite, but a lot of it still rings very true to me. I've been warned I may not appreciate some of Palahniuk's other work ("Rant" is my next foray) but "Fight Club" works for me, if only because it stirs up a sense of unrest that I believe needs confronting. It serves not only as a warning as to where our culture continues to slouch toward, but also the fatal mistakes we can make if we don't consider the proper path in righting our course.
A volatile, brilliantly creepy satire filled with esoteric tips for causing destruction, Fight Club marks Chuck Palahniuk's debut as a novelist. Ever wonder how to pollute a plumbing system with red dye, or inject an ATM machine with axle grease or vanilla pudding? Along with instructions for executing such quirky acts of urban terrorism, Fight Club offers diabolically sharp and funny writing. This brilliant bit of nihilism succeeds where so many self-described transgressive novels do not: It's dangerous because it's so compelling. Every generation frightens and unnerves its parents, and Palahniuk's first novel is gen X's most articulate assault yet on baby-boomer sensibilities. This is a dark and disturbing book that dials directly into youthful angst and will likely horrify the parents of teens and twentysomethings. It's also a powerful, and possibly brilliant, first novel. Caustic, outrageous, bleakly funny, violent and always unsettling, Palahniuk's utterly original creation will make even the most jaded reader sit up and take notice.
The rise of a terrorist organization, led by a waiter who enjoys spitting in people's soup. He starts a fighting club, where men bash each other, and the club quickly gains in popularity. It becomes the springboard for a movement devoted to destruction for destruction's sake. No library descriptions found. |
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![]() GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813 — Literature English (North America) American fictionLC ClassificationRatingAverage:![]()
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