24. Fight Club by Chuck Palahnuik (1996) 208 p.
This was on my reading list for Literary & Cultural Studies, and I have to do a presentation on the film version. So far all my work on that has centred around figuring out how to include the word “testosteronefest.”
Fight Club is a difficult story to talk about because it had attained cult status long before I ever read the book or saw the movie (the movie is better, by the way). There is an entire legion of idiots out there who actually feel inspired by Palahniuk’s insane primitivist vision of a neo-Luddite paradise, where, as he repeatedly tells us, we’ll “stalk elk through the damp canyon forests around Rockefeller Centre.” Combined with the appeal to every man’s inner lust for brutal violence, this creates a very weird sub-culture that automatically makes me dislike the book that spawned it.
But it’s not really a bad story. Palahniuk’s writing style is choppy and disconnected, which I don’t like, but the book itself is fine. Just as the film does, it tells the story of a man who becomes disillusioned with modern consumerism, unwittingly creates a cult-like following to overthrow society, and then freaks out as he gradually loses control of it. The final third is the best part of both the movie and the book, as the protagonist becomes increasingly paranoid and desperate, trying to escape from his own rabid followers. It’s hard to judge a novel when you already know exactly what’s going to happen, but I think Fight Club works better as a movie anyway.
Edward Norton has gotta be Matthew Perry’s cousin or something.
Books: 24/50
Pages: 7218
7 comments
Comments feed for this article
May 12, 2008 at 8:29 am
sunrise089
I’m a big Fight Club fan, and while I think your criticism of the idea behind it is fair, I also there is a lot to take out of the book even if you reject the “back to nature” extreme. I think the most valuable thing about the movie (and I assume the book has the same scene, though I read it long ago) is the scene where Tyler puts a gun to the head of the convenience store worker and asks him what he really wants to be doing with his life. The line that ends that scene is “Tomorrow will be the most beautiful day of Raymond K. Hessel’s life. His breakfast will taste better than any meal you and I have ever tasted.”
Now, while my political philosophy of choice rejects what Tyler did, no matter how good the outcome may be, I think the simple message that many of us abandon our dreams and what might be true sources of happiness in favor of other things. The question Fight Club presents, and that Scarecrow and I might reach different conclusions about, is the role that society, and specifically the monotonous plodding of safe, mainstream conformity plays in sidetracking us from the aforementioned dreams.
May 12, 2008 at 8:31 am
sunrise089
Apparently, I forgot to type a few words needed to finish my first sentence in the second paragraph. Go ahead and add in “is valuable, if obvious” before the period, dear comment reader.
May 12, 2008 at 11:29 am
grubstreethack
Raymond K. Hessel is also in the book, although the narrator acts alone and Tyler is not present (well, technically). I know you said you disagree with what they did, but I’m still going to point out that it’s entirely possible that rather than feeling his life was refreshed, Raymond K. Hessel suffered from nightmares, post-traumatic stress, required therapy etc.
Anyway, I still disagree with the message. Blaming society for your problems is lazy. If you have a dream, and don’t follow it, that’s your own fault. Sure, society might sidetrack you, but if you give up entirely then you can only blame yourself.
May 12, 2008 at 5:27 pm
Smiley
I never saw the film or read the book, but that’s when I just thought it was about people beating the hell out of each other. I never knew it had an anarchistic cult. I’ll definitely have to scope it out now.
(Fun fact: Apparently, there was a fight club at my high school while I was enrolled there. Well, maybe not AT it, I think meetings were held at students’ homes).
May 12, 2008 at 9:08 pm
grubstreethack
Yeah, but see the movie. The book is good too, but the movie is one of the best of all time (#24 on IMDB), with Edward Norton giving a powerhouse performance.
It also has one of the greatest movie twists ever. If you don’t know what that is already, then DON’T LOOK ANYTHING UP ABOUT IT, just go hire it. Seriously. It’s awesome.
May 14, 2008 at 12:42 am
Smiley
Tragically, I’ve long since been spoiled on the movie’s plot twist. But okay, I’ll watch the film.
May 6, 2010 at 10:39 pm
Book Review: The Beach « Grub Street
[...] All does not remain well, of course. The Beach has a very strong Lord of the Flies and Apocalypse Now vibe, delving into the dark heart of the human soul, the things man is capable of, the horror and the violence. There’s also explicit influence from the Vietnam War in general. Towards the later passages it’s quite gripping; as Richard tries to escape the community, there was a taste of the climax of Fight Club. [...]