Review of Chuck Palahniuk’s Novel 'Fight Club'
From fighting, creating a violent anarchy upon people and the land to making soap made of human fat, Chuck Palahniuk’s novel, Fight Club is clearly risky and takes chances galore. In the novel the unnamed narrator works for a car company where he investigates accidents to assess their liability, in which he battles insomnia and finds himself on a journey of finding who he really is. This novel is not for everyone, as Palahniuk’s outstanding and creative work exposes the darkness of our modern world and the diffusion into mainstream society which can offend some readers.
During this book the scars and mutilations spread from city to city, profession to profession as fight club expands itself into something much bigger, even creating project mayhem, a secret group that inflicts danger on people and the city. What might have started as a rebellion, or in the narrator's case a way to escape insomnia, quickly turns into a past time of the up and coming. In the novel the narrator attends a series of cancer support group meetings to try and end his insomnia. During one of his support group meetings (testicular cancer) he meets a woman named Marla Stringer, who the narrator and Tyler Durden end up getting into a love triangle of sorts with. Tyler Durden whom only comes around at night and is perceived to be the narrators split personality, who is a mysterious and destructive young man Tyler and the narrator are the ones who ultimately start fight club and project mayhem.
Throughout the novel Palahniuk does a good job writing in an ironic deadpan way and includes something to offend everyone, like I said before which can be seen as good and bad, as it engages the reader. The most critical things to talk about in this novel is the emasculation of the male identity and violence, being those two go hand in had. Fight club was created to allow men to feel as if they are alive which is a struggle for the narrator throughout the whole novel due to his insomnia and lack of masculinity he feels. The loss of manhood in the novel is the worst possible fate the men can imagine which is why fight club was created. Throughout the novel there is a lot of talk about castration, which is something the men fear the most because their balls are the only link to manhood they really feel. Fight club allows the men to feel as if they are men again and helps them appreciate their masculinity a little more, even if it is done in such a way that they have to attend such violent and chaotic groups.
In the novel the author does a good job connecting the great emblematic struggle that in today's time we face. Fight club discusses the late night, bare fisted knocks these men take in dirty battles located in the basements of bars. By fighting these men hope they will be able to reassure their man hood. But, If you are going to attend fight club there are 8 rules you should know which are fairly simple: You don't talk about fight club You don't talk about fight club (in case you didn't hear the first time). When someone says stop, or goes limp the fight is over only two guys to a fight only one fight at a time Fight must go on without shirt or shoes. The fights go on as long as they have to If it is your first night at fight club, you have to fight. This being a list that is brought up several times throughout the novel. As the narrator tries to get in touch with his feelings, there are many events that go on which can make it overwhelming, or simply hard to focus on the novel as simply a piece of writing. The ideas and events are just so in your face that it can become hard to focus on just one idea at a time. Though, Tyler Durden does an amazing job at creating controversy throughout the novel and does not show mercy when it comes to expressing himself: “speed limits are bullshit”, “ you stupid fuck. Beat the crap out of me but you can't kill me”. This book is endlessly quotable and does a good job at engaging readers and creating a sparse, fast pace novel that anyone can read. It is very interesting and at no point boring. There are many prominent verbs which really bring the action to life when reading, with a bold energy it demonstrates the risk and craft Palahniuk put into writing this novel.
Throughout the book it flips from first to second person quite often but Palahniuk does an outstanding job at making it feel natural, causing the reader to question if Tyler Durden and the narrator are really the same person. Fight club is a relatable book as Tyler and the narrator can be perceived as the angel and devil on your shoulder. Tyler is a very relatable character, being very mischievous and enjoys saying what he wants, which makes the book interesting for someone like me. The novel is very enjoyable to read because you are always questioning what is going on. The author does a good job paving the way to the big reveal, which is my favorite part, being Tyler and the narrator share more than just their address and love for fighting, but the same body. Even for a first time reader Palahniuk did a good job at keeping me distracted by the events taking place in the novel so when it came time for the big reveal at the end I was extremely surprised.
Overall, I could not begin to tell you how great and interesting Fight club is. If someone were to ask me to recommend a book to them this would be in my top 3. This Novel is timeless and something anyone can read. Chuck Palahniuk is a great writer, hands down who writes twisted, unusual books, yet somehow writes them so well you find yourself not being able to put the book down. No matter your age or style of reading you like, this book would still work for you. When reading this novel it feels as though you are living through everything that goes on which makes it hard to yes, actually put the book down!. There is no sugarcoating in the book. Everything is said how it is, especially when it comes from Tyler Durden, and I loved that. It was nice how the book revolved around mens delicacy and the complex web of man's wants and needs. This book is able to be connected into society's everyday struggles and lets us see both sides of how people live, wealthy and poor and that not everything is painted in black and white. Thanks to Chuck Palahniuk I am now able to see why some people act differently or do the things they do. His novel spoke great measures of how insane our society can be and what crossed minds people can have, and I couldn't be more happy about that. Fight club is a great novel with great content.
