Fight Club

Having avoided reading this, since I rate the film as one of my favourites, I was reassured by a few reviews, and found myself a copy. This edition has an afterword by the author where he explains a bit about the origins of the story (a short story published in an anthology of short stories called The Pursuit of Happiness), and a bit of a rant about how popular it is to knock off the title or the first rule for other applications.

Despite a few obvious plot changes, the film is pretty true to the novel, streamlining a few aspects which would have proven (more) confusing on film. There is a rawness, obviously a violence, but more than anything a sense of uncertainty about where things are going that certainly make the film unique at that time, and perhaps the book as well. It didn't even bother me that I knew what was going to happen all along.

I loved the hidden-in-plain-sight clues throughout the narrative - P12 -

“I know this because Tyler knows this.”

“Tyler gets me a job as a waiter, after that Tyler is pushing a gun into my mouth...”

“It's airline policy not to imply ownership in the event of a dildo. Use the indefinite article. A dildo. Never your dildo.Never, ever say the dildo accidentally turned itself on.A dildo activated itself and created an emergency situation that required evacuating your baggage.”