Fight Club

4.6

Even if I'm one of those who haven't seen the Fight Club movie, I'm glad that I got to read this book before I start watching it. This was such an entertaining read from start to finish. It's extremely hard to put down. I hate the fact that it's only 200+ pages, since I didn't want it to end. The story was dark, humorous, suspenseful, and contains a twist you won't see coming (unless you've seen the film). Palahniuk has such a great writing style and I love how he didn't sugarcoat the story.

I'd really recommend this to anyone who likes black comedy, and those who want to read about complex characters who have different views on society. Even if you won't gain much from reading this book if you've seen the film, you should still read this one! Go ahead, read it, and tell your friends about it.

I had watched the movie before reading the book. And I got to say, this existential classic by Chuck was equally entertaining. It's witty and profound. It also manages to have that tinge of dark humor in it, which makes it even more fascinating. It has that unique yet gripping narration style which keeps you glued till you finish reading the book. Overall, a great classic!

I saw the movie first and thought I should finally read the book. Good book, the movie was almost an exact take on the book. So the movie was on of my favorites and with the visuals, I think it is a better option. Book gets 4 stars, the movie gets 5. Just watch the movie.

Executive Summary: I might actually like the movie better, but it's pretty close.

Audiobook: Jim Colby was an OK narrator. Part of the problem was probably always contrasting it to Edward Norton. That's not Mr. Colby's fault though. This is one of those that's fine in audio, but nothing special.

Full Review
I was tempted to make my review the single line of the “The first rule of fight club is you don't talk about fight club” but I'm sure that's been done before and of course I'm not as funny or as clever as I'd like to think I am sometimes. That didn't stop me from using that or the Jack joke as status updates though..

I think it's hard to write a review about this book without talking about the movie. For me, it's impossible, especially since I read this for the first time so many years after the movie came out. Fight Club was one of those movies that blew my mind the first time I saw it. There was nothing like it. I've lost count of how many times I've seen it now. It's probably right up there with The Matrix as one of the defining movies of my teenage years.

So I was a bit apprehensive about reading the book. I've actually owned the audio book for a few years from some kind of sale or daily deal, but kept avoiding it in favor of other things. Typically the book is always better than the movie, so of course I should love the book right?

The thing is for me, part of the brilliance of the movie was in the big reveal. The second time through the movie there were all these little things to catch that I totally missed the first time, that made me love the movie even more. But the 3rd time? The tenth? So I'm coming into this book seeing Ed Norton, Brad Pitt, Helena Bonham Carter and Meat Loaf in my head.

In the end, I liked the book, but I probably like the movie better. It's a pretty faithful adaptation actually. Nothing in the book really stuck out to me as missing from the movie. I'm sure there are some differences I missed, especially given the length differences, but I felt like I was getting the same story.

For me, personally, I'm going to grab my copy of the movie before I grab my copy of the book the next time I want to enjoy Fight Club, but I'm glad I finally read it.

Story: 8 / 10
Characters: 8
Setting: 7
Prose: 3

Since it was such a short book, it is probably a much better read if you haven't seen the movie (as I had). Nevertheless, I was able to enjoy the differences in the final 3rd of the book.

I am Jack's sense of awe.

My Amazon review -

http://www.amazon.com/review/R1H0NDHW1CNWUP/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

I haven't seen the movie because of the clips I've seen. I just finished listening to the audio version of the book, and it's way better than I would have guessed from what I understood about the movie. Now I may have to see the movie, too.

It packs a punch to your brain I liked reading this book, it was fun, darkly funny and hypnotic to read. Apparently while Chuck Palahniuk was writing this book, he had the album The Downward Spiral by Nine Inch Nails on repeat and Trent Reznor the singer from Nine Inch Nails had the film Fight Club on repeat while he was writing the album The Downward Spiral. Since I am a big fan of both of these people I think that is inspiring :) If you like gritty, dark stories about self-destructive losers then you will love this book. After awhile, I have to admit, that I get get a bit fed up with the protagonist or other characters talking about the rules of fight club, since it is all about macho men, beating their chests and showing everyone else who is bigger and better than them.I liked the fact that the protagonist suffered from insomnia, and he hated his life, his job and his boss and everything was a copy of a copy of a copy, just like the Nine Inch Nails song A Copy of A which reminded me them so that's why I mentioned them above. His insomnia is so severe that he can't even tell when he is awake or when he is asleep and dreaming. I did however like the surprising twist about Tyler Durden's character and weather he was just an hallucination, or a separate entity altogether. Overall, I liked the fact that the main protagonist was relate-able, and self-destructive till he was severely hurt and still continued on with his job and attending the various different fight clubs or project mayhem.

Fight Club is my favorite movie. The book was all over the place — like the movie. Somehow the format fit the screen better for me.

Fight Club is my favorite movie. The book was all over the place — like the movie. Somehow the format fit the screen better for me.

I'm just overwhelmed and speechless. It was a wonderful read.

Definitely a classic. It's horrific and unique and wonderful. I need to see the movie now.

For a debut, this novel is stunning. Palahniuk's narrative voice is confident and funny. The story starts strong but loses steam about 2/3 of the way through, mainly because the big “a-ha!” moment comes way too early and in a very predictable way. If the sheer amount of times the narrator says “I know this because Tyler knows this” isn't a spoiler, then I don't know what is. He bashes you over the head with that declaration dozens of times. But that narrative voice... WOW!

I preferred the movie (I hate to say that, book lovers). I felt the screenwriter, director, actors, and crew took Palahniuk's fantastic ideas and expanded upon them, creating a tighter story and a better ending. From what I've read, Palahniuk agreed at the time too.

This book is dark. Very very dark. But an interesting read. It's not a fun book in any way, but it is a really well written, interesting book.

Il solito Palahniuk con le sue solite splendide storie sghembe, personaggi surreali, sarcasmo, cinismo. Insomma il solito campionario di genio e sregolatezza.

Il primo libro che leggo di quest'autore completamente a digiuno dal film famosissimo che ne è stato tratto. Non ne sono stato influenzato in alcun modo e ho potuto così leggermi questa storia senza peraltro sapere nulla del suo contenuto: è stata una piacevolissima sorpresa tanto da indurmi ad ordinare subito gli altri libri di Palahniuk e di apprestarmi alla lettura di “Soffocare”.

Essendo un libro molto noto si rischia nel recensirlo di ripetere probabilmente molte cose già dette in passato qui e altrove, dunque passo velocemente alla descrizione della trama: il protagonista Tyler Durden, una sorta di guru moderno, predica e auspica la distruzione della civiltà a favore del ritorno ad una vita primordiale, guiderà intere masse a dare corpo ai loro desideri fondando un circolo di lottatori clandestini nelle cantine dei bar di periferia.

Le mie impressioni sono che la narrazione è veloce e lo stile in prima battuta lascia un poco frastornati anche i lettori più smaliziati, ma con il proseguire della storia ci si addentra sempre più nella trama che sembra apparentemente disorientate ma che trova nel suo svolgimento il bandolo della matassa iniziale; geniale, originale, spruzzato di una satira davvero pungente, sempre sul punto di esagerare e rientrare nelle righe d'improvviso, sembra proprio una boccata d'aria fresca in mezzo agli stereotipi della letteratura a cui siamo abituati solitamente.

Ribelle abbastanza da attirare i giovani lettori, sapiente abbastanza da farsi ben volere dai lettori più attempati riesce ad accomunarli tutti in un piacere intenso che mischia l'anarchia ad un poco di violenza (ma neanche senza esagerare troppo), buttando un telo su tutto quello che ci circonda, cercando di mostrarne la futilità e regalando anche qualche perla di filosofia.

Sul web si leggono molte recensioni che elevano il “Fight Club” a “Bibbia” di vita e l'autore ad un nuovo messia, per quanto mi riguarda niente di più insulso ovviamente; un buon libro sicuramente, estremamente godibile e sorprendente, ma sempre una semplice lettura deve rimanere, non certo una nuova prospettiva e angolazione ne tanto meno un metro di giudizio con cui guardare la vita.

I really don't like reading a book after having seen the film based on it. I can't help but see the actors in my head when I read the story, and I'd much rather see the ones my brain creates from the author's descriptions. Bah. Still, this is a good book. Hard to believe it was Chuck Palahniuk's first. If you've seen the film, you already have a pretty good idea of how he writes: staccato sentences, mired in small details, repetitive. Somehow, he makes the sum of these off-putting parts a good thing.

1 ‰ЫТ “This is your life, and it's ending one minute at a time.”
2 ‰ЫТ “The amazing miracle of death, when one second you're walking and talking, and the next second, you're an object.‰Ыќ
3 ‰ЫТ “We are not special. We are not crap or trash, either. We just are. We just are, and what happens just happens. And God says, ‘No, that‰ЫЄs not right.' Yeah. Well. Whatever. You can't teach God anything.”