Title: Fight Club *
Author: Chuck Palahnuik
Rating: 4 stars / 5 stars
Favorite Quote: “You had a near-life experience.” Palahnuik, Chuck Fight Club. W.W. Norton & Company, 1996.
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Review:
This is not the book that I expected. I may be the last person in the world to have neither read nor watched Fight Club, and all that I knew of it was its first rule. What I thought it was about was a bunch of hypermasculine men beating the shit of one another for no purpose. And, while that might seem true on its face, I did not realize that there was an entire plot beyond that - an entire criticism of capitalism, of hypermasculinity, nor did I realize that this novel (and presumably its movie, though I still haven’t seen it), was a reckoning with 20-something angst and feelings of being untethered to the world. And so, without further ado, let’s break the first rule, and let’s talk about Fight Club.
Ultimately, this book is one about dissatisfaction. About the disappointments and absurdities of life. About the violence of existing in a capitalistic society. And boy, does it capture each of these in turn.
The plot of Palahnuik’s book follows the narrator as he begins to shed the mundanities of day-to-day life after joining Tyler Durden in his home, his life, and his fight club. The [SPOILER ALERT] twist is that Durden and the narrator are one and the same, with Durden controlling the narrator’s body at times when the narrator is asleep. And although the plot propels itself toward an end of violence and destruction, there are still plot oddities that seem to define Palahnuik’s style throughout the novel - a little bit of chaos and a little bit of mayhem. A particular scene I enjoyed was when the narrator and Marla are chasing each other around the kitchen, slipping in puddles of her mother’s discarded fat. How delightfully strange.
Structurally, too, this book is curious. The moments of repetition, often of seemingly unimportant information, confused me at first, and even after having finished the novel, I’m not quite sure I fully understand the purpose. The queer and homoerotic undertones were also interesting, though, again, I’m not quite sure how they tied in with the rest of the story (especially after it became clear that the narrator and Durden were one and the same).
There are, of course, moments that are grotesque, at times excessively so. And other moments where the lines of satire, of pain and of pleasure, blur. And moments where the macabre borders on the obscene. But overall, Palahnuik creates a narrative that is compelling, enjoyable, one that forces readers to grapple with the meaning of life and what it means to exist in a society driven by avarice and violence.
About that Quote:
I think this quote, and where it occurs in the novel, really captures the heart of the narrative. In this moment, the narrator has almost died in a violent car wreck caused by the driver of the stolen vehicle. His face is in the lap of the driver, the birthday cake on the ground and the smell of burning candles is surrounding them. And yet - the narrator, in this near-death experience, is instead described as having a near-life experience.
Have you read Fight Club? Or seen the movie? Share your thoughts below!
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