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Kira's Reviews > Fight Club
Fight Club
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I read this book as a self-absorbed 18-year old and never looked back. Brilliant modern critique of western consumerism and masculinity, told through the story of an underground club of men who beat the hell out of each other as a way of working through their disillusionments.
Each sentence of each chapter is quotable, things like :
'You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You are the same decaying organic matter as everyone else, and we are all part of the same compost pile.'
and
'We don't have a great war in our generation, or a great depression, but we do, we have a great war of the spirit. We have a great revolution against the culture. The great depression is our lives. We have a spiritual depression.'
(As a trivial aside, you can hear a selection of them in the Dust Brother's song 'This is Your Life' featuring Brad Pitt, who incidentally does a pretty good job as the aforementioned anti-hero in the movie.)
What is most poignant however, is the lingering effects of the narrator's troubled relationship with his father throughout his adult life. The quote I remembered most explicity, even years after reading Fight Club is this one:
"What you have to understand, is your father was your model for God. If you're male and you're Christian and living in America, your father is your model for God. And if you never know your father, if your father bails out and dies or is never at home, what do you believe about God?"
I'm waiting for another book to come along that will speak as loudly to me about modern day malaise.
Each sentence of each chapter is quotable, things like :
'You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You are the same decaying organic matter as everyone else, and we are all part of the same compost pile.'
and
'We don't have a great war in our generation, or a great depression, but we do, we have a great war of the spirit. We have a great revolution against the culture. The great depression is our lives. We have a spiritual depression.'
(As a trivial aside, you can hear a selection of them in the Dust Brother's song 'This is Your Life' featuring Brad Pitt, who incidentally does a pretty good job as the aforementioned anti-hero in the movie.)
What is most poignant however, is the lingering effects of the narrator's troubled relationship with his father throughout his adult life. The quote I remembered most explicity, even years after reading Fight Club is this one:
"What you have to understand, is your father was your model for God. If you're male and you're Christian and living in America, your father is your model for God. And if you never know your father, if your father bails out and dies or is never at home, what do you believe about God?"
I'm waiting for another book to come along that will speak as loudly to me about modern day malaise.
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Reading Progress
Started Reading
March 1, 2000
–
Finished Reading
August 9, 2007
– Shelved
August 14, 2007
– Shelved as:
favourites
September 14, 2007
– Shelved as:
americana
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Niel
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May 12, 2009 08:30PM
Kira, great review!
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I second that, great review. Was it fully intentional that you named Brad Pitt as the anti-hero rather than Edward Norton? I always felt that the persona of Tyler Durden was fighting a different war than the nameless narrator, and was rooting for them both separately, unable to choose between them. I guess it gets into murky territory.
"I'm waiting for another book to come along that will speak as loudly to me about modern day malaise" I really like that quote, I think thats something that I try to find in most books that I read, and I always fail miserably trying to find ones... But I suppose thats part of it...
Great job on incorporating quotes into your review! I believe that involving qoutes makes your review more credible and relatable. Each time I finished a chapter, I was excited to read the next. This book had a certain technique/flow that made me feel more and more interested the more I perused to read. I only have some unanswered questions that I couldn’t help but wonder while reading and watching the movie. We all know what kind of effect that the narrator’s father had on him. I believe their relationship was so troubled that it caused the narrator to unwarily create Tyler. Tyler also had father issues, which helped him and the narrator connect and bond even more, even though they were the same person. Do you think if his father was in his life, he would have never created Tyler? Or do you think this was all because of his insomnia that was never properly treated?
The quotes that you stated are in fact very powerful especially the last one that you stated about your father being a model of god. I think this book has a lot of religious meaning especially when Palahniuk describes a father figure to god. That was one of the reasons why Tyler was disappointed in his life, he had not father figure to look up to. There are many reasons why Tyler was disappointed, but I think that the main reason was not having a father figure. Like you stated “and if you never know your father, if your father bails out and dies or is never at home, what do you believe about God?� This relates to Tyler so much because I think that that is the main reason why Tyler started fighting with himself. He had so many things to be mad at and he used Fight Club and project mayhem as an outlet.
Hello my name is Jakob and I'm commenting on you review for my English class. I really enjoyed how you incorporated those very strong quotes into your almighty review. I completely feel the same way that you do with the father figure relating to a symbol as God and I feel like the narrator didn't know what he believed in because of the absence of his father. I liked how you said " the story of an underground club of men who beat the hell out of each other as a way of working through their disillusionments," because that directly correlates to the narrators struggles with his insomnia and his depleted faith for God. And with no faith in anything, he has nothing to believe in to help him through situations so he created the Fight Club to be a catalyst for faith.
Hi Kira, even thought your review was one of couple short reviews on here I thought it was one of the strongest. You did not go into much depth of what happens in the novel but you did express the basic ideas and added flavor to those ideas. The quotes you came up with really spoke out to what Chuck Palahniuk was trying to express. As some of the other reviews also said, “I do not quite understand why Palahniuk wrote this book� or “I did not find interest in this book.� I think if those people read your review and reflected on what they read in the book they would become more interested and engaged in the novel. Even though I liked the novel before I read your review it still gave me a broader thoughts towards my ideas after reading the novel.
I absolutely loved this book and felt the same as you, i just recently got a ton of his books from the library to read and I'm so excited. Honestly I think this book gave me a new perspective on life
Here's the book you are looking for, if you are ready, if not oh well, go back to the world Tyler Durden wanted to destroy. Spiritual Enlightenment, The Damnedest Thing. Jed McKenna
Nic wrote: "I'm waiting for another book to come along that will speak as loudly to me about modern day malaise" I really like that quote, I think thats something that I try to find in most books that I read...
Have you read Super-Cannes by J.G. Ballard?
I loved your review, it hit the nail on it's head. I also read this story as a young man and was totally enamored with it. Thank you.
