REVIEWS
Having watched the movie was the strongest reason why I didn't feel the need to read the book. It always bumped in my mental vault, the fact that someone had come up with such a powerful and compelling idea, executed it impecably on screen (Norton's and Pit's acting was phenomenal; perhaps Pit's finest performances). I finally gave the book a try. I was surprised to see that the book was short. It didn't put me off at all, it was just an observation, especially after having watched the movie I expected a lengthier book.
As I read through the pages I was aware of the nuances with the movie, something that made my neurons glitch from time to time, for I expected one thing, yet found something else. Yet, Palahniuk's mastery of his unique style and narrative kept me reading and reading, constantly trying to decipher why the writing style was so good and so bold and so... damn original.
The story itself is strong, consistent to the bone and detail oriented without being overwhelming. I figured Fight Club was very successful because it defined a putrid, rotten world that exists within the human realm. Fight Club gave this world a face, a personality, a tangible morphology we could finally grasp. This world occupies the mind of the bluest, the raw material of hatred towards the organized, paved by those who seek to control through the creation of rules that determine a beings reality. This reality has a big blind-spot, and the world Palanhniuk described in Fight Club defined this blind-spot and exploited it. This blind-spot is an individual's need to feel unique, and yet, the opposing desire to feel he is part of a movement, a group, to be part of a collective. To be part of Fight Club one had to slay one's reality, to lay naked midst the ugly and emerged reborn, only to join a new set of dogmas. This is portrayed as the idea of propagating organized-chaos, an idea that spread through the mediocre like a virus. The virus lived among society cloaked under the veil of working men, men who seemed to follow a set of social rules; the virus unveiled during the night, during Fight Club. An integrant of Fight Club was a menacing soul in search of freedom, from social expectations and the boxed-in sensation felt by binding rules of how one must supposedly behave midst peers. The soul within Fight Club sought freedom, even from itself, only to be lured by its desire to belong, to be part of the clan: the paradox of wanting to be unique and yet, the inevitability of desiring to be part of cult, to be part of the change. Man's demise is served cold in Fight Club, for example, when Tyler makes soap out of fat rendered by liposuction--society's shame--, sold back to the thinned as soap, purchasing what once was thought as biological waste, now regarded precious and a standard of "high society".
To leave aside the story, I would like to mention Palahniuk's writing style. To achieve the deliverance of a message so profound, in such a raw manner, using short sentences and explicit imagery is indeed a literary achievement. I truly enjoyed this read, far better than watching the movie. The movie, however, is also an achievement in itself.
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So I Have Watched The Movie 10+ Times - Still Enjoyed the book
It is true, the book is always better than the movie. Watching this movie in 1999 in New York City Theaters and I remember how much influence on my way of thinking, to challenge the hamster wheel, just as I was starting college.Of course the book is way cooler after you watched the movie, as you have Brad Pitt in your head and the other amazing characters from the movie - honestly I am not sure how much I would have enjoyed the book if I didn’t already have the amazing visual experience from watching the video.Yet by reading the book, you get so much more depth and feeling. Those quick 5 second clips in the movie now are written out in pages and you get the more granular feel of what is happening in Tyler and the character’s head (whose name we never know!).The ending is different in the movie and the book - and I saw that in the review when deciding to invest in reading the book or not - and that alone is worth going through it.What was surprising was how close the book and the movie are! Some of the exact lines are right from the book, and for the most part it is fairly straight along the the same storyline.As Fight Club is one of my favorite movies of all time, I of course will enjoy the book and it gives a new angle and dimension - I should probably watch the movie (yes again) to more fully compare the book and movie.
