The first rule of the fight club is not to talk about the fight club… that’s it, that’s my review.
If you like to read those kinds of books that can only be defined as «mindfuck» books, you are in the right place. I must admit that I like to read this type of book because it takes you out of your comfort zone, which is a nice “exercise” from time to time. Many people concentrate on reading a single genre, which depends on the person on what type of book that is. However, I believe that it is in the diversity of genres and themes that one can have a deeper experience in literature.
Without spoilers, as always, the story is about a man, who has no name in the whole novel, who suffers insomnia, unhappy with his life and with his work and … with basically his whole life, and the different ways he finds to fight against this chronic fatigue. He meets a man, the second protagonist of the story, Tyler Durden, who is a maniac, which I would also define as an anarchist, who has plans to destroy the consumer society as we know it.
Together they form the Fight Club, a club which allows them to express all the resentment they carry inside, which has the following rules, which have become maxims in popular culture (at least the first two, it’s not a mistake that it is repeated):
- You don’t talk about fight club.
- You don’t talk about fight club.
- When someone says stop, or goes limp, the fight is over.
- Only two guys to a fight.
- One fight at a time.
- They fight without shirts or shoes.
- The fights go on as long as they have to.
- If this is your first night at fight club, you have to fight.
My comment about what I liked most about the book, without giving away anything else in the story, is the end, which, I must admit, the effect is best achieved in the film. And the second element is the narrator’s way of writing, which gives is very authentic in showing that the person writing is depressive and has insomnia.
I found a meme, once I finished the book, about a student who had to prepare an essay about the film (well, it could have been about the book, but let’s put that aside). And his essay was: “The first rule of the Fight Club is, you shouldn’t talk about the Fight Club. That’s it, that’s my essay. ” I found it very creative, and how risky it was, even though it showed perfectly that he understood the message of the film. That is why I started this review like «the first rule of the fight club is not to talk about the fight club… that’s it, that’s my review» … I wanted to see what reactions it generated.
I was reading that the author, Chuck Palahniuk, is working on a second part of The Fight Club, but in the form of an illustrated novel. It may be worth checking out.
Final comment: very interesting, and complements the film a lot, which I recommend seeing once you read the book. That order is always better, in my opinion. Book first, film second. And now that there are so many series, series third.
Keep on reading,
GG KLIMT 