Book Review
Title: Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
Genre: Classic, Psychological
Rating: 4 Stars
The opening to Fight Club was interesting as it opens with our unnamed narrator and Tyler have a stand off as the Parker-Morris building blows up around them before jumping back in time. Here our narrator has been attending support group for various things because of their insomnia and crying at these groups is the only thing that allows them to sleep. However, this routine is being disrupted by the presence of Marla Singer as she seems aware that the narrator is a fake as they have never experienced terminal illness and it throws them off. We also learn of how the narrator met Tyler Durden and it is already clear that the narrator seems to be suffering from D.I.D or schizophrenia as they make a statement claiming they know things because Tyler knows them, not because Tyler told them which would make sense if the movie adaptation were faithful and I am excited to see where it goes.
We continue to follow the narrator through his daily life until an incident leaves him without somewhere to live so he phones Tyler despite not knowing him that well. After meeting for drinks Tyler agrees to let the narrator live with him if in return he hits Tyler a shard as he can and he agrees. This accidently start something they refers to as Fight Club, where men can come to beat the crap out of each other anonymously if they follow some of Tyler’s simple rules. Over the next few weeks the number of people attending fight club grows so only the first 50 are allowed in each night and the narrator is using this as his outlet every weekend even though it is costing him at work. Meanwhile, we get to see the dynamic between Marla, Tyler and the narrator, there seems to be a love triangle almost here where Marla wants the narrator, the narrator wants Tyler and Tyler wants Marla but it is complicated since Tyler only seems to see the narrator as a friend and the narrator wants nothing to do with Marla at all so it makes for some interesting reading. However, the narrator also points out that he has never seen Marla and Tyler in the same room together except when they are having sex which also lends some weight to the D.I.D. theory as the narrator also dreams about having sex with Marla which might actually be reality experienced through an alter but I can’t wait to find out.
As time passes we witness the narrator beginning to descend into madness as he is relentlessly pushed by Tyler to the edge of sanity. However, there are numerous clues along the way that Tyler, Marla and the narrator might all be the same person as the narrator often refers to Tyler’s words coming out of his mouth and he and Marla have the exact same scar on their hand given to them by Tyler which makes me believe they are one and the same. However, this is beginning to have more and more of an impact on the narrator’s life as he is fired from both his own job and Tyler is fired from his meaning they are having to look for new ways to support themselves. Tyler does have his soap making business but they are also beginning to charge for entry into the fight club which is why Tyler has been advertising it lately despite his own rule of not talking about fight club outside of the fight club. The book really reminds of the movie’s trippy aesthetic and how it made you feel like you were going mad trying to keep up with everything that was happening and trying to make sense of it all when it really isn’t supposed to make sense since the narrator doesn’t understand what is happening half of the time meaning we don’t have any reliable to follow throughout the novel.
After expanding the fight club Tyler starts something called Project Mayhem before disappearing. For a time the narrator isn’t concerned as Tyler often disappears for days at a time before reappearing but he eventually begins to worry when Tyler doesn’t turn up like he normally does. As he continue to watch over Project Mayhem and whatever they are doing as well as the fight clubs he is looking for Tyler, however, in every fight club he visits even in different states he is treated like a god and eventually he learns the truth. In one bar he is told that he was there a few days ago but the narrator has no memory of this and the bartender also called him Mr. Durden which is Tyler’s name. As he puts the pieces together he decides to call Marla, the one other person he believes will tell him the truth as she says the same that he is Tyler Durden and everything that has been happening throughout the novel wasn’t two separate people but one person which is horrifying for the narrator to realise and I wonder how the novel is going to end as the movie doesn’t reveal this information until the final moments but we still have something like 50 pages left to go and I am excited to see what comes in the closing section of the novel.
Fight Club actually ends different to the movie I believe, although its been a long time since I’ve seen the movie. The narrator is now aware that Tyler is him and he is Tyler but he also realises that Tyler has full control of his body when he goes to sleep which is why he is tired all the time. The narrator enlists Marla to help him keep track of Tyler and what he is doing when he’s in control of their body and some of the things Tyler is doing are horrific. The narrator tries to stay awake to stop Tyler taking control but this doesn’t work and soon he is forced to let Tyler out so he begins working on killing the both of them so Tyler can’t control him any longer but this doesn’t work either. Eventually Tyler tries to take his revenge forcing the narrator to shoot himself in the face as Marla watches but this doesn’t kill him, in fact, he ends up in a mental facility on medication to supress Tyler’s presence. The ending leaves us with the narrator in control of himself but distanced as many fight club and Project Mayhem members let him know that they are waiting for Tyler’s return which if the narrator has any say in it is never going to happen. Overall, I am shocked I put off reading Fight Club for so long as I really enjoyed it and read it in a single sitting and I am going to have to check out more of Chuck Palahniuk’s work in the future.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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