“It’s only after we’ve lost everything that we’re free to do anything.”
Chuck Palaniuk
The first rule about Fight Club is that you do not talk about Fight Club. The second rule of the fight club is that you do NOT talk about Fight Club. Only two guys to a fight, one fight at a time. No shirts, no shoes, and fights will go on as long as they have to.
Darkly satirical and intense, Fight Club is the type of book where there is much to dissect. The weaving of scenery and the rawness of Chuck Palahniuk’s pitiless prose make for a breathtaking read and an insane mindf*ck of a journey. This is the type of book that is open to interpretation, courtesy of our extremely unreliable narrator. This is the type of book that is hypnotic, absolutely lurid in how it displays the issues it deals with. This is the book that will live rent-free in your head for a while, the book that can’t be described in words to do it justice.
“I’ve met God across his long walnut desk with his diplomas hanging on the wall behind him, and God asks me, “Why?”
Chuck Palaniuk
Why did I cause so much pain?
Didn’t I realize that each of us is a sacred, unique snowflake of special unique specialness?
Can’t I see how we’re all manifestations of love?
I look at God behind his desk, taking notes on a pad, but God’s got this all wrong.
We are not special.
We are not crap or trash, either.
We just are.
We just are, and what happens just happens.
And God says, “No, that’s not right.”
Yeah. Well. Whatever. You can’t teach God anything.”
Every part of this book is a step toward the narrator’s realization of himself. Even attempting to describe the plotline would spoil the evocative qualities of the book; in my opinion, Fight Club is better tackled head-on by new readers without preconceived ideas of what it’s about. Comical, mind-boggling, and greatly thought-provoking, the unpredictable essence of this book is what makes it so phenomenal.
Needless to say, this book changed my brain chemistry.
~5 stars
