Fight Club Chuck Palahniuk
When I started batting around the idea of coming back to write a new blog post,(really dropped the ball on wanting to blog a lot) my initial idea was that I wanted to do a top 10 favorite books of all time. So I started by going through my Goodreads account and looking over the books I gave 5 stars. I wrote these all down and then added books that I had not added yet. The list was much bigger than I anticipated, over 50 books. I then put a star next to the ones that I know I really loved. Still over 20 books.
Now for some reason I really love lists. I always have. I search the internet for the top 10 movies, television shows, cars, etc. What I didn't realize was just how hard it is to come up with a top 10. It felt like picking out a favorite child. This was just not going to happen. So as a compromise I am just going to do a series on my favorite books.
The only rule I put on myself was that I would have to re-read the book so I could comment on it fresh. And I might just find out I do not feel the same about it as I once did.
So here we go! I hope you enjoy.
Opening line. "Tyler gets me a job as a waiter, after that Tyler's pushing a gun in my mouth and saying, the first step to eternal life is you have to die."
Fight club is the first novel by author Chuck Palahniuk. Fight club tells the story of our unnamed narrator who is working in a corporate job with an insurance company. The only thing he has in is life is his job and the unending pursuit to own the best clothes, home, car, etc. Yet he feels empty, no direction in his life. Then his world is turned upside down with a chance encounter with Tyler Durden.
Tyler represents everything that is missing in our narrators life. together they start a series of underground fight clubs. A place where men can shed the 9 to 5 lifestyle and go primitive. Tyler hates all things related to consumerism and the pursuit of material things. He is about living in the moment, and changing the world. And it might not be in a good way.
I have always loved this book. Fight club is a book for the generation of adults who grew up in the late 80's early 90's. It was in this time of history where young men found themselves with nothing to fight for. their grandparents fought in wars that meant something to the world. Now everything was about how much money you made and how nice your things were. Many were working jobs that were unfulfilling, careers that their parents wanted more than they did.
"The feeling you get is that you're one of those space monkeys. you do the little job you're trained to do. Pull a lever. Push a button. You don't understand any of it, and then you just die"
Many from this generation also came from divorced families with fathers not in the picture.
"Me, I knew my dad for about six years, but i don't remember anything. My dad, he starts a new family in a new town, about every six years. This isn't so much like a family as its like he sets up a franchise. What you see in fight club is a generation of men raised by women."
"My father never went to college so it was really important I go to college. After college, I called him long distance and said, now what? My dad didn't know. When I got a job and turned twenty-five, long distance, I said, now what? My dad didn't know, so he said, get married. I'm a thirty-year-old boy, and I'm wondering if another woman is really the answer I need."
The creation of fight club allowed a generation of men to see what they were capable of, to get away from this bubble wrapped world.
"If you've never been in a fight, you wonder. About getting hurt, about what you're capable of doing against another man."
It gave them the inner strength to change their lives. To stop living for others and start doing what they want.
"It's only after you've lost everything. That you are free to do anything."
"Geting fired, is the best thing that could happen to any of us. That way, we'd quit treading water and do something with our lives."
Tyler comes off as a savior for this group of men, yet he does have other motives. Motives that could change the world for ever. The book takes a hard turn near the end, giving us one of the great litterary twists there is.
I think we all have that one book that we read at the perfect time in our lives. One that makes a huge impression on us. For me it's Fight Club.
