Rules Are There To Be Broken (The Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk)

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Product:	The Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk
Date:	24/07/02 (302 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Imaginative & Thought Provoking Ideas Established

Disadvantages: Weak Love Sub Plot, Uninspired Style Of Literature Introduction

Rule 1:“Don’t Talk About Fight Club”
Rule 2:”Don’t Talk About Fight Club”

Fight Club written by Chuck Palahniuk is a book, which incorporates the structure of society and the differing beliefs that we as a people have. Relating to the blockbuster movie starring Brad Pitt and Edward Norton, Fight club is almost dreamy and unreal in its presentation. Chuck Palahniuk has succeeded in creating a completely abstract and disillusioned environment within these pages.

The Plot

The plot is featured around a club entitled Fight Club. It is within these club meetings that people engage in combat, claiming that the pain and anxiety, which they experience during battle, bring them closer somehow to self-enrichment. Tyler Durden is the main character, with whom the story is structured around. From his pre-fight club days, searching for something more in his life than the materialistic commercial bombardments of everyday life, we follow our protagonist through his life story and interactions with the Fight Club community. Built into the already structured and fulfilled plot of a fight club, designed and unconsciously created by a man with a insomnious life, is the sub-plot of love or at least infatuation. We watch as Durden struggles to maintain a relationship with Marla Singer while overcoming the realisation that he is the leader of one of the most powerful uprisings. Spreading across the nation, the fight club wave sees Durden becoming a major figurehead who towards the conclusion sets the backdrop for a bon fire of madness and self-exploration.

The Violence

Anyone who has watched the movie will realise that violence plays a major role in the production and intrigue of the film. However, although Chuck Palahniuk has named his book after a violent expression (fight) I don’t believe that h himself fully appreciates the raw emotion involved in this act. The manner in which he words the viol
ent scenes is very distant and unsatisfying. There is no emotion, no reason and no understanding of the pain and emotions that the characters are going through while indulging in the fights.

The Love Sub-Plot

This is perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the book. Not only is the reasoning behind it weakly projected but it is weakly expressed too. Durden expresses no real connection with Singer and the reader is left wondering about the believability of the plot and the reasoning of it all. Apart from the unconventionally sex which Durden explores with Singer, there is no evidence of how Durden’s psyche has been effected by hi relationship and interactions with Singer.

The Style Of Literature

The writing within the book is very bland. There is no real attempt to create any sort of powerful illusion or thought provoking text; now although the initial plot is very ingenious and intriguing, the language with which Chuck Palahniuk’s ideas have been realised are essentially dull and non-vibrant. In saying this, it does make a very complex book easier to read. Rather than having to struggle with complex metaphors and similes, there is just a mirage of complex characters and plots.

Realism

The author has gone through great lengths to incorporate an imaginative and entertaining idea with a fully believable context. His knowledge of Tyler Durden psychological deficiencies is intriguing while still managing to maintain realistic and accurate information in the bomb-making chapters. For the notorious pink soap, featured on the front cover of the movie trailer to the ideas and techniques used to create explosives, Chuck Palahniuk’s care in his literature and words is fascinating and rewarding.

Conclusion

Despite all its negative points, Fight Club is certainly worth a read, if not for the plot and intriguing aspects behind it then for the fact that it illustrates a more inclusive vie
w of the Fight Club phenomenon. But for anyone looking for a quick fix, the movie is the one for this; with no real intellect necessary for the understanding of the characters or the atmosphere, the movie seems to provide a much more entertaining and relaxed environment.

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