Murder. Mayhem. Paper. (The Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk)

Member Name: beedubblyer

Product:	The Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk
Date:	16/07/00 (66 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Palahniuk's style and ideas...

Disadvantages: ... that Brett Easton Ellis fans might like it.

Don't be put off by the cover quote from the unreadable Brett Easton Ellis - this book is intelligent, witty, and intricately constructed. Sure, there's gore, but this blood means something, it's not the vacuous viscera that Ellis made a mint from.

Palahniuk's book deals with two opposing conceits. One: the conformity of modern living, where thinking is driven by materialism, where your thoughts are shaped by your apartment, your furniture, your car. Two: the idea as a virus, the virulence of Tyler's madness as it seems to sweep across neutered male America, and the impossibility of stopping the spread of that idea, even for the creator.

Inevitably, we're going to have to compare this to the film (i took the book first route). Fincher's greatest achievemement was accurately transposing the MTV-attention span narrative, reflecting the cut 'n' paste, digressional style with a heady mixture of filmic techniques. Both the book and the film give clues before Tyler's 'unveiling', but manage to keep a large enough store of surprise to make it less than a giveaway. But the ending of the novel works far better than the film (despite having the Pixies on the soundtrack), a less pat, more chilling finale. And remember how much the film relies on voice-over? A sure sign of the director/scriptwriter respecting the text they're adapting. (But this is just carping, the film was superb too...)

So if you haven't watched the film, read the book first, because naturally it trades more heavily on ideas. Also, once you have seen the movie, it's difficult to get Fincher's inventive direction and Ed Norton's excellently deadpan read out of your mind. But there's a deft sharpness to the writing here that you wont get elsewhere...

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