Review: Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

Fight Club’s unnamed protagonist is suffering from insomnia. He seeks refuge by joining multiple support groups for the seriously ill, pretending to have the illness of whichever group he is at that day. But, with the arrival of Marla Singer, these groups no longer serve their purpose for our protagonist, and he will now have to find another form of refuge.

That’s when he meets Tyler Durden. In Tyler’s world, there are no rules, and certainly no limits. Every weekend, young men with good white-collar jobs and absent fathers take off their shoes and shirts and fight each other barehanded for as long as they have to. Then they go back to those jobs with blackened eyes and loosened teeth and the sense that they can handle anything. This is Fight Club, and Fight Club is the invention of Tyler Durden.

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I recently took part in the #thefirstruleofaugust readalong, hosted by @zukythebookbum, over on Instagram. This was my first time reading Fight Club, but I have seen the movie too many times to count, and it is one of my favourite movies of all time, so I was obviously extremely excited to finally read the book! Although I knew the storyline, how it played out, and the outcome, it definitely didn’t take anything away from the brilliance of this book. I also know that if I hadn’t seen the movie, the surprise at the end would have truly shocked me.

Palahniuk has such an interesting writing style, which I really enjoy. One particular aspect of Fight Club that I love, is that the protagonist remains unnamed throughout the entire book. I think this really helped the story develop, especially when it came to the shocking revelation towards the end of the book. Palahniuk seems to use a lot of repetition throughout the story, which usually becomes frustrating, but with Fight Club, it really worked, and really emphasised the protagonists insomnia.

There is not a dull moment to this story. It is fast paced, and enjoyable from beginning to end, and I can’t believe it has taken me this long to finally read it. The movie (starring Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, and Helena Bonham-Carter) definitely did the book justice. Fight Club is definitely the type of book that the less you know about it before you read it, the better the story is, which is why I have kept this review very brief.

I would highly recommend giving Fight Club a read, and personally think that Chuck Palahniuk has created a work of genius with this story. You would never believe that this was his debut novel!

I give Fight Club a 5/5 rating.

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Have you read Fight Club, or seen the movie?
If yes, what did you think?
If no, do you plan on reading it?

Let me know in the comments!