Book Review: Fight Club

Imagine having two personalities that stick with you, your entire life but you just never knew. Everyone lives in their own world but there are people around them. We all get confused about what’s going on in our lives or what is going to happen next. Fight club give us a story about Tyler Durden, a guy who spends his free time crashing support groups for the dying, a waiter and projectionist with plans to screw up the world.

Born February 21, 1962, Charles Michael Palahniuk spent his early childhood living out of a mobile home in Burbank, Washington. His parents, Carol and Fred Palahniuk, got divorced when he was fourteen, leaving Chuck and his siblings to spend much of their time on their grandparent’s cattle ranch. In 1980 he graduated from Columbia High School in Burbank, winning the award for “Most Wittiest” in the process. Some regard this award as the catalyst for his nascent interest in writing, but according to Chuck, that honor belongs to Mr. Olsen, his fifth grade teacher. Chuck attended the University of Oregon, graduating with a BA in journalism in 1986. He worked as a journalist for a local Portland newspaper, but soon grew tired of the job. He then became a diesel mechanic, spending his days repairing trucks and writing technical manuals. “It was during this time that Chuck experienced much of what would become fodder for his early work, including working as an escort for terminally ill hospice patients and becoming a member of the notorious Cacophony Society. Said to be the inspiration for Project Mayhem in Fight Club.” Chuck’s first attempt at a novel, If You Lived Here, You’d be Home Already was rejected across the board but parts were later recycled for use in Fight Club. There was a dark time in Chuck’s life for a while. Within months, Gerry Howard (the editor at WW Norton) convinced the higher-ups to take a chance on the writer, and Chuck soon had a book deal with a major publisher. He then went on to turn Fight Club into a movie. The film’s popularity made publishers reprint the novel over the next few years. Due to this success, he put out two novels in 1999, Survivor and Invisible Monsters. Choke, published in 2001, became Chuck’s first New York Times bestseller.

The book, Fight Club, starts out like almost any regular story. It is written in a first person view. The events in this book are written in chronological order but don’t let it fool you that it is just like any regular story about a person’s life. It is a bit confusing but thats only the beginning so do not give up. The events that take place in this book are really interesting and  when reading, you should pay close attention.

The language of the book, Fight Club is a bit modern and kind of old. The book is sharply written. Since it is written in the first person perspective, you get to feel the author and characters thought while reading. It feels like you are the main character in the book. While reading Fight Club, you would not think it would turn out the way your mind portrays it will. It doesn’t really follow the basic structure of regulars stories but Chuck Palahniuk does a amazing job with switching it around. We do not know the exact place of where Fight Club takes place but at first we know it is in a house, then in the city.