The popular novel by Chuck Palahniuk "Fight Club" reviews among critics and readers often collect diametrically opposed. This novel was published in 1996, and in the center is a hero who suffers from insomnia due to his rejection of the consumer society.
History of creation
In this article we will tell you what reviews on the Fight Club can be found among ordinary readers and professional literary critics. By the way, the very idea of ​​writing this novel by Palahniuk arose after a fight. Chuck was “decorated” with wounds after her, but his friends ignored this without even asking what happened to him.
By that time, his novel "The Invisibles" was already ready, which the editor refused to print, deciding that he was too radical. So he tried to make the full book, Fight Club, even more outrageous, as if in spite of his publisher. Initially, it was a story of only 7 pages. The full version of the book “Fight Club” was published in 1996, and the original story became one of its chapters.
Later, the author himself, especially after the successful film adaptation of the novel made by David Fincher in 1999 with Brad Pitt and Edward Norton in the lead roles, noted that the work he wrote was just an updated version of The Great Gatsby.
Author
The book Fight Club was the first printed novel by American Chuck Palahniuk, who is now 56 years old. He is a graduate of the Department of Journalism at the University of Oregon, who began his career as a journalist. Then he changed many professions - he was a diesel engine mechanic, a volunteer in a shelter for the homeless, worked in a hospice, transported terminally ill people to meetings of support groups.
At the moment, more than 15 of his novels have been published. The most famous of them are "Survivor", "Invisibility", "Suffocation", "Lullaby", "Ghosts", "Snuff". For many of his works he was awarded prestigious awards in the field of literature, in particular, twice became the nominee of the Bram Stoker Prize for outstanding achievements in the genre of literature horror.
His latest novel, Corrective Day, was released in 2018.
Criticism and reviews
The book “Fight Club” gathered the most controversial reviews among critics who noted that the author managed to create a whole world that has nothing to do with the reality surrounding us. In it, young people are able to find support only in special groups for the terminally ill, and then goes to fight strangers in the basement.
The effect that this work has produced, critics explain by the fact that each generation is shocking and scaring their parents. That is why he became so popular among the younger generation - from them reviews about the book "Fight Club" can only be heard positive.
Other critics noted that the author managed to raise ideas about anarchy to a fundamentally different level. In the reviews of Chuck Palahniuk’s book “Fight Club”, they note that this smart and cynical work is not for the faint of heart, written in an aggressive style.
At the same time, many recognized that the writer was destroying the misconceptions that existed in the 80s about the comfort and ease of the corporate lifestyle with the mentioned debut. In reviews of the Fight Club, he was even called a gloomy satire on the white-collar society. Palanik, according to critics, sees the main threat in the heart of corporate America.
This novel became very popular in Russia. In reviews of Palanik’s book “Fight Club”, many of our compatriots noted that this is a work that every real man should read. That is what he stands out, since most modern literature is intended for women. In reviews of the Fight Club, it was repeatedly emphasized that a new social image of a man was created in the book, which is designed to destroy the glamorous dude.
Negative opinions
Many descriptions of the novel turned out to be so realistic that they aroused sincere disgust. In the reviews of Palanik Fight Club, readers admitted that it was not easy for them to perceive the pages on which soap is made from human fat, an organization is being created to establish anarchy on the planet, and waiters spoil food in restaurants.
But the main thing is that this book could not leave anyone indifferent. By the way, in reviews of Fight Club Chuck Palahniuk, many were also outraged by the fact that the writer was ready to resort to any tricks, harsh irony, outrage only to insult and hurt as many people as possible.
Summary
The narration is in the first person. At the same time, in the book of Chuck Palahniuk "Fight Club" the true name of the protagonist is not indicated, he is called Jack.
The story begins with insomnia, from which the young man suffers. He literally goes crazy when he does not sleep for weeks. The attending physician reassures him that they do not die of insomnia, but do not prescribe sleeping pills, but sends them to look at people who are much worse. Jack begins to go to support groups for people with brain parasites or cancer. After participating in group therapy, insomnia goes away. During these classes, he especially loves to cry on the chest of a former Big Bob bodybuilder who has testicular cancer.
Meeting with Marla and Tyler
So two years pass. Jack meets Marla Singer, who becomes an important character in Palanic’s book “Fight Club”. She, too, is not sick and understands that Jack is only a "tourist".
The protagonist works as a coordinator in a car company. Its task is to assess the damage in cars caused by defects, and decide whether to recall it from the market or not.
During one of his trips around the country, he meets with Tyler Durden. Returning from a business trip, the protagonist discovers that an explosion occurred in his apartment. The police believe that it was gas, starting to suspect Jack himself, since he can now count on decent insurance.
Staying on the street, he moves to Tyler. But instead of paying housing, Darden asks to hit him as hard as possible. They begin to fight every Saturday, and soon organize a Fight Club for those who seek self-destruction.
Fight Club Rules
The club is relocated to the basement, where its members gather on Saturdays after closing. Tyler formulates the basic rules. Now Jack is constantly meeting people with disfigured faces who are members of their club.
With Tyler, they live on the money received from the sale of the toilet soap that Derden cooks. At night, Marla calls Jack to warn about his intention to commit suicide, he sleeps, so Tyler goes to help Marla. From that time, she begins to periodically spend the night in their apartment.
This worries Jack, he decides that she is destroying another part of his life, because of her, he now risks losing a friend. Moreover, he notes that Derden appears only when Marla leaves the room.
Tyler assures him that Jack should strive exclusively for self-destruction. Leaving a lip mark on his hand, he sprinkles it with alkali. Now the main character has a characteristic scar, more like a brand.
Work as a waiter
With Tyler's help, Jack gets a job as a waiter. He works in the evenings at banquets, serving delicious dishes. At the same time, both are constantly atrocious: they release gases on a souffle, urinate in soup, blow their nose into aspic.
Jack soon learns that there are more and more fighting clubs. In one of them, he somehow meets Big Bob. Meanwhile, Martha finds a tumor in herself, asks Jack to carefully examine her, and he notices that the girl has the same lipprint scar as he does.
The detective who is investigating the explosion in Jack’s apartment concludes that it was home-made dynamite. Then Jack and Tyler begin to blackmail their former bosses. They threaten to tell about pasted frames of porn films in cartoons (this was Tyler's work), undetected defects in cars, urine in dishes of important clients. Everyone pays for their silence.
Project "Mutilation"
Soon, Fight Clubs open all over the country. Tyler collects a squad of the most outstanding fighters, which turns into the basis of his project “Mutilation”. It consists in the creation of committees for riots, violence, arson, misinformation. Each week they receive small assignments from Tyler. There are also dangerous individual instructions that are played in the lottery.
The main goal of the project is to save the planet, freeing it from history. At the same time, Tyler does not care about people.
In the house on Bumazhnaya Street, mutilated fighters are now constantly gathering. They make soap from human fat pumped out by liposuction. They regularly go to the hospital dump for material. When Tyler once disappears without warning, Jack finally begins to feel superfluous. Fighters of "Mutilation", which he calls "space monkeys" get soap, which is mixed with aromatic herbs, and committee members continue to arrange disgraces in the city. Among them is the same Big Bob from the support group. Jack unsuccessfully searches for Tyler all over the country, realizing that he has already turned into a legend.
When he is desperate to meet a friend, Tyler calls him to work. Jack gets into a car waiting for him on the street, and a risky and dangerous game begins with cars following the oncoming lane. Jack's first homework is to take away his driver’s license from 12 people.
The main character continues to travel around the country in search of Tyler, soon realizing that he is mistaken for Derden. When he contacts Marla, she confirms that this is indeed so.
As soon as Jack falls asleep, Tyler reappears. He is angry because Jack told about his secret to someone else and tells what the matter is: they both use the same body - only Jack in the afternoon, and Derden at night. It turns out that this is Jack the tenant of the house on Paper Street. He never had any insomnia, in fact, he was very tired due to the fact that Tyler possessed his mind at night.
Marla does not feel any difference between them at all, for her, in principle, only Tyler Durden exists. Jack realizes that his split personality is progressing. He understands that he hated his life, tried to break out of it, then his second personality appeared. Tyler is cheerful, strong, charming, free and independent. Just like Jack always wanted to be, but never was.
The denouement of the novel
Jack confesses everything to Marla, persuading her not to let him fall asleep. He suspects that he will finally turn into Tyler. He is going to correct during the day all that Derden managed to do over night.
At this time, on one of the "homework" law enforcement officers are killing Big Bob. Jack wants to use Tyler’s influence to eliminate both the clubs and the project itself. However, no one obeys him. He drinks stimulants so as not to fall asleep, constantly feels as if someone is chasing him. He is constantly seeing everywhere mutilated faces in fights.
When the next day Jack arrives at work, it turns out that his office was destroyed by an explosion, while his boss was killed. It turns out that this was done by Tyler, who poured napalm into the computer monitor.
The main character is the main suspect in this matter. He seeks to escape from the city. On the bus, he discovers that it is filled with members of the Fight Club. Their mission today is to castrate Tyler. Trying to jump out the window, Jack loses consciousness.
Recovering, he finds himself in his burnt apartment safe and sound. He understands that his life is destroyed, but recalls Marla, who is not yet aware of the danger of the situation. They secretly meet in a cancer support group. Marla says that she watched Tyler at night and saw how he killed the man. She called the police, but the police did not react, because they were also from the Fight Club. Jack asks Marla to avoid the scars, setting off to deal with Tyler.
He goes to a club nearby, where he declares that he wants to fight with all the participants. He decides to die, but remains alive after 50 fights. He comes to his senses again in his apartment on Bumazhnaya Street, and Tyler next to him in the image of a “fair-haired angel”. He tells him that his death should be inspiring and significant, after which it leads to the roof of New York's largest skyscraper. It turns out that the bearing supports of the building are mined. Durden inserts a gun into Jack's mouth in anticipation of an explosion. At this time, Marla rises to the roof. She screams that she understood the difference and now loves Jack, not Tyler. When the time comes for the explosion, nothing happens, improvised explosives do not work. Jack shoots a pistol that rests on his cheek.
He believes that he came to his senses in Heaven, but, in fact, ended up in a mental hospital. At the same time, he takes medical workers for angels, and a doctor for God. Marla sends him letters, but even in Heaven Jack constantly meets people with disfigured faces. They are waiting for his return to destroy this civilization.