Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

21 reviews

chapter_one_athenaeum's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Cursing, Chronic illness, Blood, Gun violence, Grief, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Terminal illness, Violence, Drug use, Body shaming, Cancer, Toxic relationship, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fatphobia, Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Death, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Mental illness, Abortion, Suicide, and Sexual content

necroplasm's review against another edition

dark funny tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

picked this one up bc i really enjoyed the movie and was curious what the book was like! while overall i still like the movie more bc i feel it trimmed what little fat the book had while also making some of the more abstract plot moments a little more understandable, the book is definitely worth reading too. somehow even gayer than the movie, which makes sense considering what i know about the author but it was still a nice bonus to me lmao

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Mental illness, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gun violence, Drug abuse, Addiction, and Cancer

kimimoomoo's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Terminal illness, Mental illness, and Physical abuse

alexandryareads's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Suicide attempt

foramen_magnum's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Palahniuk is one of my favorite authors, so returning to his works is like catching up with an old friend... Even if they weren't your favorite, they make you feel nostalgic. 

Fight Club is clearly early in his career and the elements of his style are being experimented upon. While sometimes it hits his razor sharp mania, other times it feels very stream of consciousness as told by characters who just aren't always that interesting. Shock value is a trademark of his style but here it feels gratuitous, where in other books it feels immersive. Still, he makes his point, and his critique of capitalism and hyper masculinity is absolutely clear. If this is your first tango with Chuck, I'd recommend you start with Rant before checking out Fight Club, but don't count this one out entirely. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Blood, Body horror, Fatphobia, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Cursing, Drug use, Medical content, Toxic friendship, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Abortion

nb_leftist's review against another edition

challenging dark funny reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

It seems to be a commentary on white supremacist right wing extremist movements and how they’re fucking idiotic, but I can’t tell if that’s what the author meant it as or not. I don’t think it really matters cause there’s not one specific thing that a story can mean and in the afterword Palahniuk even writes about how he kind of just wrote it. Either way it’s definitely a good piece of writing. It keeps you interested and it keeps moving throughout. I finished it in probably 2-3 hours and it felt like 30 minutes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility, Body horror, Body shaming, Classism, Death, Gun violence, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Addiction, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Hate crime, Fire/Fire injury, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Vomit, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Blood, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Excrement, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gore, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Medical content, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Suicide, and Mental illness

sobake_cih's review against another edition

dark reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

It’s one of my fav books since my teens, so I’m very biased. But reading it now so many years later gave me so much more to think about. A truly iconic book.

It’s a lot more dark and twisted than the film, and many issues in society and the world in general mentioned and discussed in the book are very present to this day, even though it was published almost 30 years ago. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Toxic relationship, Blood, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Murder, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Violence, Cursing, Gun violence, and Body horror

Moderate: Cancer, Abandonment, Kidnapping, Terminal illness, and Vomit

mdwsn27's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Toxic friendship, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide attempt, Self harm, Cancer, Body horror, Murder, Mental illness, Gore, Blood, Alcohol, Violence, Stalking, Physical abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

vexant's review against another edition

dark reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Torture, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Cancer, Toxic friendship, Terminal illness, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Death, Chronic illness, and Blood

Moderate: Car accident, Suicide, Gun violence, and Murder

getlostdave's review against another edition

funny mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, Kidnapping, Blood, Death, and Classism

Moderate: Car accident

Minor: Forced institutionalization and Suicide attempt