Reviews with content warning for Body horror - Fight club

How Tyler saw it was that getting God's attention for being bad was better than getting no attention at all. Maybe because God's hate better than His indifference.

If you could be either God's worst enemy or nothing, which would you choose? We are God's middle children, according to Tyler Durden, with no special place in history and no special attention. Unless we get God's attention, we have no hope of damnation or Redemption. Which is worse, hell or nothing? Only if we're caught and punished can we be saved.

"Burn the Louvre," the mechanic says, "and wipe your ass with the Mona Lisa. This way at least, God would know our names."

The lower you fall, the higher you'll fly. The farther you run, the more God wants you back.

This book (and by extension, its film adaptation) has inspired what I fear will be a life-long obsession. Chuck Palahniuk has a talent for fully realised, fleshed-out characters and a writing style that grips you and just keeps you engaged. He could be talking about pissing in tomato soup and you'd be lapping it up, dying to get to the next page. Fight Club is fast paced and mind bending and funny when you least expect it. There is never a dull moment, although, you might feel weird about soap after reading it.

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whentheresteeth's review against another edition

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dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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meaghanelizabook's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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bookishgoob's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

i read this book in one sitting. it was so captivating.

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albernikolauras's review against another edition

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challenging dark 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? Yes

3.5

This book stays with me in some ways. It's dark and twisty and not always enjoyable. I wouldn't call it exactly realistic, but the escalation felt real.

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abbieinwonderland's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious 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? Yes

2.5

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angelicathebookworm's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

What I enjoyed the most about Palahniuk’s novel is that it’s a satire, a social commentary on the effects that consumerism has on the people of society and it could ultimately lead to. It contains many relevant hard truths such as that of masculinity and what that looks like in contemporary society. Despite not knowing much about the characters and not really getting any opportunity to empathise with them, they are distinct which is especially important in a novel that’s as complicated as this one. That’s especially true for the character of Tyler Durden who is the embodiment of the Id, the part of the unconscious mind that is free to do anything and everything if you allow it to.

I should preface this section by saying that what you’re about to read is not of my personal criticisms but rather aspects of the novel that have, and will continue to, split the opinion of readers. These are things that you should definitely consider before deciding whether or not to read this book. First of all, the writing style is not to everyone’s taste. It’s choppy, repetitive, and downright confusing but it is absolutely necessary within the context of this particular novel as it mimics the thought process of our unreliable unnamed narrator. Also, the storyline is quite erratic and messy as our narrator jumps from scene to scene which, again, is quite confusing. There are also some quite graphic descriptions threaded throughout which is another thing to consider. While I agree with these particular descriptions of the novel’s plot and writing style, I actually enjoyed all of these aspects but I can still see why many readers disliked them. I should probably add that I’d watched the film before I’d read the novel and I believe that that meant I was less confused with what was going on and therefore able to enjoy the novel more than I might have done.

For more reviews like this one, check out https://angelicacastilloking.wordpress.com/

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