Plot: A white collar office worker
meets a strange man and together they start an underground fighting ring.
Review: I have seen the movie Fight
Club a million times, but up until recently I had never read the book. The
movie was very influential in my life and for a long time it was my favorite
movie of all time. As the years went by I started to find some cracks in it
that became more and more glaring. It’s not my favorite movie anymore, but I
still hold it in very high regard.
The
book itself is different than I had expected. Whilst the story is the same as
the movie, the way it is told is disjointed. It is not a linear narrative. It
is more of a series of events that occur, with no semblance of how much time
has passed. This may have been done in order to question the reliability of the
unnamed narrator. The book is also fairly short at just over 200 pages.
The
story describes a person who is bored with his life. He has everything he needs
to get by but he lacks any enthusiasm. It’s a problem many of us can relate to,
living in the white collar world with office jobs. There can be a certain lack
of adventure in life and the narrator finds it in Fight Club. While this is an
extreme look at finding excitement, it’s an effective simile for normal people.
Of course, just like in real life, sometimes things can go way too far and this
story is one where strong feelings can push a group of people to do very dangerous
activities in order to remain in a group and share that sense of belonging.
I
am keeping the story points fairly vague for anyone who may not have seen the
movie or read the book. I will have to say that I did prefer the movie over the
book in this case. The movie flows more smoothly with its more linear narrative
whereas in the book, things just seem to happen. It’s an ok read but one where
you need to find your bearings constantly.
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