Rating: 
Summary: A great quick read with interesting characters
Review: I loved "Fight Club" the movie, so I decided to pick this book up. Since the book was written way before the movie - I suspected that things would be different from the movie. Was I wrong! It was like reading an alternative director's cut in the movie where most things were the same, but things were shifted around a little. Palahniuk's writing style is pure MTV - but it works here. Plus, the book has a few more mischief and mayhem examples that the anarchist would find intriguing. I highly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: Original
Review: This is a very original work of literature. If you see the movie first, you will notice that the film follows the book very closely. I see them as nearly equals. If you hate one, don't expect to like the other since they are so similar. The plot is very original, even though only a small portion of it deals of a fight club. The majority of the book is about finding the meaning of life and dealing with the struggles you encounter in life. The characters see real and it's hard to put this book down once you start. A masterpiece of literature that fans of Bret Easton Ellis and Patrick McCabe will enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best short novels of the 1990s
Review: A great deal of hype has surrounded Chuck Palahniuk's first novel since its publication, reaching its apex in the second half of 1999, when the film version was released. Consequently, it's often been difficult to see what an incredibly good book "Fight Club" truly is. Finely written in spare, powerful prose, this slim novel taps into the late 20th-century zeitgeist and expounds on fatherless sons, dehumanization, office work, materialism, violence, and insanity. If all this sounds rather heavy and preachy, it's not; at least not most of the time. While there are a few times in the book when Palahniuk allows his "message" to supersede his text, for the most part this is an intelligent and very funny meditation on modern life. While the film was a fine adaptation of the book, it missed some of the novel's humor amid the bone-crunching violence, and lost sight of some of its satiric points halfway through. Not only does the book better explore Americans' uncomfortable relationship with consumerism and capitalism, it also shows in no uncertain terms how difficult it is to change the society in which one lives. Truly a great book.
Rating:
Summary: Not just cool, insightful, too
Review: I, like many of my peers, read the book AFTER seeing the movie, and was not at all disappointed. This is a healthy dose of reality for all American men, and has really put me in a healthy mood to get beaten up.
Rating: 
Summary: Quick and Easy
Review: This book took me about four hours to read. It was well-worth the time I invested. The theme of males being lost in the new world order in which females have increasingly more and more control is a valid theme. Men may have ruled the earth for centuries, but now that women are taking their role in society, men have problems finding theirs, especially since it is no longer necessary for them to be providers. So what if the men deal with this by beating the crap out of each other?
Rating: 
Summary: Fascist food for thought!
Review: This is the first book of fiction I've read and enjoyed in months, but I do have reservations about it: I don't think it's really much of a story when you think about it; the characters in the novel somehow seem rather underdeveloped;I think writing out real recipes for making bombs is probably irresponsible, though I guess any idiot can find them on the internet; and ultimatly I find the book somehow fascist in tone...I understand that this is a satire, but I'll bet that many of the readers of this book don't even know what the word "satire" means. That said, FIGHT CLUB is still somehow engrossing and "fun" to read and it does make one think about one's life, doesn't it?
Rating:
Summary: Fight Club Kicks
Review: Chuck Palahniuk's debut novel, "Fight Club," is one of the greatest, provocative, and enlightening books written for our generation. It's a must-read, with a brilliant story, a writing style wonderfully crafted to depict the real world for as disgusting as it is, and a mischievous character who goes by the name of Tyler Durden, who's out to change the grotesque problems of modern-day society, for good. --And great brain food. There are some issues and statements given in this book that really make you think especially about how we're defining "progress" for humanity. How do we define success and progress, but by how big of a house we have, or how much we have in the bank, or how pretty our wives look? In this book, the anti-society society "Fight Club" determines success by how little you have."Only until we lose everything, are we free to do anything." Tyler Durden, Fight Club--the movie ~ Matt Overpeck I couldn't have said this better myself. Chuck Palahniuk's debut novel is the best book I've read in my short pitiful slum of a life. Since my life is so pathetic this book was one that I could relate to in the real world. I suggest that anybody that enjoys watching movies will enjoy Fight Club and will absolutely love the book as well. Chuck Palahniuk is the best writer I've ever seen and I can't wait to read his next book.
Rating:
Summary: Modern nihililstic masterpiece!
Review: Chuck Palahniuk's first explosive literary debut is a credit to his own intellect and ability as an author. Some will say that his quick, staccato style, and unique sentence structure make his story seem cheap. I disagree STRONGLY. Palahniuk's style is not only original, it's the tempo of the journey that we undertake through the narration of the nameless "narrator"- a typical white-collar cubicle worker who is fed up with his job, his life, and society in general. He finds the solution in Tyler Durden... With Tyler Durden, I believe Palahniuk has created a nihilistic icon for a fresh generation otherwise unexposed to the works of existentialism and nihilism of the past. Some will say that the two philosophies are irreconcilable...some will say that they are one in the same. Tyler is the nihilist messiah embodied in the existential man; he is the man who would dare to rebel against the hypnotic wave of consumer culture in which he has seen his generation hopelessly immersed. In Fight Club, Palahniuk sets the stakes...he sets the ideologies through which his characters are linked to much of our own dissident-ial withdrawl, and often, disgust with the strength of modern consumerism. Basically, Fight Club is not a story; IT IS A STATEMENT. Palahniuk is making an observation about our consumer culture. He is making a critique. He is asking, YOU, the reader, to step back from yourself and take a look around. Palahniuk doesn't like what he sees. He sees a generation drowning in the muck and mire of an empty culture. Tyler Durden is not necessarily a terrorist ideal; he is a warning, and he is a lesson. This could be our future. Tyler could become a reality. Maybe we should toss aside our arrogance and try to fix ourselves. All in all, it is a POWERFUL novel. A MUST READ, even if you're not an existentialist or a nihilist. There are lessons to be learned within the texts and subtexts of it's pages.
Rating:
Summary: Fight Club - a book for the Ages
Review: I am Joe's extreme sense of enthusiasm. The book Fight Club is a ground-breaking piece of literature, that is by far one the great pieces of literature that the 20th century had to offer us. Fight Club uses a very unique style in its writing, and I was impressed to see the cinematic interpretation of it. However, I must say even though the movie was very well done, the book was even a notch above that. Chuck Palahniuk takes us through the life of his un-named protagonist, who is so dead to himself and the rest of the world he attends chronic support groups to get a dose of human emotion. But when another "faker" appears at the support groups, the un-named character returns to his bouts of insomia, and through these half-dream, hald-real worlds, we meet Tyler Durden. Tyler decides to allow the young un-named protagonist under his wing, but in exchange, they need to hit each other as hard as they possibly can. The release that is felt by the two characters through their frequently bloody brawls spawns Fight Club, which in turn spawns Project Mayhem...a nation wide organization so loyally devoted to Tyler Durden and the anarchy that they create that not even Tyler can stop them. The very climatic ending is sure to be a mind job as well, but it stays right along the dark, and even nihilistic path that the book strays down. A must read for the young generation, the message is invaluable.
Rating:
Summary: Ride This Book.
Review: Ride? Yes, ride. This novel takes you on a journey - and you will emerge transformed - with a new respect for the written word. Generation X has found its spokesperson, and he is Chuck Palahniuk.
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