Fight Club

Rating:
Summary: Bentley Little Did It Better
Review: This novel has definitely parallels with Bentley Little's THE IGNORED. It's sort of the "action" version of the Little novel. But FIGHT CLUB's cop-out ending destroys the rest of this excellent novel's credibility. At least Little took his premise to the limit and didn't offer the reader an easy out.

Rating:
Summary: SPOILS THE FUN
Review: A warning to all those who want to be cool and read the book before seeing the movie: DON'T. The movie, which opened October 15th, is my favorite movie of the year next to "American Beauty" and it has been getting a lot of great, well-deserved buzz. But when I heard about the movie back in May I read the book and was only half-impressed. I figured that the combination of Fincher/Pitt/Norton would be better than Palahniuk's book, and it was. Every kink and little inconsistency and just bad part of the book was either removed or reworked for the film. I'm sure everyone has heard something eluding to the "twist" in the film, well it's in the book too, and although it's kinda cool in the movie, it sucks in the book, it's a trick ending, and when you already know it you watch the movie waiting for it. That's not cool. I wish I could be one of those people lucky enough to see "Fight Club" with virgin eyes and mind, but I can't. Everything in the film blew me away, but I would have been left on my ass bigtime had I not read the book. This is one of those rare exceptions where the movie is much better than the book - so, if you're going to read this, read it afterwards and never accuse Hollywood of messing up literature again, in this case it fixed it.

Rating:
Summary: a rallying call for anarchy
Review: Love it or hate it, this book will floor you. If there were ever a cultural rally call to anarchy, this is it.

Also, just saw the movie a couple hours ago, and it was incredible... possibly one of the most well-done, thought provoking flicks I've seen in years.

There is going to be big controversy over this book/movie, I guarantee it. I am an even-keeled, mellow guy, yet I walked out of the theatre with this strong urge to get beat up, and then to go randomly blow some stuff up.

It's only a matter of time before we start hearing about "Fight Club" copycat incidents on the six o' clock news. This thing is incendiary enough to spark a congressional debate on the dangers and responsibilities of hollywood and the media. It's that big.

Read it.

Rating:
Summary: This book is superior! Read it before you watch the film.
Review: No one needs me to wax philosophic on my thoughts or interpretations of Palahniuk's first novel. Simple then. This book is a gripping experience. You will love it or hate it, but will surely feel something when finishing it.

This novel will not take much time to read. Anyone can finish this book in less time than the movie will take up in your life. READ THE BOOK FIRST FOR ONCE PEOPLE! This is Chuck's story; read it his way first and then SEE it Fincher's way.

Do yourself a favor, buy the hardcover. Fight Club deserves a place on the family bookshelf.

Rating:
Summary: Great comment on today's soul sucking corporate world.
Review: A good read for those looking to snicker at the crazed world this has become. I enjoyed both the funny thoughts of the main character as well as the jabs at today's society of forced conformity. The book is a quick read, and a great escape for a long night waiting for the train. I thought the tongue in cheek attitude of the narrator worked well. The end is surprising, sudden, and difficult to deal with. However, the end does provoke thought. I wonder how the film will handle this huge plot twist at the end of the story.

Rating:
Summary: This Book is the Clockwork Orange of the New Millenium
Review: Cocky, threatening, and challenging; It's bleak, it's uncompromising, and it will disturb people who aren't ready for the ride. It's seat-of-the-pants storytelling, and I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys edgy fiction.

Rating:
Summary: Powerfully disturbing, engaging and horrific
Review: Read it cover to cover one Sunday evening and went to bed with the strong desire to hurt myself and/or others. Of course, I could not get to sleep.

Rating:
Summary: The First Rule...
Review: I will not talk about Fight Club except to say that this book made my hair stand on end. Not because of the violence (I kind of liked that), but because of...oops I will not talk about Fight Club.

Rating:
Summary: Nathaniel West Lives!
Review: Forget the Ballard comparision,what I hear in this writer's voice is as if Nathaniel West was alive and well and living in Oregon..all through the book I kept thinking Miss Lonelyhearts, Day of the Locust,all the jarring, rule breaking eliptical weirdness of the dialogue, the sinister clarity of the novel's vision, and the trenchant social commentary on the anarchic turn of the American dream..90s style..Tyler Durdin could be a West character easy..the pic will be dark and Fincheresque, but the writer's sly message probably lost in the visual style.. but its nice to see West's chillingly comic shadow at the end of this dark century.

Rating:
Summary: Sixth Sense Club
Review: Fight Club is a good novel, it really is. But it could be better. The novel's prose is different and I wasn't prepared for it, but after reading the end, I feel it is a book that you almost have to read again to pick up on things that NOW make sense.

And the ending...Palahniuk should have known when to stop. The last chapter should have been deleted, allowing for a more disturbing ending. But that wouldn't suffice so now the narrator is in a more convenient place.

I think the movie will be good; I only hope they don't stick with the ending.