Rating: 
Summary: Not gonna mention the movie
Review: Excellent read if you have a dark sense of humor - this is one of the few books I've read that's made me laugh out loud from the satirical and non sequiturish dialogue and proclamations of Tyler Durden. Anyone who's just graduated from university and about to enter the corporate working world should read this and second guess some of their work values. Not that's meant to be some kind of self-help or "values" book (despite the number of real underground fight clubs that have popped up) - it's more of a book about amoralism and anarchism, and a darned entertaining one at that. Plus I learned a lot about making soap.
Rating: 
Summary: Save yourself a few hours and rent the movie
Review: This is one of the few books I've read where I think the movie was actually better than the book. Even then, I don't think it's so much that the movie was BETTER, but the book just works better as a movie. It plays out nicer. The book stayed right on par with the movie and only a few tiny events were changed.If you don't know the premise, fight club is about a guy who shall forever remain nameless. He can't sleep at night, so he goes to support groups for diseases and problems he doesn't have. He meets a woman named Marla Singer and they form a hate-hate relationship. Then the guy meets a man named Tyler and his entire life changes. He goes from a condo filled with IKEA furniture to a crack-house reject of a house. He forms a club called Fight Club with Tyler. Men beat each other up and feel great about it afterwards. Woo. It was a quick read and a poor book. I'd absolutely recommend renting the movie over wasting your time reading the book.
Rating:
Summary: You can swallow a pint of blood before you get sick
Review: When I first kicked back and started to read this book I didn't really now what was waiting for me. I sat there in awe reading this book seeing what kind of crazy ideas would come out of Tyler Durdens mouth. I really coudn't beleive what I was reading.
This book is about a young man who can take his life any more.
He hates his dead end job, his abusive boss, and he can't sleep.
So one night his condo burns down and he meets up with Tyler Durden and they create a after-hours fight club to find releif for themselfs.
Well I really don't want to continue, I'll ruen the book. Well all and all this book is a master peice won of the best books I have ever read. But I can't really recommend this book for everyone, because hey face it this book this book may be a little to graphic for some people. But well coudn't put this book down I was completly gravitated to it.
Rating: 
Summary: A first, maybe, in novel/film history
Review: What the host site review fails to mention in describing the prose as "lethally swift" is what that swiftness is lethal to... which means, essentially, that you can tell Palahniuk wrote sections of the book in bars, clubs, etc. (which he has discussed in interviews) and not in a place where ideas, characters, anything can really be fleshed out to any great length. It's a firecracker of a premise, and the film (which, to be fair, I must admit I saw first, which may present some bias) takes all the best parts of the book and gives them visuals, which Palahniuk's prose fails in most cases to do. The plots differ in some ways. Without the theme, this book review would rate the novel with one star; the ideas about manhood and culture, etc. give it another star. The movie gets five stars. Watch the movie and then read the book, just to get the whole experience.
Rating: 
Summary: You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake!
Review: I've wanted to read this book for years, but put off my purchase until after I recently watched the film. Despite knowing the all-important "twist" of the story, I still thoroughly enjoyed Palahniuk's ambicious first novel - a work that seems to give a voice to the subconscious, collective fears of America's newest generation of faltering adults. Something about this novel reminded me strongly of Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting. The criticism of how consumer culture has negatively impacted our generation is one strikingly similar aspect ("Choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical tin openers" vs. "...you're trapped in your lovely nest, and the things you used to own, now they own you"). While Welsh's strongest character eventually aspired to the nesting instinct, as embracing the conformity of "normal" society was the ultimate efface to his anti-social lifestyle, Palahniuk's nameless hero throws (or rather, blows) away all of those purchases he thought would make him whole. As he says, "... no matter what goes wrong, at least you've got your sofa issue handled." I think the strongest similarity, however, and the aspect that makes Fight Club ring so true to our generation is the commentary on our "generation of men raised by women". The desperation and desire of Fight Club's main character to be more than himself echoes the struggle of every male I know who constantly strive for balance in a society that gives so few strong male role models and so many mixed signals about "what makes a man". The line "I am a 30 year old boy" made me think of so many of those friends of mine, and was the point in the book where I realized Palahniuk had tapped into something major. There are many books out there by authors seeking to define our generation. Palahniuk hasn't defined our generation, but he has given a voice to an often overlooked demographic - those white, middle-class, young adult males who, because they aren't a minority, poor or female, are expected to be completely satisfied with their lot in life and very, very often are not. This is a powerful, important commentary and I hope it does more to open up a dialogue for others in that demographic, like Palahniuk, with a story to tell. Fight Club is a fast, gripping read in an almost stream-of-consciousness style. I would have liked for Palahniuk to have explored the relationship between Tyler and the narrator a little more effectively, but perhaps I was just spoiled by watching the film before reading the book. Fight Club also gets a little slippery after grabbing onto a theme or concept, such as the desire to destroy history or the ease with which Tyler drums up a corps of willing space monkeys to do his bidding, which left me wanting for more of a conclusion. All together, though, this is a very strong book and a telling look into the hearts and minds of the "middle children of history" ... who are just beginning to realize that they aren't going to be millionaires and movie stars, and are very, very pissed off by that fact.
Rating:
Summary: One of the greatest novels of the 90's
Review: One night, when I was a senior in high school, a few friends of mine and I decided to head over to a local cineplex and catch this interesting movie about anarchists, entitled "Fight Club". Little did I know that this film would become one of my favorite movies ever. Finally, a week ago, now well into my college career, I decided to pick up the novel (after reading several of Palahniuk's other works). The first half of the movie and the first half of the book match up pretty well. The second half diverts, and the endings are completely different. The novel, Fight Club, is essentially a retelling of Faust- one searches for material goods, then knowledge, and then power in a search for fulfillment that can't be had at any price. This state is brought about by the denial of the feminine, portrayed, in this book, by two characters- Bob Paulson and Marla Singer, who could be seen as the mirror for Gretchen, whereas Tyler Durden takes the Mephistophelian role. Whereas the movie ultimately culminates in a brutally ironic (and chillingly prophetic) strike against consumerism, the anti-consumerism of the novel is more of an afterthought, the book having more to do with man's denial of himself and the inability to become a hero without pain. While Palahniuk's best novel to date is "Survivor", "Fight Club" will be the one he's remembered for- a glance into the empty souls of early information-age yuppies, combined with a timeless, existential look at humanity.
Rating:
Summary: Good, but highly, HIGHLY overrated.
Review: There were elements that I liked about "Fight Club", both the book and the film. The film was stylisticly beautiful and the book was more philosophicaly insightful, but if only the sparks of light in the book and film had somehow come together. I liked the idea of exploring masculinity and femininity and "feminisation" (and especially the gay/homoerotic subtext that was cleverly and subtly touched upon in the film), but I don't see the connection between THAT and "project mayhem" and anarchy. It went from something that started off as a witty and insitefull look at men and feminism, to something that made very little sense at all.
Rating:
Summary: Stickin' Feathers Up Your ... Does Not Make You A Chicken!
Review: I HATE TO READ but this book changed my life. We're gonna go on vacation so my mom says "Pick out a book to read for the trip." Well I had noticed that the movie Fight Club was based on a book by some guy named Chuck Palahniuk. So I get the book and I am just in shock. This book is AWESOME! There are so many differences between the book and the movie. The book, in my opinion, is A LOT better. I don't wanna spoil the book (auctually I do, but I won't) but one thing thats different is that Tyler makes soap out of Marla's mom. Also Joe (As in: I am Joe's flaring nostils) beats himself up in front of the manager of the hotel instead of his boss.
From that fateful day forth I'm hooked on Palahniuk books. So if you know a teen that hates to read tell him one word PALAHNIUK (Paul-a-nick) or (Puh-law-nee-ack). Well maybe you should explain it a little more clearly but anyway "In a world of Sick Puppies, Palahniuk is Top Dog!"
Rating: 
Summary: not as good as the movie
Review: This is one of the rare cases that I enjoyed the movie more than the book. I thought the movie was wonderfully made and thought-provoking, and immediately sought to read the book. I anticipated the book to be even more striking in its originality, but it was simply bearable. That's all. The ideas are the same as the movie, and you won't really be missing out on too much if you don't read the book, except perhaps a little subplot about Marla and her mother that makes you understand her a little more.
Rating:
Summary: exactly what i needed
Review: this was a book iread when i felt really blah. it cheered me up and definitely made me laugh my [rear] off. i like this book better than survivor. which is odd; because usually authors don't develop a palatable style until they've been around for a while.
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