Fight Club

The first rule about... well I can't talk about it. But the second rule about... I can't talk about that either. The third rule that I can't talk about... is if someone says "stop" or goes limp, or taps out, the fight is over. The fourth is that there are only two guys to a fight and the fifth rule is there's only one fight at a time. The sixth rule is that there are no shirts or shoes, the seventh that fights will go on for as long as they need to and the eighth and final rule is that if this is your first Barn-Raising club, you have to Barn-Raise.

Fight Club. Shh...

The real 'Fight Club'

I saw the 1999 film many years ago. Brad Pitt and Edward Norton did a very good job and it's one of my favourites. But a friend of mine alerted me to the fact that it had all been based on a book, and that he'd lend it to me. If there were a rule about this, he would have already broken the first two.

So I started the book knowing what happens in the story, but not knowing how accurate the film had kept to it; it turns out, quick well.

However, even though I knew what was just around the corner (the descriptions and monologues that our unnamed narrator spouts are nearly identical to those in the film) I found myself gripped. I find it a struggle to keep reading while having to travel around on the London underground, but I found it more of a struggle to actually stop reading.

Without spoiling it, the story looks at our average Joe's life and how the introduction of a man called Tyler Durden changes it. There's also a woman who helps to change his life who goes by the name of Marla Singer.

We see how these characters interact in their own small, underwhelming world and how at the end of the book they become part of a huge scheme involving many other men.

Chuck Palahniuk, the book's author, creates this world of misery where everyday life is just another day counting down the hours on a clock until death. In fact it follows this theme of death throughout.

The 'Fight Club' in the book is an escape from reality until it becomes reality and we are put in the metaphorical front seat of a cinema (there's a reference in there) watching it all unfold into a world of trouble.

It really is a gripping read, as good if not better than the film (as most books usually are) and it's pretty short too, so there's really no reason not to pick this up.

The afterword is pretty enlightening too! And will explain the Barn-Raising reference...

:-)

Elky