January 22, 2020
Fight Club
By: Chuck Palahniuk
Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk was a dark and deep read, touching on concepts that paints the picture of how dark the real world is. It is a very quick-paced read, about halfway through, it was impossible to put down. Ideas in this book are great reminders of thinking about what is raw and important. In the midst of a rat race, am I working to spend more and improve my quality of material life? Am I really present with the people I’m around? Am I living my life to its fullest? What if we could do anything right now, what is it? Tyler is just a split self within everyone that desires to be LIVING and DOING. This is a great depiction of why the smartest people in the world see the strings of the system, see that they are stuck in it no matter which way they struggle, and choose to leave that world. They either live in solidarity far from the system or take their lives. In the darkness, love is a way to help one stay sane and grounded.
Cool Ideas
- Rules of fight club > Rules of Project Mayhem > Creating the system with which the person who creates it loses his power
- We are God’s middle children, with no special place in history and no special attention. Ads make us believe that we can be special. Working jobs they hate to get things they don’t need.
- There a lot of things we don’t want to know about the people we love
- If people thought you were dying, they will give you their full attention.
- Other humans made a mess, and we clean up. Why should we do that?
- Getting fired is the best thing that happens, that way we quit treading water.
- Getting old is a phenomenon in the wild, because animals get killed before they grow old.
- Not wanting to die without scars- tired of watching professionals fight.
- The things you own start owning you. When you’ve lost everything, you are free to do anything.
Favorite Quotes:
“If I could wake up in a different time and place, why not a different person?” (Palahniuk).
Palahniuk, Chuck. Fight Club: a Novel. W.W. Norton & Company, 2018.