Title Fight Club
Author Chuck Palahniuk
Year Published 1996
Kind of Book Novel
How strongly I recommend it 7/10
My Impressions I read this after seeing the movie multiple times. The book is fairly short and if anything the movie goes into more detail. I enjoyed the movie more than the book, but I'm still glad I read it. There were a few lines that were not in the movie or that were phrased slightly different. A lot of food for thought about the state of masculinity in America during the 21st century.
Date Read June 2020
Notable Quotations
“I don’t want to die without a few scars”
"I can't get married. I'm a 30 year old boy…We're a generation of men raised by women. I'm wondering if another woman is really the answer we need."
“After you’ve been to flight club watching football on television it’s like watching pornography when you could be having great sex.”
"Then you're trapped in your lovely nest, and the things you used to own, now they own you." pg.43
“If you’ve never been in a fight you wonder about getting hurt. About what you’re capable of doing against another man.”
“How Tyler saw it was that getting God's attention for being bad was better than getting no attention at all. Maybe God's hate is better than His indifference…Unless we get God's attention, we have no hope of damnation or redemption. Which is worse, hell or nothing?"
'If you could fight anyone who would you fight?"
"I'd fight my boss probably. Why who would you fight?"
"I'd fight my Dad."
"'It's only after you've lost everything, that you're free to do anything.'" pg.69
"'You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You are the same decaying organic mater as everyone else, and we are all part of the same compost pile.'"pg.133
"'If you're male and you're Christian and living in America, your father is your model for God. And if you never know your father, if your father bails out or dies or is never at home, what do you believe about God?'" pg.140
"It's easy to cry when you realize that everyone you love will reject you or die. On a long enough time line, the survival rate for everyone will drop to zero." pg.17
Practical Takeaways
Don't die without a few scars
Remind other men of the power they still have "What we have to do…is remind these guys what kind of power they still have"
Big Ideas
The feeling of sadness and the relief of crying can be intoxicating (especially for those who have become numb to feeling)
A life worth living is one where you have a few scars when you die
A generation of men raised by women created a generation of men who felt disconnected from their masculinity/animality/and purpose in the world
Being in the action is far superior to watching others play
If you've never been in a fight you can't know much about yourself
If you never get in a fight, you will always wonder what you are capable of doing to another man
People who persist after they have been told to go away are the ones who will succeed
It's easy to cry when you realize that everyone you love will reject you or die
On a long enough timeline everyone’s survival rate drops to zero
Many men want to fight their Father
Getting married is not the solution for a 30 old man who still feels like boy
People choose negative attention over no attention at all
As we start to get things in life the things we own start keep up from doing what we really want to do for fear of losing it
Men are never more alive than when they are fighting (for their life)
There is a freedom that comes with having nothing (being at rock bottom)
We are not beautiful and unique snowflakes.
Each individual is made of the same decaying matter as everyone else
Boys growing up in America use their Father as their model for God
Therefore
A boy who grows up with an absent Father believes that God doesn't exist/doesn't care
If someone asks you right before you are about to die, 'what do you wish you would have done in your life?' Whatever you answer is what you should start doing (if you live)