Fight Club [Book] (1 Viewer)

[AbelM]

Anyone ever read the book? Is the book called Fight Club? Did anyone like it?

 

[Greg_Y]

I've read the novel. Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk. It's much like the film. If you've already seen the movie, I wouldn't tell you to run out and read the book, but you may still enjoy it. I read the book a few weeks before the film came out so I knew the secret, but I still enjoy the film.

 

[AbelM]

Really, it's pretty similar to the movie, huh? Well, I loved the movie, so I guess I'll go pick it up...thanx man!

 

[Jeremiah]

I heard the ending is better in the book than in the movie.

Greg, if you wouldn't mind could you tell me how the book ends and hide it in a spoiler?

 

[Paul D Young]

I read the book after seeing the movie and I loved them both. They provide different but very similar experiences.
Jeremiah, the book ends like this:"We look forward to getting you back."
Seriously though, I don't remember exactly how it ends but I swear teach, I DID read the book.

 

[Pete_S]

The book, in my opinion, was a lot better than the movie. Somehow the "big surprise" in the movie is a lot more surprising in the book, but I'm not sure how good the book would be to anyone who's watched the movie first. I read first, watched second.

 

[Matt Stone]

I also liked the book, and really liked the fact that it was a quick read. I read it in 2 days...maybe 3 total hours or reading.

 

[Bjorn Olav Nyberg]

I read the book after seeing the movie I guess 4-5 times at least, so the suspense wasn't really there for me, but still it was an enjoying book.

If I remember correctly (It has been a while) the book ends like this



They only try to blow up one building, but it fails, because "Tyler" made a mistake that Jack knew very well never worked for him. Also, in the book, Jack's and Marla's "cover" is blown in one of the support group meetings. But the support group still feels sympatethic towards them, since they after all had a problem that the group could alleviate in some way. In the book Marla and the support group show up at the site they tried to bomb, and Jack is put in a mental hospital. Because of this, project mayhem also get put on hold (and like in the movie Project mayhem was already runnind independently of Jack). While in the mental hospital, Jack get cured somehow. However, he can still not really allow himself out, because a lot of the space monkeys are also employees of the mental hospital, and they still call him sir, which I took to mean that if Jack ever is released, project mayhem will start up again, even if he opposes it.



For the record, I prefer the movie ending, or the whole movie overall for that matter. But that may very well be because I had got to used to the movie first, that the book became sort of an alternate version for me.

Interestingly, the author himself says on the commentary on the DVD that he feels ashamed of the parts of the book that differ from the movie, because he felt the movie took better choices. Of course the author is very humble and kind of self-depravative, and he does of course not have anything to be ashamed of.

What really impressed me about the movie though, was how close to the book the movie was, and how many details they implemented from the book. It is only towards the end the movie takes different choices.

 

[TheoGB]

Well I saw the movie lots of times before I bought the book. I don't think the book is as impressive as the film but this is because books like Generation X (which I hated oddly) aren't turned into movies very often, so the film medium makes it fresher.
The ending of the book is pretty much as Bjørn says but I'm not sure that it's as clear that he stops himself waking. I can't remember
There are some significant changes from the book, IMHO:
The Narrator is a very dark character. One of the ways the movie works is to portray him as a constant victim and slightly bumbling. In book he makes the 'human sacrifice' of the Chinese shop worker all on his own, for example. There are other instances of the events moving between characters, and also the time line is slightly different.
I'd have said the ending of the movie is the weakest aspect but I like it better each time I watch it. I think the problem is that it becomes 'fantastical'. Up to a point the film is scarily believable and has a lot of power because of that. But when Project Mayhem is country-wide phenomenom and massive conspiracy, culminating as it does, I kind of feel the chilling aspect of the tale is lost and it becomes more of a cartoon.
I still rate it fantastically, so I guess it doesn't matter, however!

 

[Iain Jackson]

I read the book before seeing the film and ultimately I wished I'd done it the other way round. The book is excellent but the one major downfall is that the plot twist is not actually very well expressed IMHO - I ended up reading those few pages twice to actually work out what it was saying. The movie, on the other hand, has a much more direct, sharper impact, which I'll never experience...:frowning:

 

[Jeremiah]

Thanks for the info guys.
Paul, that was a HUGE tease

 

[Mick Wright]

One reason you should check out the book is that the story is structured properly.The massacre of Angel Face is there to show that the narrator has build up a tolerance to fighting, and no longer gets a "buzz" from it, he has to completely destroy his opponent to feel anything. The next day "Tyler" starts up project mayhem to bring things up a notch, so the narrator/Tyler can destroy things on a grand scale (his therapy ). Also, for irony Angel Face was the first applicant of Prohect Mayhem.

 

[Greg_Y]

Iain, it's interesting that you say that you liked the film because of the more explicit way that you find out the "twist." I liked the fact that I had to go back and read it again. That moment of realization was that much more delicious because of the way the author slowly unveiled it. Of course, I understand your point too, and why you like the film better.