In my father’s house are many mansions.
Of course, when I pulled the trigger, I died.
Liar.
And Tyler died. (pg. 206)
This is the opening of the last chapter. I wouldn’t call it a spoiler; it’s as vague in meaning as many of the greatest paragraphs taken out of context of the entire narrative.
The story grows, builds on itself in layers, gets bigger until the action and the movement started simply by an insomniac narrator is completely out of his control. Palahniuk has expertly used plateaus of absurdity so that the reader is likely apt to accept each and willingly moves on to the next, always keeping in mind the opening scene where the narrator is atop the tallest building with his friend Tyler holding a gun in the narrator’s mouth.
I took the theme to be one of the unrest of the average young man who is moderately successful in a career, yet is unsatisfied because he sees the corruption and manipulation of the middle-class and poorer segments of society by the powers of the rich and those in authority. The narrator takes his dissatisfaction to outlandish ideas and in appealing to others who feel, like him, powerless to stop the flow, taps into a basic brutality within all of us to fight the system and destroy to rebuild.
All in all, there are some great scenarios in Fight Club. Some are hilarious, some are terrible. The premise of rising up and changing things to feel good about the world and one’s self as an individual is appealing. The language and style of writing is skillful, handling time changes out of sequence with expertise. The voice of the narrator is straightforward and believable. It makes him honest and yet vulnerable even as we doubt his sanity. There is a wonderful exposure of his feelings of love versus sex as Palahniuk creates the triangle among the narrator, Tyler, and Marla.
I thoroughly enjoyed the book, even in its most shocking concepts and scenes. There is blood and guts, there is much to make you squeamish. I also appreciated Palahniuk’s Afterword that gave some details of his writing of the book.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology