Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

54 reviews

elwh's review against another edition

dark reflective tense

4.25

Interesting to see the differences between the book and the movie. The lengths at which the narrator and Tyler go to destroy each other is greater here. I liked the movie more, but always love having another medium to engage with a story that puts my thoughts in a full nelson. Would not recommend listening to the audiobook while drifting in and out of sleep…your subconscious might take notes. (But seriously, the repetition makes it difficult to track where you fell asleep.)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship and Violence

Moderate: Cancer, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Addiction, Car accident, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment

wishyouweresober's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, and Murder

hjb_128's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cancer, Abortion, and Fire/Fire injury

adahermans's review against another edition

dark funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

First rule of Fight Club is you don’t talk about Fight Club! So I won’t 🤫… (loved it though, made me chuckle a lot)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

alex_johnson_2021's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This is not normally a book I would gravitate towards but it definitely hit on themes that I agree and disagree with. The way that the author tackled through the life the narrator has before and the lift he has after Tyler Durden is so seamless. We go from having two different personalities, the narrator, who has been playing it safe for so long and Tyler who is ballsy at everything he does. Throughout the novel, it seems as though the narrator goes from his playing it safe attitude to not knowing where he starts and Tyler ends. It also gets at the idea of the working class people who go through the jobs and brunt work that they're not happy about and them sticking a big middle finger to the upper class rich people for the way that they benefit from the system. I probably wouldn't do most of the things that Tyler does in this book, but you see the way that his charming personality and the ballsy approach he has make an effect on creating this brotherhood across the country that would do anything for him. It's just so crazy. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Blood, Murder, and Classism

12_gon's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

'gotta admit! love to fight club, but we only fight club outside... '

Palahniuk tunes Intersectional Feminism to young men lost in the dissonant notes of white male rage and mommy issues. As the reader wanders through the protaganist's self-harm adventure stealing the pain of others and discovering the highs of sleep-deprived mania, we meet Marla and Tyler.

See, Tyler is how the quiet, polite boy ignored by his mom, turns into the schizophrenic mass shooter. Tyler tells the protaganist about Caste Necropolitics patriarchy CAPITALISM$$$ "You see reader, us guy bros who like know about Ruby Ridge, can see past the bedtimes and sobriety the (m)asses are so fond of hehe.. like communism could just work if us genetically superior MEN(!!!) just destroyed everything! Then us group of guys undergoing psychosis cause we haven't slept in a bit, can solve the Jewish CAPITALISM$$$ question... OwO x3"

Like terrorism, but way cooler cause our Turner Diaries is the Communist Manifesto BAYBEE!

The book's appeal to me has evolved over the year's. I enjoy Palahniuk's embrace of psychosis and the "sad clown" ending of Tyler winning terrorism. A lot of people pretend they read the book, when they just watched the movie and probably didn't think about it much. In the book, when you don't sleep, self-harm (beat yourself up hehe [cause Fight Club]); you become abusive to the point of homicide. You know, the bad guy. Palahniuk is pretty literal, and meth psychosis is well-known in the seedier parts of the LGBTQ community. Ask around. The prose is very accurate, but not precise. Which I find the fear of failure mirrors poetically in Realistic Horror. The absurdity mirrors survivor's guilt. It'll grow with you.

Sucks for Bob though. RIP... hmmm... you ever think the guy with tits, no balls, and who spent the first two weeks in-utero as a female fetus like every human does might be a woman? Well I'm not going read his chromosomes or diary, so yeah.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Gore, Self harm, Violence, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

foramen_magnum's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Palahniuk is one of my favorite authors, so returning to his works is like catching up with an old friend... Even if they weren't your favorite, they make you feel nostalgic. 

Fight Club is clearly early in his career and the elements of his style are being experimented upon. While sometimes it hits his razor sharp mania, other times it feels very stream of consciousness as told by characters who just aren't always that interesting. Shock value is a trademark of his style but here it feels gratuitous, where in other books it feels immersive. Still, he makes his point, and his critique of capitalism and hyper masculinity is absolutely clear. If this is your first tango with Chuck, I'd recommend you start with Rant before checking out Fight Club, but don't count this one out entirely. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gore, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Abortion

nb_leftist's review against another edition

challenging dark funny reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

It seems to be a commentary on white supremacist right wing extremist movements and how they’re fucking idiotic, but I can’t tell if that’s what the author meant it as or not. I don’t think it really matters cause there’s not one specific thing that a story can mean and in the afterword Palahniuk even writes about how he kind of just wrote it. Either way it’s definitely a good piece of writing. It keeps you interested and it keeps moving throughout. I finished it in probably 2-3 hours and it felt like 30 minutes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

sobake_cih's review against another edition

dark reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

It’s one of my fav books since my teens, so I’m very biased. But reading it now so many years later gave me so much more to think about. A truly iconic book.

It’s a lot more dark and twisted than the film, and many issues in society and the world in general mentioned and discussed in the book are very present to this day, even though it was published almost 30 years ago. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Cancer, Terminal illness, Vomit, Kidnapping, and Abandonment

mdwsn27's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail