semisinful's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

I expected this to be a hard read but boy oh boy did I not expect just how hard of a read it was going to be. The first time I tried reading this I gave up three chapters in because the violent descriptions and the talk of how to make homemade explosives gave me that weird phantom pain in my knees. But this time I pushed forward and got through the whole book. I love the movie, it’s one of my favourite movies. But it was far more difficult to actually be in the narrator’s head the way you are in a book versus how it is watching it in a movie. 

Man some of this was really hard to swallow. I loved it though. It was so brutal but it felt incredibly authentic. My problem with a lot of books this brutal is inauthenticity. This was great.

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breadbummer's review against another edition

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dark funny informative reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I...truly do not know how to feel about this book. I know there are tons of people out there arguing about whether this glorifies toxic masculinity or is the best book/movie ever (by *cough* cishet able-bodied white men who somehow got the idea that society wasn't specifically built for and around them *cough*); very obviously, I don't agree with that second statement, though this story has the elements of taking itself seriously and, at the same time, parodying itself. "Fight Club" really reminds me of the song 'Two Trucks" in this way: what is more masculine than explosions, lack of individuality, senseless violence, hating women, and having literal balls? All of that crammed together into a single can, that's what. For sure, it's a ridiculous story (filled with some great chemistry lessons, I might add), but it's a bit too sobering to know how many white men don't realize this. That is, even if Palahniuk IS poking fun at these types of people, how effective can that message be if no one's reading between the lines?

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melanieg123's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative mysterious reflective tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Love this book, definitely a top 3 pick

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christina_huseth's review against another edition

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adventurous dark reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Split Personality meets cult leader of a regime army that follows a bunch of rules. Can’t really talk about it though, because of the first rule.

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gniu's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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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whentheresteeth's review against another edition

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dark reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5


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