Fight Club
by Chuck Palahniuk · first published 1996
17% recommend83% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Fast-paced, darkly comic novel with a punchy, stylish voice that makes it a quick, gratifying read. It pairs well with other cult favorites for fans of edgy, provocative fiction.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
A man who struggles with insomnia meets a colorful extremist, and they create a secret organization together. Chuck Palahniuk showed himself to be his generation’s most visionary satirist in this, his first book. Fight Club’s estranged narrator leaves his lackluster job when he comes under the thrall of Tyler Durden, an enigmatic young man who holds secret after-hours boxing matches in the basement of bars. There, two men fight "as long as they have to." This is a gloriously original work that exposes the darkness at the core of our modern world.
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Atlas Shrugged is one of those books that is often life-changing. Whether that is positive or not depends wildly upon the reader and their situation. Other books I'd put in that category are Fight Club and Walden
on “Ask HN: Books on specific topics that have applied to many areas of your life?” ↗Peacocking is more due to over-reading Neil Street's The Game than anything else. If you're going to base your ideal of masculinity on a book then Fight Club is a better choice...
on “They are known as the grass-eaters: Japan's Generation XX” ↗Altruism - Mathieu Ricard Search Inside Yourself - Chade-Meng Tan Bible - several authors Siddhartha - Hermann Hesse Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk Eléments de Philosophie Angélique - Denis Marquet (french) Au coeur de l'instant - Jean Bouchart d'Orval (french)
on “Ask HN: What are the books that changed the perspective of your life?” ↗…Moon How to Win Friends and Influence People Life of Pi Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance. The Little Prince Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? / Purple Cow Coders at Work / Founders at Work Fight Club
on “Ask HN: Inspirational Books” ↗* Anything by Cortázar. * Trainspotting, * Fight Club * Anything by Carl Sagan, specially Contact * Lord of the Rings * The Hobbit * And finally: Anything by Michael Ende: The Neverending Story, Momo (one of my faves).
on “Ask HN: What are your favorite books? I'm bored” ↗Neuromancer - I just love how it makes me feel. The dystopia feels relatable and I find the writing lyrical. Fight Club - I love the pace and the style. It's a dopamine hit to read it.
on “Ask HN: What book have you re-read 3x or more?” ↗…insinuation of elitism. > My response would be "So?" My underlying point is that supporting or apologizing for a group whose raison d'être is to fill the void in its members' lives a la Project Mayhem of Fight Club is wrong. But of course that point is predicated on the reader's belief that that sort of motivation is bankrupt (morally and intellectually). I was just pointing it out. If by 'tossing out' Anonymous…
on “The Pirate Bay denounces Anonymous attacks on Virgin” ↗> If the author and book had any valid insight, then of course young men would identify with the "bad" lifestyle in the movie Nicely put. I don't really understand how the negative ending of Fight Club is supposed to stop people from identifying with it; it's not as though it shows another happier path people with the same sentiments ought to endorse. "If you feel this way and commit to it completely,…
on “Fake it till you make it: the wolves of Instagram” ↗…like the greatest place anyone would ever want to work. Having enough money to bet $10 million on one hand, talking shit about Equities in Dallas, and of course, becoming known as a Big Swinging Dick. Fight Club is a bit more subtle, it doesn't really renounce (or endorse) anything, but its main character is (spoiler) obviously seriously mentally ill with two entirely distinct personas.
on “A Midcentury Bender: Revisiting Mad Men” ↗Your daughter did the right thing. I pray they didn't manage to squash her behaviour for good. I remember doing the same as her much later in school. I was reading Fight Club and had it in my bag. We had these sessions where we'd watch a pointless bullshit video for an hour about some common sense topic like "other people have different religions" or "don't stick your fingers…
on “Book people think they know why 9-year-olds stop reading for fun” ↗…Adjustment Bureau, or Everything Everywhere All at Once - with a few shades of Severance I like these themes about the seeming absurdness and banal transcendence of capitalist systems and work today. Fight Club also echoes.
on “So Long and Thanks for All the Words: A Toast to Douglas Adams” ↗It's a quote from the book, Fight Club, by Chuck Palahniuk.
on “I quit my programmer job to become a chicken” ↗That's a lot of money to ask. Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club got bought for $6000. Just sayin'.
on “Eloquent JavaScript, Second Edition” ↗…and meat are forbidden). There is no heat, even though it can be very cold on the mountain, and the monks wear sandals and cotton robes. I often wondered where Chuck Palahniuk got some of his ideas for Fight Club
on “A Buddhist monk confronts Japan’s suicide culture (2013)” ↗“The things you own end up owning you. It's only after you lose everything that you're free to do anything.” ― Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club
on “The Things We Carry” ↗