Fight club easy read?

In many ways, Fight Club could be considered an "easy read", but with the complexity of time and comparisons create a complex outlook. From the beginning, the vocabulary seems simple, and the words flow with little extra thought. But as I read I continue to struggle with the different time shifts. Especially in the beginning of the book, I was struggling to understand the context. But as I read on, I began to understand the quick time transitions in the book.

Fight Club and Old School Similarities

Fight club and Old School similarities
 F.C- I want to explode my appartment, everything that keeps me from what I could be.
 Old School- Main character puts on a facade at his all boys prep school with super high expectations. He keeps secret that he's Jewish because Jewish boys were allienated, there are unspoken social rules.

Moral vs. Survival

In the Road, by Cormac McCarthy, people have turned to cannibalism to survive. This is a common theme that is presented, but the main characters refuse to follow this trend. They claim to be the "good guys," and while there are other principals involved, how would you deal with this? Would you become a cannibal and resort to such horrific things?

Community in Oscar Wao

I am reading the book "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao," the story on the life of a young, nerdy and socially inept Dominican immigrant, Oscar Wao, who has moved to the United States and is now living in a poor, hispanic neighborhood in New Jersey, and trying to integrate into American culture. One central theme in my book that I would like to discuss is community. The idea of a community, and those in your community is a huge social factor in the lives of Oscar and his family. Part of the reason is because of his Dominican heritage. In the Dominican Republic, barrios (aka close-nit neighborhoods) had to stick together to support one another financially, as well as protect from outside threats like gangs, drugs and the Trujillo regime (he was an evil, cruel dictator who ruled the Dominican Republic for much of the 20th century). Oscar lives in New Jersey now, but he is still essentially living in a barrio-the residents are almost all other poor Dominicans who look out for each other. But something that is interesting and unique about my book is that for Oscar, his community is a stifling, negative influence on his life. Usually, we read about strong communities that stick together to benefit one another. But that is not the case in this book. The amount of outside involvement in Oscar's life is a major detriment. Oscar and his sister are being raised by a single mother, who is hardworking but crazy and often physically abusive. His sister rebels from a young age, and goes through periods of being goth and emo, and starts drinking, doing drugs and dating much older men from a young age. These combined with the fact that Oscar is extremely shy, overweight and socially inept, a stigma against Oscar is soon established in the community, and so far in my reading Oscar has been unable to overcome it. Does anybody else have books in which community is a major theme? And if so, is it the typical, strong and supportive community, or something else?

What's the Deal with the Lack of Punctuation

As I began reading The Road, I was taken aback by the lack of punctuation. I've never read a book that had a blatant disregard for basic grammatical rules. It must be a contemporary thing, I thought. Because every bizarre thing must be a contemporary thing. So I decided to research it.


The first thing I typed into my browser was "lack of punctuation in contemporary literature." What I learned is that this technique has been going on for quite a while. I came across a list of the top authors who didn't use punctuation. Cormac McCarthy sat at spot number three, alongside contemporary authors, such as Junot Diaz, and classic authors such as James Joyce.


So it's not exclusively a contemporary style of writing. But why would anyone ever write without commas, or semicolons, or QUOTATION MARKS. Personally, I think that they are a helpful tool.



Cormac McCarthy thinks differently. In an interview with Oprah, he called quotation marks, "weird little marks," (sorry had to use them there, Cormac), “I believe in periods, in capitals, in the occasional comma, and that’s it,” McCarthy told Oprah. “I mean, if you write properly you shouldn’t have to punctuate.”


Although I do appreciate McCarthy's minimalistic views, I can't help but yearn for some quotation marks every now and then. Conversations are like a puzzle; the reader is forced piece together who's talking based on character traits, and then pray that the characters are just trading off lines. 


Occasionally, however, I appreciate his lack of quotation marks. Cormac has huge masses of conversation in The Road and if there was punctuation, the page would be clumped, crowded, and frustrating to read. He frees the page from the repetitive "he said," "and then he said," "one he said this, he said this." On page 10 of The Road the man and his son are talking:


Can I ask you something? He said. 

Yes. Of course. 

Are we going to die? 

Sometime. Not now. 

And we're still going south? 

Yes. So we'll be warm? 

Yes. 

Okay. 

Okay what? 

Nothing. Just okay. 

Go to sleep. 

Okay.



To everyone reading a novel without punctuation-- what do you think that the story gains by leaving out these, "weird little marks?" Does it make the page look cleaner, prettier, more enjoyable?

Masculinity in Fight Club

Much of Fight Club revolves around the role of men in this society and their conquest to find their identity. With the development of the first fight club by the narrator and his friend Tyler Durden, men from around the city join to take out their anger, come face to face with fear and pain, and learn to overcome even their largest of problems becoming a "man." Many reviews of this book boil down to men simply fighting to feel power and strength within them, as well as a somewhat facetious view of men, and what is takes to be a "man," in modern society. This book does not seem like a story that a openly homosexual author would write, which leads to further questions in this theme through the book.  Even looking over the character list of the book will show you that there are only 1-2 female characters. As I read the book, I notice more and more that these woman are viewed in a  negative light and even made to look crazy.

In my book of short stories, Girl With Curious Hair by David Foster Wallace, I found that the stories discuss many controversial topic, such as drugs use, sexuality, alcoholism, self harm, depression and forbidden love, much of which I believe is a reflection of Wallace's own life. At first glance, his stories don't seem to have a deep profound meaning; they function more as stories that simply discuss things that happen. But the events that are happening in these stories are told in such great detail and with such beautiful language that that is where the "profound meaning" lays.

Often times the stories are ended abruptly or in a place where a new story could start. Just when you think there may be a solution to the character's problem or an answer to a question, Wallace ends the story. I think this is a product of Wallace's troubled psyche and long struggle with depression. However, in his writing, Wallace stresses the importance of living well for yourself but not at the expense of others' happiness. These themes have been true throughout the stories I've read so far and I'm eager to see if the hold true throughout the entire book.

Cultural expectations in Contemporary Literature

I'm reading several short stories, and in many of them, characters are struggling with cultural expectations, and end up overcoming them. The first short story I read was "Little Expressionless Animals", which is about a contestant on "Jeopardy". The story centers on a lesbian couple. Partway through the story, the discussion comes up what to tell people when they ask why they are lesbian.

"You anticipate a whole lot of people questioning you about your sexuality?" Julie asks. "or are there particular people you're worried about?"

The story was written in 1988, when other sexualities were not nearly as accepted as they are now. The two characters don't even hide their relationship. They, in effect, are defying social expectations by their actions. There's more of this in Wallace's writing. For example, in "Girl With Curious Hair", a young lawyer is at a classical music concert with his friends. Seems normal, right? Well, his friends are a) high on LSD b) one of the girls has a hairdo in the shape of men's genitalia, and c) the "friends" are punks.

Mr. Wonderful and Big and Gimlet had all taken a large amount of Big's LSD, which is a special kind he manufactures for concerts and is free of amphetamines which might make a fellow fidget, and Grope and Cheese had taken LSD also, therefore they were all under the influence of LSD, which made them super amounts of fun to be with.

Obviously, this group of people is breaking all kinds of societal/cultural expectations. Enough said.
In short, Wallace frequently writes about breaking cultural norms. Wondering if this is a recurring theme in Contemporary Literature.

Identity

My book is entitled, Old School, by Tobias Wolff. In his senior year at a preparatory school, the main character takes part in a competition in which the seniors submit a piece of writing to an author/writer visiting the school. The winner is granted a private interview with this writer. During this time, the main character struggles to find his identity, struggles to advance himself, and tries to fit in. Eventually what happens is that the main character plagiarizes a piece of writing and submits it. When the school finds out about this later, he is expelled from the school, his admission to Columbia University is retracted, and in general he receives a bad name. Throughout this story, this main character attempts to find his identity through writing after this situation. I am really enjoying this book right now because the plot is more straightforward than that of other books I have read. In addition, it moves along at a nice pace, leaving you very satisfied.

Brutality

Reading a book as vulgar and as gruesomely detailed as Fight Club has became very interesting. I have never read a book with such detail as this one. " (One fighter) got both my arms behind my head in a full nelson and rammed my face into the concrete floor until my teeth bit open the inside of my cheek and my eye was swollen shut and was bleeding, and after I said, stop, I could look down and there was a print of half my face in blood on the floor." This quote was also used in Nabeel's blog about the explicit and intense sentences. I believe this represents my opinion very well. 

Before I read my novel, Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk, I thought it would be explicit and more intense than many of the novels I have read but it has greatly exceeded my expectations. I believe others are feel this about there novels.

This is a excerpt from the Fight Club to give you a taste.
"Last week, I tapped a guy and he and I got on the list for a fight. This guy must've had a bad week, got both my arms behind my head in a full nelson and rammed my face into the concrete floor until my teeth bit open the inside of my cheek and my eye was swollen shut and was bleeding, and after I said, stop, I could look down and there was a print of half my face in blood on the floor.
Tyler stood next to me, both of us looking down at the big O of my mouth with blood all around it and the little slit of my eye staring up at us from the floor, and Tyler says, "Cool.""

In The Perks of being a Wallflower, the main character Charlie struggles with PSTD, anxiety, and depression all from horrid past experiences. These past experiences include being molested, abused, and his best friend taking his own life. These disorders have had strong affects on his self worth, social skills, and high school experience all together. Charlie continued to struggle with these disorders throughout the whole book, and in essence his high school career unknowingly. He knows he is sad, and has "episodes" but doesn't truly understand why yet. "Have you ever done that? You feel really bad, and then it goes away, and you don't know why." (103) Charlie struggles with this continuously, and his two friends Sam and Patrick have played a huge positive role in this whole situation.

Influence of People Around You

In Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky, the main character Charlie's life was turned around simply by the people he surrounded himself with. Not only is this something that happens to us in life everyday, but also is often overlooked. Charlie, entering high school, was lonely, depressed, innocent, and overall emotionally unstable. He found that the people he used to call his friends had changed dramatically, leaving him, alone, with seemingly no one there for him. When he met two seniors Sam and Patrick, he instantly became attached. For so long there was little joy in Charlie's life, but with Sam and Patrick he could finally feel accepted and loved. Not to mention he could make some of the best memories of his life. "Sam sat down and started laughing. Patrick started laughing. I started laughing. And in that moment I swear we were infinite" (39). When Charlie is around Sam, a girl who he thinks could not be more amazing, and Patrick, a guy who acts like he has not a care in the world, he can escape to another world and forget about all the worries that surround him.

Really enjoying this book. It's cool to hear how teenagers from back in 60's were speaking, especially these boys who were obsessed with writing and english. It's fun to see the same things kids struggle with today from their eyes.

The Topic of Religion in Our Books

Although my book is not about religion, the topic of religion is consistently being brought up. Religion is first brought up when the main character was whistling an old Nazi song, when a boy from France overheard and was offended. Later the main character struggles to relate with his roommate who is Jewish. The main character's father was Jewish and struggles with deciding if he should tell his roommate that he shares a common religion or if he would not mention it. This situation takes place on page 72, "Because of this association, when Bill flashed the word I became instantly conscious of his Jewishness, and all more so because he kept to himself... He knew I'd caught on to his Jewishness, but he wasn't aware of mine, such as it was." This passage sums up the issue of religion as a sub plot in the book Old School.

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