One of the most interesting things about fight club is that it is all about uneventfulness. All of the characters we read about are bored with their lives and I think that this is one of the most creative plot devices ever used. You start off with your unnamed protagonist who has insomnia and does not know what to do with himself. The same goes for his best friend who travels around the country to project movies. It is a twist of events that ends up with them in a bar. They fight because they feel like they have not experienced anything or as they say in the book “I just don’t want to die without a few scars.” It is inventive because I think there are millions of people out there who are just bored with their lives or have issues without a way to work them out. I personally get bored with life sometimes, but I usually spend that time playing video games and watching movies.
On the topic of movies, there are lots of them that are about people just being bored so they go do something outside of their comfort zone. One of the first that comes to mind is Bill Murray and Harold Ramis in Stripes. This movie draws so many parallels to the basic premise of this book. It starts with two friends who are bored with life, but instead of starting a fight club they join the army. Another movie/book with the same idea is Get Shorty. John Travolta plays a mob enforcer who gets bored, so he goes to Hollywood to make movies. I think the reason this appeals to consumers is that we like the idea of being able to change our lives on a whim. Fight Club does an amazing job illustrating the underlying thoughts of people especially those with a bit of an existential crisis.
Will's opinion on books 