A Foray into Fight Club

I recently finished Fight Club, by Chuck Palahniuk (that's a rough one to spell correctly). And when I say I finished it, I mean I spent about the last four months intermittently reading it and then putting it down because I wasn't a big fan of the plot line or the content, or I just wasn't hooked enough.

When I first started Fight Club, I knew just a few things about it. I knew that a movie adaptation of the novel was fairly popular, which I hadn't seen and probably never would, and I knew the first two rules of fight club. The first rule of fight club is you don't talk about fight club. The second rule of fight club is you don't talk about fight club.

So with that, I dove in. I won't summarize Fight Club, because Goodreads can do a much better job of that, and out of fear of spoiling the ending for anyone. (That being said, always be careful of reading book reviews on forums like Goodreads and Amazon if you don't want the ending spoiled for you.) If you haven't seen the movie yet, read the book first. I'm not always a big stickler when it comes to books before movies - I don't really believe that a movie can ruin a book or vice versa - but in this case, do the original work a favor and experience it the way it was intended to be experienced. This book has plot twists galore, and there's nothing more fun than hypothesizing about what you think will happen, or having your jaw drop while you're reading the last fifty pages. (I correctly predicted the biggest plot twist and was awfully proud of myself.)

So after all this, what did I actually think of Fight Club? I'm still not really sure. I gave it three out of five stars on Goodreads (check out my profile here). I didn't necessarily dislike it, but I wasn't crazy about it either, mostly because it simply isn't my usually preferred genre for reading. (I'll be honest, I'm a bit of a Jane Austen girl - give me some romance and a bit of tasteful drama, and I'm in love.) But one of the best and most useful measures of a good book, whether or not it's your favorite genre or if you don't like the content, is if you're still thinking about it a few days, weeks, and months, after you've read it. If you forget about a book after you read the last page and put it down, then it wasn't a good book. And in the case of Fight Club, I'm still thinking about it.

Who Am I?

Good question. (Hint: I don't really have a good answer.)

But here's as much of an answer as I do have -

I am a nineteen and a half year old girl born and raised in Orange, California. Since I graduated from high school a year ago I have been trying to Figure Out My Life, which involved a bit of travel, a bit of school, and quite a lot of procrastination (I'm not proud of it). I attend Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.

I am blessed to be the baby of my family, with an older brother at twenty-four and an older sister at twenty-two.

I'm a vegetarian.

When I was eight years old, I walked up to my mother and said, "Mom, I'm going to be an author!" Almost twelve years later, that goal is the one thing in my life that has never changed, although I did expand "author" to "writer." One of my favorite things is when people ask me what I want to write, and my answer is always, "Um, everything?" Fiction, poetry, non-fiction, drama - I want to write everything.

I am one hundred percent obsessed with New York City, and was lucky enough to spend a month there last summer. I miss the city every day, and can't wait until I get to live there permanently.

After that trip, I spent two months in Ecuador, volunteering in a kindergarten on the Galapagos Islands. That was one of the best decisions I've ever made.

And now I'm just a college girl trying not to be overwhelmed by stress and responsibilities and Being an Adult.

The rest is as much a mystery to me as it is to you.

Until later,

Z