My Boyfriend’s Book Club (vol. 2 – Fight Club)

Welcome back to MBfBC, I told myself that I would do a blog post a week this month BUT life has been happening and I simply do not have time to write blog posts in my spare time without giving up my Netflix addiction. But, never fear, the book club is still going strong!

This month was my pick! I chose Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk (10 points if you can properly pronounce his last name) because it’s been sitting on my shelf forever, it’s short, and it turns out that neither of us had seen the movie. Additionally, the stars aligned, and Flix Brewhouse was screening the film at the end of month. So, without further ado… Congratulations! You are now the recipient of a book review and a three sentence movie review from something that happened almost 20 years ago and you could easily Google!

Published: 1996        Pages: 208        Genre: what in the world is happening?!? (Satirical Novel)

Food: Bone-in chicken, we wanted something primal.

Drink: Whiskey and ginger

Why This?!: Shae’s pick – I’m selfish and am tired of looking at it on the shelf. Plus the cover has a recommendation from Bret Easton Ellis and American Psycho is one of my favorite books.

Shae’s Short Summary: This guy’s apartment blows up, he can’t sleep, he goes to support groups, he meets Marla. Same guy meets a dude name Tyler Durden, they make soap and fight each other. WHAT IS HAPPENING?! I can’t keep up! This book is stupid…OMG it all makes sense now! The narrator and Tyler are the same person, duh! (That was literally my thought process during the book.)

Will’s Thoughts     Shae’s Thoughts

Favorite Part of the Book: When the narrator holds up the convenience store worker and you think the whole time he is going to have to kill him but instead he gives him six weeks to get on track to be a vet. Chapter 18, when you learn about the dual personality…whoa! Or am I just dumb? And when his boss finds his stuff on the copier, that was fun.

Favorite Character: Tyler, he was a terrorist and philosopher. Narrator,  he seemed like the most normal one until you realized he was the whole reason so much weird was happening.

I didn’t like…: Marla as a plot device, she wasn’t a character. When Tyler was out of control with Project Mayhem and the soap, it made me uncomfortable.

Would you recommend this book? Yes. Yes, and I’d even recommend that they read the afterword by Chuck Palahniuk first because it gives a lot of fun, context to how the story came about. 

Real Talk: Entering into this book all I knew about Fight Club is that you don’t talk about it. I know, basic. You learn in Palahniuk’s afterword that the book originated from a short story that later became a chapter within the novel. He had recently been in fist fight over summer vacation and was bored at work, on top of that he was tired of seeing novels in bookstores that aimed to women within society so, he created Fight Club. The plot is driven by the narrator’s inability to sleep, which leads to  Marla, frustration, fear, and, ultimately, fighting. Fighting is something I’ve never done, although I was punched in a basketball game once (video on my Instagram: @seagraves22) but Fight Club is built upon the ability to release the frustration and fear people are feeling. Overall, this book feels like you’re in a 200 page fever dream; it’s dark and twisted, it messes with your mind, but it’s honest. The idea of creating fight club stems out of something very real, two people looking for release.

“I want you to do me a favor. I want you to hit me as hard as you can.” 

Now I don’t suggest that everyone who needs to find themselves and do some self-exploration goes around starting fight clubs and creating havoc around the town like Tyler does with Project Mayhem. But Fight Club hits strongly on destruction – people want to destroy what haunts them now, to find what is creating their inner turmoil and just pummel it. It’s the basic concept that sometimes, people need to break themselves down in order to find out who they are.

3 Sentences on the movie: I’m so happy they were able to use Marla’s character better than the book could convey her, after all, fight club began because of her. Reading the book helped me take so much more from a first watch of the movie, picking up on how others don’t look at Tyler and better understanding the relationship with Marla. Such a good film, despite Brad Pitt’s clothing.

Rating:  4.5/5

Next Read: Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

My Boyfriend’s Book Club (vol. 1 – For Whom The Bell Tolls)

Welcome to the first installment of My Boyfriend’s Book Club!

This month we took a stab at the classic For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway. Let me start by saying that this all began as a way for me to manipulate Will to start reading more books while selfishly being able to expand on the types of books I read. Plus, reading rocks! 

Here’s how this whole thing works:

• We alternate book selections and agree on a date to have it read…then change that date 2-3 times based on schedules
• Once we both finally finish the book, we set up a date to discuss it…then change that date 2-3 times because we decided to watch wrestling or New Girl or something instead
• To help keep discussions guided, we eat a themed-ish meal while we answer four extremely simple questions about the book
• A new book is selected for the following MBfBC (and will now stay around 300 pages based on our first attempt)
• I will write a blog post about the experience with a short plot summary, review of our questions, and summary of thoughts. I cross my fingers and hope this is somewhat exciting and help people decide if they want to read the book or not, or even better want to discuss their opinions of the novel!

Published: Oct. 1940     Pages: 480     Genre: War novel

****76 year old spoilers occur beyond this point **** 

Food: BBQ Chicken Enchiladas – because nothing else says Spain more than a Tex-Mex classic – and a chocolate rabbit.

Drink: Spanish Wine

Why this?!: Will’s pick. He loves Old Man and the Sea and I was pretty excited because I really enjoyed A Farewell to Arms in high school.

Shae’s Short Summary: Somewhere in Spain the great Robert Jordan is told to blow up a bridge. Along his four day, 480 page journey, he meets a band of guerrilla fighters and the love of his life, Maria aka Little Rabbit  **barf**. Fights, long-winded stories, and  late night rendezvous’ ensue, I doze off about 75 times, and BOOM! Robert Jordan finally blows up the bridge and eventually dies – RIP.

Will’s Thoughts     Shae’s Thoughts

Favorite Part of the Book: The massacre of the Fascists. Robert’s first night in the cave when you meet Pilar and the fact that Hemingway uses the words like obscenity, muck, or manure instead of actually cursing. My favorite example of this is, “‘Of course not. Do not talk such manure,’ he said, using a stronger, ugly word.”

Favorite Character: Pilar! Anselmo. We guessed each others before sharing, how cute.

I didn’t like…: The rambling middle and how fast Maria fell for Robert Jordan. Pages 110-307. Blah, blah, blah…blow up the damn bridge already!

Would you recommend this book?: Yes, to the right person. Yes.* 

Real Talk: This book had its peaks and its deep, deep valleys. The first 100 pages had me pumped up for RJ, going on adventures and blowing up bridges…instead he was sitting in caves and being super creepy about Maria. I literally just Googled “how old is maria in for whom the bell tolls” and learned she is 19, Robert Jordan’s age is apparently unsearchable. I don’t know, maybe it’s because Maria has been through some tough manure in her life or maybe she just doesn’t give a muck anymore and thinks that RJ is cute, either way they fall in love obscenely quick. Also, what is it with him always being called Robert Jordan? It’s never shortened or abbreviated, I can’t decide if it’s annoying or just makes him seem cooler, because he is kind of a cool dude. I know that I give Robert Jordan a hard time, but all-in-all he is a good character; he’s reflective, fearless, and we watch him grow and change throughout his last four days alive. He is probably the type of man every guy aspired to be in the 1940’s: unflappable, capable, and someone even asked him to blow stuff up which is pretty sweet. But his character is only as strong as the ones around him, and RJ has some awesome help. Pablo, PILAR, Anselmo, and the list goes on. They depict the toughness it takes to survive hopeless odds and the scars that have been left behind. Throughout For Whom the Bell Tolls we meet characters who are deeply entrenched in the effects of war and are questioning their own values and morality as they recite their stories and come to terms with the acts they have already committed and witnessed. Despite all of these tragic events already being reality, they still decide to go along with this crazy white man’s plan to blow up some bridge and cause even more havoc. ¡Qué va! *Will and I both said that we would recommend this book to someone but it would have to be the right person. It’s safe to say that the major plot points weren’t necessarily exciting or fast paced enough for either of us, but overall this book is driven by the effects of war and it isn’t a light, afternoon read. So if you decide to start reading this novel, hang on to your hat because a steady, yet forceful, breeze is coming your way.

Rating: 

Next Read: Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

And that concludes Volume 1 of My Boyfriend’s Book Club. If you have read For Whom the Bell Tolls let me know your thoughts on the novel, if not let me know if you’re racing out to buy or check out a copy soon. In the meantime here’s a cute picture of my dog Oliver, his pal Lilly, and my great 1960’s library edition.