EDITOR’S NOTE: With the release of FIGHT CLUB 3 earlier this week, it seems appropriate to go back and re-read the FIGHT CLUB 2 issues. I have no idea where the story will go in this new series, but I’m sure it will be creative and twisted.
FIGHT CLUB 2 (Dark Horse Books, June 2016) Hardcover, Omnibus of Fight Club 2 Issues #1-10, 256 pages. Chuck Palahniuk, writer. Cameron Stewart, artist. David Mack, cover illustrations. ISBN # 1616559454 /9781616559458.Nominated for Will Eisner Comic Industry Award for Best Cover Artist (for multiple covers) for David Mack 2017.
Summary from the Goodreads website . . . .
Some imaginary friends never go away . . .
Ten years after starting Project Mayhem, he lives a mundane life. A kid, a wife. Pills to keep his destiny at bay. But it won’t last long—the wife has seen to that. He’s back where he started, but this go-round he’s got more at stake than his own life. The time has arrived . . .
My review on the Goodreads website . . . . .
The number of one-star and two-star negative reviews of FIGHT CLUB 2 on Goodreads greatly outnumber the amount of positive four-star and five-star reviews. Plus, there are hardly any three-star reviews which indicate that a work is just okay, but nothing special. It’s a case of either hating or loving FIGHT CLUB 2. Not many are in the middle on this one.
I loved many parts of this, was confused often, and hated other parts. However, when it comes to Chuck Palahniuk’s works - - that’s not so unusual for me.
I think of him as a modern-day James Joyce, specifically in comparison to Ulysses. However, I do not consider Palahniuk as someone who writes in the same way that Joyce did.
Joyce employed the now-famous stream of consciousness technique in Ulysses. It required extra effort on the part of readers to follow the story and comprehend or identify the underlying themes. I really struggled with Ulysses during college.
That’s how they are similar. Readers have to work hard to follow Palahniuk’s stories and comprehend or identify the underlying themes. Just when you think you may have figured it out, Palahniuk will turn in a different direction, creating reader confusion. I think that is on purpose. His works are intentionally disturbing, in more ways than one. He has referred to his style as “transgressional fiction”.
I think of it more as “stream of unconsciousness” writing. There are late night moments in the stage between dozing off and reaching the sleep state where the line between reality and fantasy gets blurred. It’s a state I often reach when reading Palahniuk.
I never read anything by him until after I saw the Fight Club movie, which I enjoyed for its’ quirkiness, highly unusual characters, and the twist ending. Those are the same things I enjoy with his writing. Highly creative in his concepts and execution, he’s also a brilliant observer/reporter. There is so much satiric commentary in his works, and modern day institutions and societal norms are the main targets.
There is structured anarchy on the printed page.
On the flip side, he does have a tendency to reach over the top and blur reader understanding by doing so. The best proof of that is his collection of stories - - Make Something Up: Stories You Can’t Read. He doesn’t always finish a story in a conclusive and/or satisfactory way. That is certainly the case with Fight Club 2.
I was engaged in the beginning of Fight Club 2, felt that I had a good comprehension of what was going on, and liked the extra layers of subplot and characterization that Palahniuk mixed in - - up until the middle of this ten-issue series when things became really weird before catapulting over the top. The conclusive final tenth issue disappoints because it ends in finality, and then reverses itself and throws out contradictory alternate endings before the last page.
Had I stopped reading around Issue #6, I would probably have given this a higher rating. But who puts a book down mid-way through? Most of us will muddle on to the end after making an investment of our time. So, I give this a three-star rating. Neither love nor hate. It’s lonely in the middle.
Suffice to say, there are enough entertaining and amusing moments as well as some extremely clever situations to keep the attention of those who want to tackle this. Just don’t expect to walk away when it’s over with a feeling of complete comprehension.
Even author Chuck Palahniuk inserts himself in the story, as the head of a writer’s panel trying to figure out a way to end the story and not disappoint the fans. Seems like even he was confused and unsure. After the first explosive ending in Issue #10, a lynch mob of angry fans appears at his doorstop. Ha.
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