A Discussion of Fight Club

For the purposes of this exercise, I attended a book reading and presentation by Chuck Palahniuk. Palahniuk is the author of the book Fight Club, which was turned into a major motion picture starring Brad Pitt and Edward Norton. Palahniuk was promoting his recently published book Diary. Diary is a horror novel that examines the life of Misty Tracy Wilmot, whose life spirals out of control when her husband is left in a coma after a suicide attempt.

Palahniuk's reading took place in a medium-sized auditorium that was filled to capacity. After a brief introduction of the author, Palahniuk stepped up to the podium and provided a reading from his new novel. He warned the audience that the reading would be graphic and explicit in nature. True to his word, Palahniuk's reading was quite graphic in nature. After completing his reading, he complimented the audience, noting that at many of his other readings audience members left as a result of the graphic nature of his novel. Personally, I found that reading had piqued my curiosity. I subsequently went out and bought the book. (I guess that is the point, however).

After Palahniuk finished a 20 minute reading of his new novel, he opened up the floor to questions and answers. This was probably the most annoying part of the evening. While one would expect that individuals attending such an event would be able to carry on an educated discussion with the author, this simply was not the case. Many of the audience members wanted to know if Palahniuk had met Brad Pitt or if he made a lot of money from the movie. Palahniuk appeared to be quite distressed with these questions as well. At one point he made a blanket statement that indicated that he had no contact with the production of the film. He signed over the rights of the book to the film studio and had nothing to do with the development of "Fight Club" the movie.

Despite the fact that some of the audience members asked irrelevant questions, some were more thoughtful in their questions. Palahniuk revealed that he worked as a contractor until his writing career took off. He also noted that it was not until he sold the rights to Fight Club that he as able to quit his job and write full time. His message to the audience was one of inspiration. Palahniuk told the audience that they should follow their dreams, regardless of how difficult the process is.

At the end of the reading, Palahniuk provided autographs for those who were interested. I got him to autograph my copy of Lullaby. When I spoke with him he told me that his publisher made him bring his own pens to his book signings. He also told me that he never listened to the rules for sending his manuscript to a publisher. "If they ask for three chapters, send them the whole thing." That was Palahniuk's advice.

Tickets for this event cost $7 and were worth every penny. Although the audience appeared to consist mostly of college students, there were a number of older adults in the audience who appeared to have a keen interest in Palahniuk's work. Although I was distracted by the number of questions that audience members asked about Palahniuk's role in making the "Fight Club" movie, it was both inspiring and entertaining to meet an author that I admire so much. Palahniuk did a wonderful job of both reading his new novel and answering questions from the audience.

The physical location of the event appeared to be adequate. Interestingly however, Palahniuk noted that on his first book tour, less than 20 people showed up at his readings. As such, Palahniuk seemed humbled by the fact that so many people had turned out for his reading. He sincerely thanked the audience for their support and for their continued patronage of his work.