Final - Literary Heroes

The main character, Victor Mancini, is the perfect example of an anti-hero. An anti-hero is described as being someone who doesn't display any heroic qualities like being good, noble, and courageous. Mancini doesn't display any of those qualities, in fact he's seen as being bad and cowardly. Victor has a strange habit of choking himself at restaurants to make extra money and to make other people feel like a hero. This, however, makes him seem like a jerk and makes you not want to like him. Many things he does, he does purely for himself, and he doesn't take into consideration other people's feelings. The only time he begins to think about other people is when he goes to visit his mom in the nursing home and he runs into another senile old lady there. When she starts to accuse him of being her brother, the one who raped her, he takes the blame and apologizes for "his" actions. Some could say that he was doing this to be selfless and help an old woman get past something she's been hanging on to for years, but in reality he was probably just saying it to get her to leave him alone. When other people from the same nursing home begin coming up to him for the same reasons, he takes blame for everything and just apologizes for it all and helps all these older people get over things from their past, but it seems like he is just doing it so that they won't bug him anymore. The only reason he keeps his mom in this expensive extended care facility is so that she will stay alive long enough to tell him about his childhood, but her mind is going and she can't even remember who she is at most points.
He is a sex addict, so naturally he puts down women and treats them like objects. He is very focused on his next sexual endeavor and when it will be. One quote that truly describes how he feels is when he says "Painting a picture, composing an opera, that's just something you do until you find the next willing piece of ass." This really shows that he doesn't believe women are anything more than objects to be used for his sexual desires, and that all of what he does is just something to fill his time until he finds another woman. This really makes him easy to not like, and sets him up to be the antihero he is.
Victor is very unapologetic of his actions and that really sets him up to be an antihero. He doesn't seem to feel bad for any of the horrible things he does and never even tries to right any of the wrongs he does. Although he is in a group for sex addicts, he never seems to go to the meetings. He's stuck on the fourth step which is where he is supposed to write out a personal history. At the end, however, he seems to get over whatever it was that kept him from attending the meetings and getting help. The book is actually the story for his fourth step.
Victor Mancini is the perfect example of an antihero because he is very unlikable and he doesn't really do anything that would define him as being a hero, in fact he does the opposite and does things that would make you not enjoy him.
As I was reading this book, even though it was very difficult to like the main character, I really enjoyed this novel. Over all I would give it a B for being exciting and appealing to read, but only that because it is slightly difficult to understand and doesn't really focus on a main message.

Villains

Villains are interesting to us because we like to compare ourselves to them and think we are good. It's nice to see someone else fall, because it makes us not feel so bad when we do. To see someone as evil or worse than ourselves is a big confidence boost to ourselves. Having a villain also makes a book interesting because it gives it more of a thrilling and dangerous aspect. Villains help us realize that not everything is all shunshine and butterflies all the time and that there are bad people in the world. They make a book real to us, because we can relate it to our world because there are bad people in our world today. If there weren't any villains then there would be no drama and no action, and who wants to read a book without any of that? No one. And authors know that, so they write in villains.

Great Moments

One of my favorite scenes in this book so far is the very beginning scene. This boy and his mother are running away from the police in a stolen bus. They drive it to the edge of a cliff, where the mother has the boy stand in front of the headlights with his shirt off, back facing the cliff wall. He stands there wondering what she is doing, while she traces the outline of his shadow made by the headlights of the bus. The mother starts to tell a story about a beautiful girl in ancient Greece who was in love with a young man who was from another country, but he was forced to go back. The night before he had to go back, the girl bought a lamp and had it display her lover's shadow on the wall. She did this so she would always have a record of how he looked, a document of that moment, their last moment together. When the girl woke up the next day, her lover was gone, but his shadow still remained(Palahniuk 4).

Another great scene in the book is the first time the main character purposefully goes to choke on some food. Before he actually does any choking, he picks out his "target", or who he's going to aim to have save him. He describes how what he does created heroes out of people and makes them feel better about themselves. He says that he does it for that, but also for money. When people save you from choking, it makes them responsible for you. They start to send you money. But he goes into detail about the tracheotomy that someone has to preform in order to save someone from choking in a public place. It's a powerful moment in the book.

A great scene that I really enjoy was the one where the main character is talking to an old lady at his mother's retirement home. The lady believes that he is her older brother who abused her sexually as a kid. She keeps complaining to him, believing that he isn't sorry for what he did to her as a child. The main character decides to take blame for it, using the argument that "if Jesus died for my sins, I guess I could soak up a few for other people" (Palahniuk 61). He says one of the most memorable quotes at this time, "the martyrdom of Saint Me" (Palahniuk 61). He ends up telling the old woman that he did abuse her as a child, and when she questions his sorrow for it, he tells her in a very provocative way that he does feel very sorry for what "he" did. This is a great scene because you begin to see who the main character really is.

Top 5 List

My Top Favorite Chuck Palahniuk Books:

1. Fight Club:
• This book is about a man who is going through personal problems that cause him to not be able to sleep. He starts going to support groups to "see real pain", and they actually help him to let go of himself and cry, which helps him to sleep. He works for a car company dealing with recalls, which causes him to travel a lot. He leaves for one trip, and when he comes back his apartment has exploded and he needs somewhere to stay. This causes him to call a guy he had just met on a plane. After a few drinks and a good ol' bar fight, he moves in with the guy from the plane, who introduced himself as Tyler Durden. These men begin an underground fighting club, which eventually turns into Project Mayhem, another underground group that causes destruction and wreaks havoc.
• I like this book because it is expectly written in a way that keeps you reading and always wanting more. It is not only action packed, but also psychologically thrilling throughout the entire book.
• This is a great book to read if you liked any other of Chuck Palahniuk's books. If you like any other books like Silence of the Lambs, American Psycho, or A Clockwork Orange, then you will also like this book.
2. Rant:
• The main character of this book is addicted to getting bitten by venomous, like snakes, spiders, and scorpions. He has been since he was a kid, from when he first got bitten. When he moves away from his family house, he begins to live in a more dystopian society where there are two groups of people: Daytimers and Nighttimers, who all have to follow a strictly enforced curfew. The main character, Rant, falls into a group that calls themselves "Party Crashers". The individuals involved in this group go out and intentionally crash into the others' who participate's cars. Rant contracts rabies and goes around intentionally infecting people, causing an epidemic that shakes their world. The book is written in the way of an oral biography, where the story is built from things others have said.
• I enjoied this book because of the way it was written. Not many books are written in the form of an oral biography, and even though it was very confusing in the beginning you eventually get used to it. It is very confusing because it jumps from the past to the present, but it keeps you entertained and interested. The ending comes as a huge, shocking twist that you would never have been able to guess was coming.
• This is a book for anyone who is a fan of any of Palahniuk's other works, or is interested in reading a book that is written in an unusual form.
3. Lullaby:
• This book is written about the idea of a "culling song", which is basically a song that you can sing to anyone and cause them to die instantly. The main character, Carl Streator, is a journalist who is sent out to study SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome). While he is researching this phenomenon, he realizes that all the babies who have died that he's looked into have been read the same song from a children's book. When he finds out the powers this song holds, he decides to go on a trek to destroy every copy of it left in the world. While on this journey with three people he meets in a strange way, he becomes a low-key serial killer. He starts using the culling song to kill people who annoy him or even pester him in the slightest way. The three people who accompany him on the journey are not only looking to destroy the culling song, but are also looking for something called a grimoire, which adds a witchy and almost demonic edge to the story.
• I like this book because of the creepy turns it takes. It starts off with an ordinary man, who begins to kill people with a common nursery rhyme, then takes off on a cross-country journey with three people he barely knows.
• Again, if you enjoy any of Palahniuk's work, you will enjoy this read as well. It's also a good read for anyone who likes the darker side of the genre spectrum, those creepy books about witchcraft and demonic workings of the world.
4. Invisible Monsters:
• The plot of this book is very unique, as most of Palahniuk's are. It is written in a non-linear way that just jumps around a lot. It's told by a narrator that never really gives us her realy name. She goes by many nicknames that are given to her by the infamous Brandy Alexander. The two met at a hospital, where the main character was admitted for a disfiguring shotgun blast to the face. Brandy is at the hospital undergoing the very tedious sex change operation. Brandy takes the main character under her wing and begins to show her how to live life to its fullest. The main character's jaw was blown off by the shotgun blast, so she can't talk and rarely every shows her face. Throughout the book you are left wondering how everything really ties together, and who in the world shot the narrator.
• I really enjoied this book because of all of the major twists and turns that are revealed to you. There are so many unexpected turns in this book, that you're left with that "whoa" feeling after you've finished it. It completely blows your mind with all of the major shocks it throws in your face.
• This book can't really be put in a category, it's completely original. So if you liked reading any of Chuck's other books, you'll enjoy it.
5. Diary:
• This is a very interestly written book. It is written in the form of a "coma diary", which is a different take on the journals that sailors used to write to their loved ones back home while they are away. It is written from the perspective of Misty Wilmot, who is writing it for her comatose husband who is in the hospital after a failed suicide attempt. Misty and her now husband, Peter, met at art school. They married soon after, and moved back to his hometown, which is actually Waytansea Island. Misty begins to find very strange signs around the island that are warning her to "leave before it's too late". The island slowly begins to be taken over by tourists, which leads Misty to become a lowly waitress. You begin to find out that before Peter tried to off himself, he was sealing off rooms inside of houses he renovated and writing really cruel things on their walls. You begin to piece things together, but only as more questions are popping up. You don't get the real answers until the very end, and even then there are many things left unknown.
• I liked this book because of the unique way it was written, and because of the literary techniques Palahniuk used. I like that it was written as a coma diary, so Misty was writing about herself in third person, and would sometimes say things like "... Peter's old jewelry. Your old jewelry," which just reminded you that it was written for her dying husband. And she would say how she was feeling in the way of a forecast: "the weather today is slightly sarcastic with a chance of jealousy".
• This is a great book for anyone who loves cliffhangers, or unresolved questions. It's also good for any other fellow Palahniuk lovers. 

Book Genres

My second book, Fight Club, fits into the genre of Thriller, and it fits perfectly into the subgenre of Psychological Thriller. I believe this because it's very thrilling with how much violence, fighting, and mystery actually goes on. It's also psychological, though, because the main character is fighting with a character that is in his head the whole time. It's very much a mind game, and in the end it leaves you with that "whoa." feeling of being tricked. It doesn't completely fit into this category, however, because when I think of thrillers I always tend to think of a murder or a kidnapping, or just a story that needs to be solved. There is nothing really driving this plot line for the beginning part of the book, and it's just detailing these weird things that happen to this odd man, so it doesn't feel too much like a thriller. When he starts to question who Tyler Durden is, however, it starts to feel more like a thriller with something that you need to figure out. You begin to think back to everything he has ever said about Tyler and wonder who exactly he is. You start to question what exactly the narrator meant when he said things like "I know this because Tyler knows this" and why Tyler told the narrator never to talk to Marla about him. It begins to drive you slightly crazy wondering about what exactly was going on and who everyone is. But being driven this crazy is a good thing because it fuels your desire to keep reading. It makes you read faster, but also closer, trying to pick up all the little details you can to try to figure it out. You begin to get an idea of what's happening, but you're still driven to keep reading father into the book. Once you get to the end and the author reveals everything, all the little details, the madness that was actually going on the whole time, even though it's exactly what you thought it was, you're still blown away.

Genre Study

I feel like placing books into genres is helpful and hurtful. Putting a book into a genre is going to get people who like that one genre to notice it and maybe read it, but people who don't like or don't often read that type of book might completely pass it up even if they might have enjoyed it. When you put a label on a book, you're just putting it in one category, even if you could possibly fit into more than one. You are squeezing it to fit into just one category, when most books don't even completely fit into one category. But putting books into genres does help people who liked one book find other books that are like it.
My favorite genre to read is mystery or thriller, because they leave you on the edge of your seat and keep you reading. You feel like you have to keep reading just to know what happens in the book. If a book isn't thrilling enough to give me that feeling that I have to keep turning the page, then I'm really likely to just put it down one day and never pick it up again. I lose interest in books really fast if they're not thrilling enough, so my favorite genre is definitely mystery or thriller.
Over the years, I have definitely changed in my reading taste. A few years ago, I was one to read all of the romantic "chick-flick" like books, but I started to grow away from that. Sure, I'll still read one every now and then, and I get more interested in a book if it's got a love to cheer for or that can be related to, but I'm not one to go looking for one now.

It's only after we've lost everything, that we're free to do anything.

Fight Club Review:
Fight Club is by far one of the best books I've ever read. It is full of action, mystery, and psychological thrills that all keep you happy and on the edge of your seat. The entire time while reading it, I couldn't wait to get to the next page, the next chapter, the next big event.
Fight Club starts out with a man who is down on his luck going to the doctor for insomnia. The doctor tells him to try natural remedies, and if he wants to see real pain he should go down to Remaining Men Together and see the men with testicular cancer. When the main character does go down to the meeting, he finds that he's able to let go and just cry, and the crying helps him to sleep better. So, he starts going to many different meetings. Eventually, while he's out on a business trip, his apartment blows up and forces him to move in with a guy he had just met, Tyler Durden. Before they headed to Tyler's apartment, they decided to beat each other up because neither other them had ever been in a fight and didn't "want to die without any scars". Eventually their little bar fight turned into a group of men that fought just to feel like something mattered. This group of men called what they were doing Fight Club. Eventually this fight club turned into a movement of destruction that was called Project Mayhem. This lead to the infamous scene where Tyler and the main character are sitting in an abandoned building waiting to watch many others blow up. The main character is done having to deal with Tyler, so he shoots himself in the jaw.
The author's writing style is very unique and interesting to read. He writes in a confusing way that eventually begins to make sense only when he gives you enough information and only when he wants it to make sense. He uses a lot of literary techniques like similes, metaphors, hyperboles, and others. It's really interesting when he writes small, incomplete sentences to enforce his point. They're really powerful and interesting to read, they really keep your attention and make the storyline flow more.
This book was also made into a very well-selling movie by the same name. Most people have seen it, and can even quote it. The movie follows the storyline perfectly, and often times directly quotes the book. It seems like it would be a hard book to turn into a movie because of all the fighting and the destruction caused by Project Mayhem, but it was executed perfectly. The characters were perfectly cast, they're exactly what you imagine as you are reading the novel, with the exception of Robert Paulson (Big Bob), who was played by Meatloaf. In the novel, he's described with the same physical attributes, but he's described as having blonde hair. Meatloaf, however, has pretty dark hair.
All in all, this is one of my favorite books, and one of my favorite movies. I would give it an A++ because it is just so great. It is very well written and has so much imagery in it. I could perfectly imagine everything that the author, Chuck Palahniuk, was describing. When you see it in the movie, too, it is exactly what he described and you imagined. It is a great read and I would recommend it to anyone.