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.
Showing posts with label Project. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Project. Show all posts
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Thursday, February 7, 2013
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.
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.
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
What you don't understand, you can make mean anything.
Chuck Palahniuk's twisted imagination came to life yet again in his novel, Diary. He writes of a woman who is destined to save Waytansea Island with her artistic talent. This woman, Misty Wilmot, is writing a "coma diary," so that when her husband gets out of his suicide induced coma, he will know everything that has happened. And it's been a lot.
All-in-all I didn't think this book quite matched up with all of Palahniuk's previous books. Most of his other books are very action-packed with a lot of unseen twists and turns. This book, however, didn't have very many twists, just a few slightly surprising bits here and there. For example, every so often Misty would find notes left behind by the women whose lives supposedly mirrored hers. These notes were pretty eerie, but were never very scary or surprising.
One of the most memorable quotes from this novel is "what you don't understand you can make mean anything" (Palahniuk 1720-21). It really explains how I feel about the book in general. I was very confused reading it, and most of what he said I just downright didn't understand. I was confused on what was happening, on who was who, and even his descriptions in this book were confusing to envision.
One part I really like about this book, however, was when Misty explained how she felt about a situation. Instead of coming out and just saying, "I'm feeling really betrayed right now," Misty would say things like "Just for the record, the weather today is partly suspicious with chances of betrayal" (Palahniuk 725). I think this is very unique and clever, and it really portrays Palahniuk's strange mind and clever way of thinking.
Although I didn't really understand the book, it wasn't too terrible. Once I got past the sting of the original dullness, it became a pretty good story. It has a pretty clever and original plot, and the characters are pretty relatable. Misty, the "author", has a lot of problems that she doesn't quite know how to deal with, so she turns to drinking and complaining. She is very relatable, because she doesn't ever solve her problems completely, and her main way of dealing with things is to write them out in her diary. Most of us don't do much to solve our problems either, other than complaining.
There were a few really neat things that I noticed as I was reading that really show how clever Palahniuk really is. The most notable is the name of the island, Waytansea. As I was reading, I just kind of skipped over this and never thought of how it was said. But when I was looking back at important parts, I was trying to spell it, and I ended up sounding it out. It's already spelled out, though. Way-Tan-Sea. Say it out loud: "Wait and See". I think Palahnuik did this because Misty was never quite sure what was going to happen to her, in fact, none of the island inhabitants knew exactly what was going to happen, so they all just had to "wait and see". It also goes along with how I was feeling about the book in the beginning. Palahniuk knew that it started off dull, but he let you know that all you had to do was put a little time into it, and it would become something spectacular. Everyone just needs to "wait and see".
All-in-all I didn't think this book quite matched up with all of Palahniuk's previous books. Most of his other books are very action-packed with a lot of unseen twists and turns. This book, however, didn't have very many twists, just a few slightly surprising bits here and there. For example, every so often Misty would find notes left behind by the women whose lives supposedly mirrored hers. These notes were pretty eerie, but were never very scary or surprising.
One of the most memorable quotes from this novel is "what you don't understand you can make mean anything" (Palahniuk 1720-21). It really explains how I feel about the book in general. I was very confused reading it, and most of what he said I just downright didn't understand. I was confused on what was happening, on who was who, and even his descriptions in this book were confusing to envision.
One part I really like about this book, however, was when Misty explained how she felt about a situation. Instead of coming out and just saying, "I'm feeling really betrayed right now," Misty would say things like "Just for the record, the weather today is partly suspicious with chances of betrayal" (Palahniuk 725). I think this is very unique and clever, and it really portrays Palahniuk's strange mind and clever way of thinking.
Although I didn't really understand the book, it wasn't too terrible. Once I got past the sting of the original dullness, it became a pretty good story. It has a pretty clever and original plot, and the characters are pretty relatable. Misty, the "author", has a lot of problems that she doesn't quite know how to deal with, so she turns to drinking and complaining. She is very relatable, because she doesn't ever solve her problems completely, and her main way of dealing with things is to write them out in her diary. Most of us don't do much to solve our problems either, other than complaining.
There were a few really neat things that I noticed as I was reading that really show how clever Palahniuk really is. The most notable is the name of the island, Waytansea. As I was reading, I just kind of skipped over this and never thought of how it was said. But when I was looking back at important parts, I was trying to spell it, and I ended up sounding it out. It's already spelled out, though. Way-Tan-Sea. Say it out loud: "Wait and See". I think Palahnuik did this because Misty was never quite sure what was going to happen to her, in fact, none of the island inhabitants knew exactly what was going to happen, so they all just had to "wait and see". It also goes along with how I was feeling about the book in the beginning. Palahniuk knew that it started off dull, but he let you know that all you had to do was put a little time into it, and it would become something spectacular. Everyone just needs to "wait and see".
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