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Fight Club
"It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything."
"You are not special. You're not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You're the same decaying organic matter as everything else. We're all part of the same compost heap."
Survivor
"People don't want their lives fixed. Nobody wants their problems solved. Their dramas. their distractions. Their stories resolved. Their messes cleaned up. Because what would they have left? Just the big scary unknown."
"Honest is how I want to look. The truth doesn't glitter and shine."
Head-to-Head
Characters: I can see a lot of these categories pushing because they came from the same mind. In particular, the characters in each are initially ultra-real and then grow to verge on the surreal towards the end (Tyler Durden, Fertility: I'm looking at you two). The characters from the organizations found in each book (the Creedish people, Project Mayhem) form a cast that has a hilarious, parodic intensity. Both are strong, and under a microscope it's unsurprising that they both came from Palahniuk's pen. To me, that makes 'em inseparable.
Advantage: Push.
Setting: I think the greater effort of the two is in Survivor. While Fincher's movie definitely gave a visual anarchistic beauty to the tail end of the narrative in Fight Club, the setting is basically Anytown, USA. Survivor conjures much more intense imagery with the gradually-worsening plane situation and its rich, Jonestown-like cult settings. Fight Club's setting is functional and effective, but Survivor's setting makes a richer, stranger plot.
Advantage: Survivor.
Plot: Well, both are page-mowers with great stories that aren't too long while still remaining just convoluted enough. The benefits of both differ, however: Fight Club's greatest attraction is its sense of idealism and anarchy, while Survivor's is permeating tension where the pages literally count down instead of up.
Advantage: By my tastes, Survivor.
Ending: I mentioned in round one how Survivor was the first post-modern, hey-author-please-explain-this ending I ever read. It stuck with me for that reason, but I feel like Fight Club did a great job of twisty face-slap ending that wasn't as hard to understand. It's not that I mind working for my understandings, but Survivor's wasn't particularly weighty for the effort it entailed.
Advantage: Fight Club.
Language/Writing: I think Palaniuk's style is great, but he's no Palahniuk.
Wait... shit.
Advantage: Push.
Philosophy: The revolution will not be televised vs what if D.B. Cooper was a cultist? Both make plenty of statements about public image and media and how they reflect on each other. Fight Club ends hopefully in a we-can-overcome sort of way, while Survivor is mostly the story of a guy. My answer to this question depends mostly upon how cynical I feel in a particular day.
Advantage: Fight Club.
Winner Winner Turkey Supper
A 2-2 tie, is it?
Survivor's plot breaks the tie because I love a pageturner. If a book has that kind of intensity while still being thoughtful and expertly written, all the better. Fight Club is probably the more pensive of the two and will almost definitely be Palahniuk's legacy, but I'm going with the underdog that is a better narrative IMO.
Survivor flies on to round 3, just barely.
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