Is Lying Ever Ethical?

In the book Fight Club, the unnamed narrator is a man that suffers with insomnia. His doctor recommends that he attends support groups to know what real suffering is. He lies by impersonating a man with these issues and cries to help deal with his pain. He encounters a woman named Marla who finds out that he is lying and reminds him every time he tries to cry. Him not crying screws up his mind and his insomnia returns.

Throughout the book he continues lying and attending the meetings but he makes a truce with Marla to attend seperate meetings. He attempts to deal with it by hosting an underground fight club with friend Tyler.

This compares to the book Secret Life of Bees. Lily lies to her dad in the book as well as to the black women in the house she moves to. neither have an ethical reason to lie and this is negative towards both of the characters. This also compares to the book Persepolis. In the book, Marjane lies to her parents when the ask her what she wants to be when she grows up. She tells them that she wants to be a doctor, because she knows thats what they want to hear even though she wants to be the last prophet.

I believe lying is sometimes ethical, depending on the circumstances. In Fight Club he was recommended and it was to help with a medical condition, so i believe it was ok.