Choke A Novel

Chuck Palahniuk

Choke is good. Not great, but good. If you've read anything else he's ever written, you'll...more

Choke is good. Not great, but good. If you've read anything else he's ever written, you'll probably think less of Choke than "good." Even now, I'm having a hard time removing myself from my disappointment in order to look at the text objectively. I keep thinking, "He could've done so much better." Palahniuk's prose is a taste to be acquired. Like mushrooms, sardines, or black licorice, some people like it, some people don't. No problem there. Palahniuk's stories, however, are all exercises in fringe-living and existential glee (the type of life view that makes you think it's nihilism before revealing itself to be more of a perpetual self-examination). What all of this intelligentsia means is that Palahniuk seems to be saying that Life Makes Sense, it's just that no one's figured it out yet. In all of his novels, he searches for even just an iota of this meaning, and in most of them, I would argue, he succeeds. Choke, however, is far too rote and formulaic to reveal anything other than the gears within Palahniuk's brain. Choke, I think, was written to appeal to the masses. He still has his off-color and cult-style appeal going for him, but it surrounds a tale so overtly moralistic and (at the same time) moralistically ambivalent that it leaves little to no impression. At heart, the tale is about Victor, who is addicted to sex. The book is, true to this summation, necessarily graphic and visceral. Palahniuk's actual prose has lost none of its vinegar and ice here. It is only the story's progression and eventual resolution that end up playing out like vanilla ice cream. Sure, sure, sure. There are bowel obstructions, sloppy sex scenes, and other subversive biological moments, but they culminate in a moment so cliched and trite that you have to wonder if Palahniuk didn't stuff his normally acerbic wit into a Hollywood Fable Factory in order to crank out this entertaining albeit ultimately disappointing Lesson to the Masses. If you want to see Chuck at the top of his game, start with Invisible Monsters or Lullabye. (For film buffs, Choke is to Palahniuk as Intolerable Cruelty is to the Coen brothers...good, but no great feat.)    hide

Victor Mancini is a man with a problem. To support his cancer-ridden mother, he pretends to choke...more

Victor Mancini is a man with a problem. To support his cancer-ridden mother, he pretends to choke on food in restaurants to make his savior feel responsible for him, collecting pity checks as a result. He works a dead-end job in a colonial theme park where anything modern is punished by the stocks, and he spends his off hours exploiting sex addicts at their recovery meetings. This is the plot of Chuck Palahniuk’s “Choke” – an attention-grabbing concept, no question, but doesn’t it sound a bit familiar? It should – Palahniuk’s already told the story twice. Like “Fight Club” and “Survivor,” the book centers on a young man with a troubled past who works a dead-end job and eventually winds up in a relationship with a woman even crazier than he is. It may have the same plot, but thankfully it also has the same writing style. Palahniuk is the Tom Wolfe of the nauseating, basing his stories on real life, and his stories of sex addictions and nursing home residents. Beyond that, the book is written in his distinctive prose, opting for a minimalist style with sharply written description and elements and phrases that appear periodically throughout the book. Craft-wise it matches the others, but“Choke” falls short next to his other works in terms of impact. It lacks the revelation of “Fight Club” or the overwhelming conspiracy of “Survivor,” so you get past the craft of the writing the climax doesn’t seem appropriate. It is simply not as surprising or as gripping as is expected from his works, but simply stacks up with the fatalistic tone. To paraphrase Victor’s most common phrase: “Repetitive” isn’t the right word, but it’s the first one that comes to mind. “Choke” is a well-constructed book with several flashes of brilliance, but there’s no uncharted territory for readers to appreciate.    hide

This was the first of Palahniuk's books that I had ever read. I was very disappointed with his...more

This was the first of Palahniuk's books that I had ever read. I was very disappointed with his writing style, since I had heard such wonderful things about him. I felt as though I was definitely misled by the given summary. The plot was indeed VERY different from the given information. And, I swear a lot, but, I found the usage of swear words in this to just be, well, WRONG. It was never funny, whether it be in a tasteful or vulgar manner. People talk about how he writes in a twisted fashion, and pulls it off well. However, I COMPLETELY disagree with this statement. His characters are much too far from the plane of reality and believability. If any of my friends wants my copy, I'll try to recover it. Personally, I see it as a waste of my money, and of paper in general.   hide

I'm glad that this was my first Chuck book. Not only did it introduce me politely to his style,...more

I'm glad that this was my first Chuck book. Not only did it introduce me politely to his style, but it also cracked me up in the most profane way possible. After this book, "Invisible Monsters" was like reading a fairy tale. This book's setting is drab, gray, gross, and pessimistic. Chuck even says the phrase "Shit Magnet!" what does that tell you? Perhaps one of the other reasons I liked this book (but also disliked it) was because it didn't help me escape at all. It's isn't glamorous or beautiful. No character is painted kindly. Everyone is dirty, to put it nicely. At the end I just wanted his mom to fucking die already. To be sure, the ending left no closure, except that sometimes...'there just aren't enough rocks.' No cycles, or metaphors or fables to be found. Good news: I learned a lot of fun facts about the human body and anal beads, as well as what supermarket codes really mean. Thank you, Chuck!   hide

Arguably superior to his other societal smart bomb "Fight Club", "Choke" is a compulsive read about...more

Arguably superior to his other societal smart bomb "Fight Club", "Choke" is a compulsive read about a hypocondriac sex-addict named Victor who works in a historic recreation village and attempts to save his mother's catatonic existence by faking near-death experiences in restaurants. This wildly original premise is furthered by Palahniuk's brave prose and some plot-twists that can only be characterized as "trippy". Victor's best friend Denny's quest to gather rocks and actually construct something is a biting observation as to why we all feel so lost today. Palahniuk is telling us that our modern lives have de-evolved into a contrant cycle of digging ditches every day only to find them all filled back in next morning. This book is a modern cultural landmark.    hide