Choke

Rating:
Summary: BLACK, BLACK, ............THE BLACKEST COMEDY OF ALL.
Review: Just finished reading this and my jaw is still hanging. SUBVERSIVE, AUDACIOUS, PORNOGRAPHIC, DEEP, POETIC, and down right HILARIOUS. And for those who can see it, extremely ZEN. This is so ZEN!!

I got into Chuck like a lot of people did, by seeing FIGHT CLUB and then reading the book. That book was amazing, and this book is a coagulated continuation of the SICK POP CULTURE MIND and America's JUNKED, ADDICTED, AND WARPED CONSUMERIST MENTALITY. I can't wait to read SURVIVOR. My God, this man is quite simply the greatest SATIRIST and POP PSYCHOLOGIST of our time. Or maybe CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST? A Mark Twain for the new millennium? America may be empty and dying psychologically and Chuck Palahniuk spells it all out in horrifically surreal detail. In a very shocking and sadistic manner, is he telling us WHY most of us are disturbed or addicted Americans? Is this a WARNING or the mind of a MADMAN? I'd love to have dinner with this guy, sometime, and find out what makes him tick. "Have you studied Zen, Chuck?"

At this point I don't care. Next to Thomas Pynchon this man could be the greatest living genius writing in America today. Put this man's books in a Time Capsule and people in the 22nd Century may end up saying, "No wonder Western Civilization crumbled."

What I want to know is, when is the movie coming out? And who's going to direct? David Fincher? Or Ron Jeremy?

WARNING: this book is so subversive and pornographic, it makes William Burroughs and Henry Miller look like Dr. Seuss.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing effort
Review: I've also read Fight Club and Invisible Monsters. When I picked up Fight Club, I considered it one of the most interesting thought-provoking novels I had read. Invisible Monsters was a disappointment, but I wanted to give Palahniuk the benefit of the doubt.

With Choke, Chuck Palahniuk disappints and rehashes familiar thematic territory. With his newest protagonist Vincent Mancini, we have another character with an addictive personality who does not fit in with society at-large. Vincent is placed in series of absurd situations both in the present and through flashbacks into the past. Finally, Vincent is figuratively reborn into society, accepting life for what it is. All of this should be very familiar to readers of his previous books.

To his credit, Palahniuk is very creative in generating scenes and situations. As usual, they are quite amusing especially those involve Vincent's insane hippie mother. Okay for a quick read, but there just isn't enough thought-provoking material in the novel for me to recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Choke.
Review: "Choke" is unlike anything I have ever read before. Chuck Palahniuk creates a vivid look into the life of a con artist/sex addict(weather or not the reader likes him depends on the reader's feelings about the two subject matters that "Choke" deals with), but every chapter seems like another storie with the same main character in it. The reader jumps from the main character's childhood and back several times. By the time you finish "Choke" everything sorta falls into its place which is one of the reasons "Choke" is a very intersting and quick read, but the book is not ment to be a positive one, even though there are some really funny moments in the storie.

Because of Chuck Palahniuk's choice of words he uses through "Choke" I would not suggest "Choke" to the easily offended.

Rating:
Summary: Strong, yet funny...Well-written story...
Review: From the author of Fight Club comes a similar novel of twisted characters with lives only Palahnuik could invent. The story of Choke follows the events in a few months of Victor Mancini's life...an avid sex addict, a colonial fair worker, a part-time fake-choker, and so much more. The story unwinds and starts to piece together as you read to form an intricate tale of Victor's struggle to find meaning in his addict-drivin life. A hilarious (and very quick)read for any adult or mature teen looking for something with more honest substance than just about anything else in society today. Highly reccomended. (Warning::Several explicit sex sequences...funny but explicit)

Rating:
Summary: "Annoying" might not be the right word....
Review: but it's the first one that comes to mind.

Having read through most of the customer reviews of this book, I conclude that I may not be giving the author enough of a chance. It appears that those who have read more of his novels cite this as his weakest effort. This book is just so poorly constructed and devoid of originality that I am going to have a difficult time devoting any reading time to Palahniuk's other attempts. I'd also have a difficult time remembering how to spell his name if it weren't emblazoned on the Amazon page as I write.

The novel recalls A Confederacy of Dunces in many respects. Both novels have unlikable protagonists with difficult, suffocating mothers. The humor in both works is on about the same sophomoric level as well. Those for whom Toole drew "guffaws" will likely find Palahniuk's lines equally refreshing.

This writer tries way too hard at being clever. From its contrived, overworked opening to its "startling" denouement, the novel spins on erratically, never finding any clear direction or viewpoint. Nothing rings true. This is evident in his description of his friend's being placed in the stocks at the Historical theme-park where the narrator works. He relates that the ground in front of the stocks is riddled with animal feces and urine. In reality, why would this be the case? What kind of Jamestown are we talking about here? Certainly not the one that I have experienced. The same sort of fictional license is at work when the narrator describes his co-workers as so-many sexual deviants. In fact all the characters in the novel are sexual deviants. Again, in reality, this would hardly be the case. Of course, all this could be in the narrator's mind, but then what's the point?

There is so much interesting and constructive fiction, history and biography on the market today that one would do well to avoid mucking about in this fruitless void.

Rating:
Summary: Strong Stomach Required
Review: Chuck Palahniuk's Choke is about the spiritual self-immolation and reclamation of one Victor Mancini, con artist and sexual addict. Once again Palahniuk makes short work of invoking compassion for his lost boy viewpoint character by daring you to like him in spite of all the reasons not to. And, if you're like me, you do. You pull for Victor even when he's told you not to. You pull for him through the most scatalogical, pornagraphic, manipulated and just plain sick moments of your reading life, and you feel either thrilled or sordid yourself as you are led through all the messed-up elements of his messed-up life.

Me, I felt sordid. I wanted to put the book down after the third page, but the writing was too strong and the character too compelling. I gave it four stars because of the writing power, but kind of wish I had never read it at all. I think that, like Fight Club, it's going to be with me for a long time.

Rating:
Summary: Good, but repetitive.
Review: I'll spare you another plot summary.

I haven't read Invisible Monsters, but the rest of Palahniuk's novels (Fight Club, Survivor, Choke) all seem to be struggling to tell the same story. Choke was definitely the best so far (yes, much better than Fight Club), but I wish he had written this first. This book lost so much impact because I kept thinking "this is the guy from Survivor, this is the same point he was trying to make in Fight Club, etc." It's a great book, though, despite all that.

I think Palahniuk's finally done everything right with Choke. There's a powerful message for "my" generation (give or take), actually surprising character development (as opposed to simple shock twist), and excellent writing throughout.

If you're looking for an introduction to Palahniuk, I'd suggest reading this. If you've read his other stuff and loved it, this is still good, but it's more an example of the refinement of his craft than anything brilliantly original. If you don't like his other stuff, well, don't bother.

Rating:
Summary: as good as fight club, if not better!
Review: this book totally amazed me. I got it yesterday and I'm now finished reading it today. I literally could not put it down, it kept me interested the entire time , page after page. Not once did the pace slow down and there were several instances where I laughed out loud at what I was reading. I've also read Fight Club and Survivor and so far this one was the most enjoyable for me. Although, perhaps if I had read Fight Club before watching the movie my opinion might be different. The problem with reading Fight Club after watching the movie was that I already knew the story, although the book was different, it wasn't really anything new to me. Regardless, if you have not read Choke, then what are you waiting for? Go out and buy it now, you will not be dissapointed!

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant!
Review: Chuck's a master of what he does, and what he does is out-write everyone out there. If you haven't read it...do. You'll be back to pick up the rest of his work before page 50.

Rating:
Summary: Good, but not Chuck's best...
Review: Choke tells the story of a guy who is fixated on sex, and his mother. Luckily, this turns out not to be as gross as it sounds.

The main character is a recovering sexaholic who works at one of those colonial-era recreations where the workers pretend like they're still living in the 18th century. He is trying to make enough money to get his mother a feeding tube. Needless to say, hilarious hijinks ensue.

This book is pretty funny, but doesn't have the deeper meaning that Fight Club had. Its an entertaining read from a very talented author. If you're going to give Palahniuk a try, read Fight Club first. If you like that, then try this one out.