Rating: 
Summary: An excellent novel
Review: Much better than the Fight Club. A new style, a great writing and a non-conventional story.Don't lose it.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing.
Review: This book is amazing. Palahniuk's writing is so good that it plays funny games with my awareness of reality. The story is jolted, but its simply a reflection on society, reminiscent of Orwell's writings. Simply amazing.
Rating: 
Summary: Disjointed, but not in a good way
Review: I feel like Chuck's been holding back a bit. It's like he's not sure which direction he wants to go. Like he's straddling the notions of serving the mainstream or pushing the envelope and going more toward the other extreme. Fight Club is hard to follow-up, but seems like there's a bit of a rut here. Very odd. Anyone reading his books out of order might suggest that this was one of his first efforts, and Fight Club his latest. The repetition gimmick gets a bit old, really. That said, I'd still say it's a safe bet that I'll buy and read any other books Chuck has to write.
Rating: 
Summary: What would Jesus Not do?
Review: Chuck Palahniuk is a poet in a novel sort of way. Instead of writing the mundane life of a boy who we'll eventually hate, he twists Victor Mancini into a character that we can't leave alone. 'Choke' is a novel about...well...sexual addiction and sexual frustration, only it doesn't stop there. Inbetween the sexcapades of our friend, Victor, we learn about his mother, his friend, his lack of imagination. His childhood, his belief system, his career. 'Choke' combines the wit and humour of Palahniuk's other creations and makes it breathe on it's own. The angst of one man churning the nation. We won't stop there. We'll keep spitting on those who work menial jobs and scorn those who feed their addictions daily. We'll turn hate filled little boys into Victor Mancinis. A must read. If you're into that sexual addiction thing.
Rating:
Summary: Palahniuk ROCKS!!
Review: First, I must say I am very proud that I can spell Chuck's last name, hehehe.... That is a must if you are trying to find his works in a bookstore. Choke is another great work from the author that brought us the plot to the movie Fight Club. In Choke, Chuck is again able to write an action packed novel witha surprisng, gut-renching plot, that keeps the reader hooked until the last page. My only problem with it: the price. The novel is short, because it gets to the point. My suggestion is to try out some of Chuck's other works and come back to the book when it becomes available in paperback for. However if you are a die-hard chuck fan that forget the price and just enjoy!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Eh...not his best.
Review: I'm a big Palahniuk fan - and fan of the genre as well. This one left me a little disappointed. I expected more. If this is the first Palahniuk book you're planning to read, grab Invisible Monsters instead. You could read this, but realize his other works are far superior.
Rating:
Summary: Gag me with a spork
Review: Choke is an apologetic novel in which Chuck Palaniuk, author of Fight Club and contributing writer for Gear magazine takes us on a wrinkled tour of raw, guttural humanity. Palahniuk asks us to pretend to think deeply about the reason we treadmill through life hiding our problems and insecurities behind the guise of perceived imperfection and incapabilities. Choke is the freeze-framed version of Fight Club that went over our heads in a cloud of nihilism. It was never about nihilism; it was about questioning the path that's brought us here.. This nine-inch nail is hit hard and driven past the cerebral cortex into the very crux of human depravity, emotion and despair. Nymph-O and museum worker Victor Mancini discovers at a young age that - during a moment of choking - "...the whole world cared what happened to him." When flailing and turning blue, he was on center stage and in a position to make the one who saved him a hero. Victor intentionally chokes to manipulate the "hero" nightly. The hero then plays a paternal/maternal role, virtually sponsoring his egregious lifestyle and subsidizing his Alzheimer's-exasperated mother. This also includes cards on birthdays, calls on holidays. Thus Palahniuk constructs a cockamamie, ludicrous storyline and asks us to enjoy his humor and bizarre plot's unfolding. Laughing out loud is simply inescapable. But the plot is merely a physical embodiment that draws us inside. Although the storyline is absurd, that only sets up a foil for his brilliant microscoping of human emotions and desperation. The plot adds the thickness of void fulfillment upon introducing Denny the, um, rock-collector, except that is too casual. Denny is the comedic avatar of overkill. Some have called Choke's Victor an antihero, but they are not seeing the big picture: heroes no longer take on the form of men in blue tights and red capes - the new hero, the Palahniuk hero fights his battles within his mind, life. This is represented by Choke's first-person cataloging of introspection and inner struggle not to decide based on precedent. In Palahniuk's world, there is no Xanadu, no Brigadoon. The reality is dystopia. Within this construct tragic is interchangable with realistic. Life is not clean. "There are chickens with no legs...Blind chickens without eyes. Without beaks. Born that way. Defective. Born with their little chicken brains already scrambled."
Rating:
Summary: A Fast, Unpredictable, and Interesting Diversion
Review: I'm not sure how to take the first chapter, as a disingenuous "too shocking to be true-you will be disgusted, repulsed, and horrified!" tease, or as an honest "this is the truth of this story, so the happy ending, redemption, and optimism you expect and want will not be there" preface to a story of life on the ... fringe. By the time the book's final words come, it's clear that it's the former. The story is interesting and moves quickly, just like its characters, but in the end there IS optimism and hope, and more than a hint of redemption. It is as sappy and syrupy as Chuck Palahniuk gets, but at the same time, this IS a happy ending.
A thumbnail review in ... brought me to this novel. I was highly intrigued by the story of a med school dropout and ..., a possible reincarnation of Jesus Christ, who works at a colonial reenactment village and fakes choking in restaurants in order to make ends meet and pay for the upkeep on his institutionalized mother. Who could resist such a setup?
And the story delivers. Victor Mancini is a fascinating character, as are his friends and their circumstances. Their stories go from there, off in unexpected and strange directions as Victor struggles with his past, and resultant self-loathing, all the while knowing exactly where it comes from but not quite how to leave it behind. In the end, everyone matures a bit, Victor gets a mighty tough life lesson due to his own self-deception, and as we pull back on the story, things are more or less looking up.
In conclusion, I recommend the book. In the end, the weak but nevertheless positive happy ending wins out. I think it's clear from the book that if Victor and his crew truly were left on their own, the ending would have been seriously different. Overall, it's an entertaining story, a quick diversion, but to my mind not quite fully and honestly realized.
Rating:
Summary: Fading Talent
Review: While "Fight Club" showed virtuoso prose and original ideas, and "Survivor" expanded his mileau of the dispossesed, "Choke" fails on every level. The main character is a rehash of Palahniuk's bizarro character sketches. Also, the story does not have the narrative drive contained in his other novels. Finally, and most disturbing, is the fact that the writing style is just plain bad, being juvenile and unoriginal. Chuck, what's up??
Rating:
Summary: The best authour in our century.
Review: I have not read anything written this well before in my life.... Chuck Palahniuk truly has a talent for taking people in life who not necesarily would be considered average and offering us their skewed perspective of reality. In this novel we explore the life of a sex addicted male who has begun attending group meetings to get over his addiction. He also has a job which literally keeps him stuck re-enacting the past. His odd way of collecting income from people who save his life in restauraunts is hilarious. I would tell more but I don't want to give anything away. If you have liked any other book by this authour then you will love this book.
| 
