Choke

Rating:
Summary: One of these books is not like the others....
Review:
Ive read "Survivor", "Choke", "Fight Club", "Lullaby", and "Invisible Monsters.". Choke was by far the best. Dont be surprised if you see this on the big screen.

To write the review the would have helped me... "Choke" was better than his other books, for serious!

"In Palahniuk we trust"

Rating:
Summary: "Intriguing isn't the Right Word, But It's The First..."
Review: Killer story, the typical Chuck characters and imagery, but I felt a little empty with the lack of climax, but then it all makes sense afterwards...That's the whole point. We're all just striving for one climax after another, when life is really just meant to be lived. Easily a necessity for any Palahniuk or postmodern literature fan.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful
Review: This read was extremely surprising. It was hard to put it down and the end came together in a way you'd never imagine. It was beautiful. Chuck's way with words is irrisistable. After this book I couldn't even wait till the next week to pick up another. Any of his writing is worth the time, money, and effort. Don't miss out.

Rating:
Summary: Wrong On So Many Levels
Review: This book was filled with some of the most despicable characters and outlandish situations I have ever come across. And I loved it so much I could not put it down. Palahniuk definitely has a unique narrative style, and it is very addictive. It is not very often that I actually laugh out loud while reading, but this book was an exception--particularly the scene where he is trying to help a member of Sexaholics Anonymous act out her rape fantasy (trust me, it's a whole lot funnier than it sounds).

Basically, if you are in the mood for a good, entertaining, albeit dark and twisted book, you can't go wrong with this one.

Rating:
Summary: Ask your teacher.
Review: Victor Mancini is a sexual compulsive. That is, he is physically addicted to the chemical reactions that take place in the body during sex. Instead of seeking help for his problem, he picks up the women at the support groups. They go off and do the deed in the nearest vacant area, he signs their release forms (the female addicts tend to come from prison for three hour intervals), and that's that. These aren't your normal relationships. The only reason Victor even remembers these people is because he associates their names with a certain day of the week.

"Wednesday nights mean Nico. Friday nights mean Tanya. Sundays mean Leeza."

That's how bad it is.

A reoccurring theme in Palahniuk's novels, the protagonist never knew his father, leaving only the mother, whom the reader discovers is currently a delusional vegetable, locked up in the familiar confines of a mental care center. As in most cases, when you read about how someone like this was raised, you begin to understand quite clearly where things got off track.

For her entire life, Ida Mancini, Victor's mother, has been in and out of jail. Fighting the good fight. A renegade against normality, supposedly bringing excitement to a world that had simply become too boring for her tastes. All the while preaching this way of life to her young, impressionable son whenever she gets out and comes back to "claim" him. This isn't your normal mother/son relationship. The only way young Victor knows when he can see his mother is when a secretary interrupts class to tell him his dentist appointment is cancelled. Or when a certain announcement is made over the loudspeaker at the mall.

"Dr. Ward, please meet your wife in the cosmetics department of Woolworth's."

Secret signals.

That's how strange it is.

Denny collects rocks. That is, when he isn't locked in the stocks for chewing gum or reading the newspaper. For sure, Denny is Victor's best friend. All the "dude" dialogue pretty much appears during the interactions between these two. Among Choke's other notable characters are the irresistible Paige Marshall, who watches over Ida Mancini and the other residents at St. Anthony's Care Center, and Cherry Daiquiri, a stripper who just might need to get a mole removed. Not to mention the deformed chickens and the much too picky fake rape victim.

See also: Tarzan

Chuck Palahniuk is known for his dark sense of humor, but Choke really takes the cake compared to his other novels. I don't see how anyone could help laughing out loud during certain chapters of this book. It truly is a hilarious trip. There is, however, one aspect of Choke that deserves the most attention. It is something I believe the author intended to play a large role in the plot from the beginning.

Victor Mancini is not exactly an immediately likeable character. The same goes for the others. These are sick, depraved, and sometimes cruel people. I've tried to make that as clear as possible in this review. Yet somehow, Palahniuk makes you feel for them. Nearly to the point of admiration.

That's how talented he is.

Of course, most authors share a similar goal (to get the reader to care enough about the characters to keep turning the page). But in a genre filled with the likes of J. G. Ballard and Bret Easton Ellis, Chuck Palahniuk's darkly seductive writing sets him apart from the pack.

Without a single boring moment, Choke will suck you in until the very end. And if you think that maybe I've given away too much. If you doubt for one second that you will not be pleasantly surprised by this book. If you have the nerve to call creativity a lost art, please consider this your final warning...

Rating:
Summary: Good, fast-paced read
Review: I'm not going to bother summarizing the novel because that is done above, and frankly, I'm just not very good at summarizing books in the first place. "Choke" by Chuck Palahnuik is one of those books that you read and afterwards you either love it or hate it. You either get it or don't get it. The novel's protagonist is Victor Mancini, probably one of the best anti-heroes I have ever encountered in a book. It's hard not to like him even though he is a despicable character. You can feel the pain that he hides with his overtly apathetic attitude, you can begin to see what made him become what he is. He wants to feel something, anything but admitting that he wants love and to be needed would go against everything he has built his life on.

For those of you who like straightforward reads that start from a set point and continue till the end, this book may not be for you. Each short chapter is like a different episode in his current or past life. It is easy to pick up on after the first two or three chapters, so you can go with the flow. Also, this format makes it a quick read...it keeps you moving from page to page.

I think the best overall aspect of "Choke" is the characters' insights (especially Victor's) of life. Most often satirical, his views of the society in which we all live are definitely thought-provoking, but he has some touching revelations as well.

"Dude!" This is absolutely a good book to check out.

Rating:
Summary: Loved it
Review: In short this is a very well written book with a very unique and refreshing spin on society. For anyone who ever wakes up in the morning, looks around and says " When did the world get so crazy?" this is a book for you.

Rating:
Summary: An immensely satisfying and well-written read
Review: Ok, this book is better than "Fight Club," and awfully hard to compare to "Survivor." This one's main character is a doozy. His name is Victor Mancini, and due to how much money he needs to help support his extremely ill mother, Victor pretends to choke on food at restauraunts, and the people who "save his life" send him money. If that's not enough, Victor is also a sex addict, who frequents sex addiction support group meetings to have sex with the women there. Wow. However, there's a lot more to him than meets the eye, and I think he is Palahniuk's best character yet. Like all of the author's books, the story is a very dark fable for our rather dark times, and it has a very good theme. The character's narration is great, sometimes funny, sometimes shocking, but always intriguing and leaving the reader anxious for what happens next. Like all of Chuck Palahniuk's books, it's a very well-written story that can't be missed.

Rating:
Summary: I accually rate this book 5 5/9 stars
Review: This book was by far the most interesting of all of his books. and I've read all of them, diary [stinks], I started this book at midnight the day president bush invaded Iraq and finished at 7:07 the same morning. I only put it down twice to pee and check the war. There is so much great sex and bizzare addict behavior and colonial times reinactments that I laughed, cried, jerked off, and felt so good that I'm not a real sex-addict that I made my girlfriend read it and she jumped my bones. This WILL be a movie and it is worth the time of anyone who put a slight effort into Fight Club, which doesn't even compare to Choke. If you read this book and aren't satisfied there is something serously wrong with you.

Rating:
Summary: "Difficult" isn't the right word... but...
Review: Choke is the black sheep of Chuck Palahniuk's catalog and gets most of his negative reviews. I feel, it's also his most difficult book to read, because of a certain few details...

After Victor pretends to choke on his food, he makes someone a hero, thus making his and his savior's life all the better. His savior feels he must continually save Victor for the rest of his life. Victor feels he's doing something good for someone... and for himself too because he then cons these people into sending him money. This part, where he forms a bond with his savior and probably gives fake sob stories and exchanges addresses and has some beer with them... this part is left out of the book.

A lot of people have trouble with this plot point.

I got over it after half-way through the book I realized Chuck wasn't going to delve into it.

And, the open ending... it doesn't tie everything up exactly, but it truly fits the narrative. This will definitely make some people angry with this read.

One other thing that makes this book difficult are the repeating chapters describing Victor's empty sex with random compulsive women. This gets repetative... especially in the, what feels like, INCREDIBLY long chapter detailing Victor's first compulsive sexual encounter on an airplane which just seems to never end. I feel it was done purposely to show how empty casual sex can be and how Victor is realizing it after he meets Dr. Marshall.

But, once you get past this, I've never read a book I've enjoyed more. It's difficult, but... for example, like... Saramago's Blindness, it's well worth getting through.

A really incredible book.