Choke by Chuck Palahniuk Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Choke
Book Review: (2.5 stars) Ok, but not Palahniuk's best work......
Summary: 2 Stars
The style of this book is similar to Chuck's other books; schitzo, funny and obscene and surreal. I like his style and this wasn't the problem with this book. The problem I had with this book is twofold. First, the mystery, surprise, "payoff" or whatever term you want to refer to the ending was weak in comparison to Fight Club, Survivor and Invisible Monsters. In general the plot was just boring and all the usual interjections and interesting musings weren't enough to overcome the lack of a plot. Stuff happens but it isn't really building up to something like in the other novels. Second, Mancini is the hardest of Chuck's primary characters to relate to. All of his main characters are extreme and outrageous but they all have some humane aspect about them we can relate to. I thought Mancini was the most tired and unoriginal of the bunch and the sex addict bit was played out after Fight Club. Also I didn't but the whole choking thing....how did he get his saviors to send him checks...would you send someone money just because you saved them from choking?Bottom Line: funny in parts and Chuck fans should check it out. If you are intereseted in Palahnuik, try any of the other 4 first.
Book Review: 1st time reader of Palahniuk's work
Summary: 3 Stars
Certain books are page-turners which have stories that lead you into emotional states that give you a visceral release, but that doesn't describe this book. In spite of frequent lewdness of the subject matter, this book is more about a description of a philosophy than it is about the actual characters portrayed. The situations described in the book are there to serve the components of that philosphy (Life is less about living then finding something to do while waiting to die...), not a story-line, which is my view on why they often seem a bit stretched (ie. Dr. Paige Marshall demanding sex from Victor in exchange for her curing his Mother).
That said, I found this book to be very interesting and humorous because of it's dark insights. The type of irreverant observations and flash-back style of story-telling reminded me of Kurt Vonnegut's writing in many instances. However, I found myself often stopping after a few chapters because the negativity in this book becomes a bit overwhelming after awhile.
If you don't prefer to read all about the weakness and inneffectiveness of humanity, you would do well to stay away from this one. To me it represents a viewpoint, nothing more.
Book Review: 3 1/2 stars
Summary: 3 Stars
I'm not sure exactly what I was expecting out of this book, but I almost got it. This is my first Palahniuk novel. I haven't read Fight Club yet (though I've seen the movie and it is one of my favorites). It's an interestingly dysfunctional novel with some of the most interestingly dysfunctional characters. But there is little cohesion to the story. Some of the most interesting episodes we only get the beginning of and Palahniuk doesn't finish other than in telling us later rather than showing us at the time. The characters tend to be irritating and as a whole the story is a bit unbelievable. It's a good effort that falls just a bit short.Book Review: 5678
Summary: 4 Stars
Choke is basically about Victor mancini and the ways he gets by in life. He lives with one of his friends, Denny. He used to go to school but he figured it wasn't for him besides that he didn't have enough money to pay for it, so he dropped out instead. He doesn't have enough money to pay for his mother's medical bills, she's in the hospital for Alzheimer's disease so she cant even remember her own son, and because he has a very low paying job, he works as a servant in an old fashioned theme park, so he doesn't have enough money he goes to restaurants orders meals and makes himself choke on the meal until some stranger can come up to him and "rescue" him having them pay for the meal feeling sorry for victor, then through out the years they send him checks because they feel that they are victor's saviors. He has tons of people sending him checks even people he cant even remember at all, some come up to him in the streets and start talking to him knowing him but he just has a blank look because he cant remember them, when victor isn't at work he is attending meetings for people who are addicted to sex just for the fun of it, even though he is one of those people. There he meets women who are just like him. One day when he went to visit his mom he found a young woman by the name of Paige. She introduced herself as a worker and later on she and victor start to spend more time together. She seems like the perfect girl for him until she starts talking nonsense to him and he later finds out that she's a patient there, she's crazy, and that she just has on the same wardrobe as the workers so she can feel like she works there. Later on victor starts to build a church and has all these news reporters around him and he tells the truth about everything and there are people with rocks and he's there with Denny then Paige comes and eventually everyone leaves and that's the end of the book. I thought this was a very interesting book although I didn't quite understand the beginning but I later understood what everything meant and it turns out that it starts talking about his childhood. This was a really great book, although some people have their own opinions, because it explained every point of victor's life. I really recommend this book to people who like someone's "action" life because it has everything in it.Book Review: A Bit Overdone
Summary: 3 Stars
Palahniuk extends his shocking tendencies a bit too far with this novel. The writing is unnecessarily lude, although he is known for that. I had to crawl through this book at times, it was difficult to finish, and the ending was certainly not that impressive. His religious symbolism is overrated and a reach. Sorry Chuck, I've read better from you!