Choke by Chuck Palahniuk Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Choke
Book Review: A Chokingly Disappointing Novel
Summary: 2 Stars
"Choke" is a novel about completion: protagonist Victor Mancini attempts to complete the lives of others as well as his own. He plays a sort of savior to people, giving them a reason to be by faking choking in restaurants and having random people rescue him. This is a very interesting concept for a novel. Unfortunately, it's as though Pahlaniuk tried to cram every other intersesting novel concept into "Choke", essentially making it seem unrealistic and written ad lib. When i read the plot synopsis on back of the book, i was lead to believe that the story would focus on Victor's seemingly interesting choking prank, and i trusted Pahlaniuk would put a smart spin on it as he did in "Fight Club", the other Pahlaniuk novel i have read. However, the novel is full of crude sexual descriptions and troubling concepts. Victor's dialogues are far too simplistic and peppered with juvenile slang to be coming from a med-student. Victor's twisted childhood, which is recounted through a series of scattered chapters, also seems somewhat outlandish. Pahlaniuk has a sort of conspiracy theory that he convey's in both "Fight Club" and "Choke", a theory that everyone everywhere is doing something secret and forbidden. He pulls it off very well in "Fight Club", but rather poorly in "Choke". Victor works at a colonial theme-park where supposedly everyone is doing drugs and fornicating, a completely unrealistic and vulgar concept. Not to spoil too much of the plot for potential readers, the most disturbing plotline involves Victor's relationship to Jesus Christ. All of these useless aspects distract the reader from an interesting theme, instead of enhancing it.
In conclusion, "Choke" dissapointed more than it pleased. Pahlaniuk's wit and intelligence were sadly overshadowed by his perverted side. "Choke" could have been so much more.
Book Review: A Chore of a Novel
Summary: 1 Stars
This is the first book I ever seriously considered putting down midway. I read and enjoyed Fight Club, and I thought Diary was pretty good. But Choke is an absolute chore of a novel--I struggled to finish it. It's the standard Palahniuk formula: mix obscure, interesting "facts" and crazy characters. Except that I hated all of these characters. Obviously there are wonderful novels with unlikable main characters, but you have to have some sort of interest in what happens to them. I didn't care. I would have rather the main character died than listen to any more of his banal, trite rants about the world and materialism. Palahniuk needs to pick a new horse to beat.Book Review: A Dearth of Redeeming Character
Summary: 5 Stars
Don't read this. This is how Chuck Palahniuk's latest deadpan novel begins, and it just gets odder from there. The story of one poor man's journey for self-worth, this book has some very enlightening and amusing moments, such as his description of the first pronography the sex-addicted main character ever sees. I can see the resemblance to Fight Club that other reviewers have noticed, and criticized, but those criticisms fall on deaf ears for me. The characters are very different, although they do share superficial similarities and their goals are the same. However, the generation that I am part of has a dearth of moral character anyway, and it seems that we, more than any other generation, need a reason to thrive, a reason to survive. This book describes a man in the same position as most of the men of any generation born after 1960. We wander aimlessly looking to give our lives some purpose. So, yes, it has similarities to his cult hit, but it has its own unique characteristics which make it enjoyable anyway. I don't know whether to laugh at some parts of this, incredulous at the places you can get a good philosophical question to pose, or to laugh at it, reveling in the insanity that is vintage Palahniuk. In the middle of otherwise plebian circumstances, poor Victor contemplates his existence in the world, and tries to deny who he is. When he finally comes to term with who he is, the rug is pulled out from under him again, and he loses every shred of reality that he has acquired and must rebuild. This patient, relentless journey alone is enough to buy this book. The philosophical questions posed and the witty banter (internal, of course, since Denny and Victor seem rather...dim) make the book a treasure.
Don't read it. But if you do, don't expect to be saved. If you are, don't save anyone else. Above all else, don't lend this book! I have already lost one copy of it that way, and don't intend to have to buy it again. But if it gets lost, I will have to shell out the money, grinning all the while.
Harkius
Book Review: A GUY BOOK - and nothing wrong with that
Summary: 3 Stars
I'm going to keep this review short and simple. My guy friend recommended it to me because he said it was the best book he ever read, after Fight Club. As a teenage girl, however, it was very difficult to get through this book. Don't get me wrong - Palahniuk is one of the most unique and innovative writers of our time. However, unless you are an adolescent guy, this book will most likely be extremely hard to bear. The humor, style, and subject matter I cannot relate too, thus turning me off to any sort of plot that existed. THIS IS A GUY BOOK. The one book I would recommend of Palahniuk's that girls can also enjoy because of its deeper, more existential themes is Fight Club.Book Review: A better read than Fight Club...
Summary: 5 Stars
I've read hundreds of books and "Choke" is tied with "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" (by Hunter S. Thompson) as the funniest I've ever read...I'm talking laugh-out-loud funny. I read this by the pool at my club a couple of years ago and no doubt came off as something close to a lunatic...but it was worth it.So, just for the laughs this book earns its keep; but more than that, Palahniuk offers a very unique and insightful view into human nature, human relationships, and the perverse notions that drive so many seemingly benign and "normal" things people do everyday.
If you liked Fight Club the movie, you'll love this book. It's modern, hilarious, easy-to-read writing wrapped around a complex and deeply interesting plot about an extremely "sick" young man, who in his dealings with the "normal world" throughout the book seems less and less sick by contrast.
Very worth the read.