Choke

I'm not an avid reader. At all. I'm one of the guys who saw a movie and wanted to pick up the book to compare and be able to finally tell people "Yeah, the book is bla bla bla compared to the movie." Maybe this will give me a point in credibility to my hipster friends.I must say that I'm glad to have picked this title up. The movie isn't for everybody. The book isn't for everybody. This is because the story isn't for everybody. If you are like me and enjoy dark humor with a psychological twist and are not easily offended then this story is for you. For more detail about what this story is actually about then read the amazon review or one of the many other reviews.To get to the book specifically (while catering to those who are like me and admittingly do not read often), I will say this was a great casual read. It was fun flipping through the pages with the movie in mind and comparing mental notes about accuracy and placement of the story. Since I was going into this book with very little care to the translation from book to film I wasn't disappointed. In fact I felt it was a great supplement to the movie. Yes, some charactors aren't portrayed exactly alike. No, the ending isn't the same, it's quite different. But what a great ride it was. Plus, for a casual reader such as myself the fact that the 304 page book is broken up into many chapters averaging 4 to 7 pages, makes it a great "pick up, put down" or "toilet read."This book sparks my interest enough to actually start reading more books, and of course starting with another title by Chuck. Maybe Fight Club, but I would like to read another title that isn't accompanied by a movie. I'm curious to see what goes through my mind without the mental images a film director and actors already fed me.Pick it up. You'll know if you like it just by clicking the "look inside" option anyway.

If you've read anything by Palahniuk before, you should know what to expect from this novel; it has an (almost) unbelievable twist ending, the protagonist is out of sync with society, the protagonist has women-issues - oh boy, does he ever...well, you get the point...But just because the guy is a little formulaic doesn't mean he's not a brilliant author, and just because we might have been here before doesn't mean that this isn't a great book. One thing Palahniuk has going for him is his energy - you can feel it come across the page and slap you in the face. If Jackson Pollock had been a writer instead of a painter, or Vonnegut was a little grittier, or Bret Easton Ellis was a little more clever...well, that would Palahniuk.The male characters in this book are emasculated - kind of like in fight club - and, same as in that book, it is not their fault. A great deal of Palahniuk's work tends to focus on the emasculation of the male; how there is no place in society anymore for an everyday guy to be a hero, or a cowboy, or a Knight-in-shining-armor, or much of anything at all, because the world has become so safe and consumer-friendly. The Inner dialogue of the main character, Victor, explores his addictions and chick-issues yes, but also gravitates around the fact that he doesn't want to be soft and mushy; he wants to be a jerk, and in the end, both fails and succeeds at the task. If your male and ever had to deal with the expectations of your mother, all of this will seem strangely familiar to you...This book is a page turner; the dialogue may be a little stilted, but hey, what do you want from the guy, this is the way people actually speak in our `modern times.' Besides, the prose is so visceral and beautiful it gos a long way towards raising the value of his words.If your into cynical, subversive, humorous, and clever books, you'll probably enjoy novel.

First things first...It takes a long time to read Choke because the laughs slow down one's normal reading speed. So, don't let the novel's size deceive you. Second, this is not a frivolous book. As is true with quality comedy, the obscured underlying "message" is deadly serious. Ostensibly, Victor Mancini is working (Choking) in fine restaurants for the purpose of reaping financial windfalls that will enable him to purchase for his mother, Ida, a feeding tube. In the novel, Victor recounts life with Ida, the "Mommy," and describes himself as the "gullible" or otherwise diminished "kid." Ida is a criminal; her crimes are petty, but intended toward one goal: creating chaos and unpredictability in a world which, she says, suffers from a surplus of organization (everyday a "cruise ship"). She goes to a pharmacy and mixes up hair dyes, placing blonde in the red-hair box and so on. She wants, not to uncomplicate her life, but to uncomplicate herself. She is not alone. Also seeking a meaning in unpredictable and seemingly trivial actions is Denny, the "hey dude" friend of Victor. He collects rocks to celebrate his sobriety. Victor, Ida, Denny, the nursing home "doctor," Paige: all are pilgrims in the new world, trying in their modern way to build Johnathan Winthrop's "city on a hill." Addicted to drugs, sex, delusional, these and other characters in Choke are trying to find direction and meaning in a world that would rather avoid even such discussions. I could not bring myself to find convincing the image of an adult Victor Mancini who remains impressionable after a volatile, unprotected childhood of trailing his wily mother in and out of courts, foster care and the modern legal system generally. A small complaint in the overall scheme of things. Reading Choke and you're in a cool hypnotic state, a self-contained world where you can laugh out loud as you ponder what drives the characters of Choke to their extremes and why, by the way, are we not similarly driven.