Rating:  Summary: slow getting started Review: chuck really hits the nail on the head with this portal into the head of a sexaholic. i am personaly a member of 12step groups and this picture of an addict in the grip of his addiction is very accurate. not only does he capture this but in the meantime he manages to comment on the american society as i see... hypocritical in an comedic/disturbing fashion. this dark little story is a genuine gem from the author of fight club. my only complaint is the slow start into the actual plot... which is rather hard to figuer out.
Rating:  Summary: Good, fun read Review: Well, I am not going to try to intellectualize or even try to critique it. I will say that I totally enjoyed it. Yes, it is a dark book with dark humor but that is the attraction. found it a very quick read (great for travellers) and was entertained from beginning to end. If your humor is on the "darker" side you will enjoy this book a lot. If you are older than 30 you might find the book a little too edgy but give it a try!
Rating:  Summary: Not for the casual reader. Review: If you're only reading Palahniuk's books because you thought that Fight Club was a cool movie, then stop. You should probably reconsider whether you really want to read anything at all. Why not go watch a traffic accident instead?This isn't a feel good book, nor does it have large explosions, but what it does is make you think, which is what any good book should do. Victor Mancini is not just a man down on his luck, not just "an anti-hero for our deranged times", not just a modern day saint. He is a man who does all the wrong things for all the right reasons and then goes back and does all the right things for the wrong reasons. Or vice versa. This book may have some elements in common with Fight Club, but it elaborates on different issues. It touches more upon the effects of being the child of rebellious parents, it delves far deeper into the topic of support groups than Fight Club did. It even mentions, on a few occasions, the growing levels of misandry among today's female population. And it has a twist ending that will leave you questioning everything. What's not to like?
Rating:  Summary: Dull Review: After not being able to put down Lullabye (and laughing out loud while reading it) I was tremendously disappointed here. I couldn't even finish it, and put it down half way through. It's boring and not funny at all. The characters are all unsympathetic. I wouldn't waste my time.
Rating:  Summary: Five Stars, but DO NOT Read this book! Review: This is one of the best books I've ever read. But it made me feel sick. It says right in the first chapter that you shouldn't read this. And he's right. I can't in good conscience reccomend this book to anyone. But if you do read it, you'll probably agree.
Rating:  Summary: Not great Review: I found this an easy to read yet dull book. I read half of the books pages in about an hour but had no real motivation to go on, nothing seems to happen, the characters by Palahniuk's standards are dull and rather cliche, you have all manor of freaks as to be expected, but theres the trouble with Palahniuk his side show parade of freaks and geeks is what you expect. If you liked Survivor, and Fight Club there should be no reason why you woulnd't like this, more of the same really but I've found all his books interesting on one level but uninvolving on another, Fight Club worked marvelously as a film, maybe Chuck should look at writing film scripts? Anyway I found this book dissapointing, after plowing through Fight Club, and Survivor and not finishing Choke I think I'm all Palahniukied out.
Rating:  Summary: hell yeah Review: Okay first off Chuck rocks. He is one of the best new writters out there. I read choke about a year ago since then I've read the book about three more times. It is the best book I have ever picked up. Once you read the first page you won't put it down till its done. Lots of people have read chucks other books before this but this was my first and fav. I do also have all his other books which are all very good ; Invisable Monsters, Fight Club, Survivor, Lulaby and Choke. I hope this review helped you in deciding wrather or not you buy this book. I say buy it then buy another for your firend/s its a classic and a must have even if you never read.
Rating:  Summary: funny, quick, kinda sick Review: This is a very quick read. If you spend more than two days on it, I'd be surprised. The pace of this story makes it easy to consume, and like a thick chocolate milkshake, you'll be loving it while it's going down, then feel maybe a little yucky the next day. The characters are fascinating because you wonder if such people really exist or if they are just semi-monsters created in Palahiuk's mind. One thing about Palahniuk, his characters are consistent, so a creep is a creep throughout. There is a shot at some redemption/healing stuff going on here at the end, with one of the characters, an ex-sex addict who collected a large rock each day he didn't jerk off, that seems perhaps a touch out of place, but is necessary for Palahniuk to tie together the threads of his ideas. Not a "deep" book per se, fun to read and thought-provoking in some respects. Quick and (relatively) painless.
Rating:  Summary: Why Chuck Palahniuk is a popular author Review: It is now clear. With the publication of CHOKE, Chuck Palahniuk has established himself as a popular author. He is a popular author in the same sense in which Stephen King could be said to be a popular author, and a populist. Works of popular culture should be considered in terms of their function. At least it could be said of King's work that it succeeds in fulfilling a function: that of horrifying and disgusting his readership (to his credit, there are a few successful short stories to his name). King would never claim to be an artist, only a showman. Palahniuk, however, seems to have serious pretentions at artistry. Despite his claims, Palahniuk is, in fact, not a writer at all. His work is not "writing" in the strong sense of the word---it is, rather, recorded speech. He speaks, he does not write. There is no trace of effort or revision in any of his books. With the greatest arrogance, Palahniuk vomits onto the page whatever comes to his mind. The language of these books is reminiscent of a hastily written e-mail. What readers are left with are books full of lazy, sloppy, clumsily composed constructions. The messiness of this man's writing style is astounding. Each chapter is so badly composed that it would be difficult to believe that the author spent more than an hour manufacturing it. Much of the book, in fact, could have been written over a series of coffee breaks or during a lazy weekend. This inspires his readership with a sense of self-confidence. Because CHOKE is so badly and effortlessly written, his followers are filled with a sense of self-confidence. They think: "Writing is easy! I could write just like Chuck!" (Most of his followers refer to their leader by his given name.) To a certain extent, they are right. Palahniuk's followers are attracted to the novel CHOKE because they see in it a reflection of their own immaturity. People who do not read books, they are enthused by someone who is LIKE THEM. Palahniuk's popularity is due to the fact that his readers are not challenged or intimidated by him. Palahniuk's sheep are film-watchers. It is no accident that Palahniuk's first followers were introduced to his work through David Fincher's film version of FIGHT CLUB. They "watch movies"; they are not readers. The Palahniuk cult has been trained by consumerist culture to regard novels as if they were McDonald's hamburgers. Novels, they think, are there to be devoured, digested, and thrown away. Palahniuk's worst book to date, CHOKE is very much a McDonald's novel. Palahniuk's followers are not disappointed by CHOKE because they have no expectations. CHOKE is an embarrassing book. Passages in this book would make all but Palahniuk's most ardent admirers cringe. The scene in which Victor Mancini is saved from choking to death by two police officers is quite possibly the most embarrassing passage that I have ever read in a work of fiction. And even those who support pornography (and I am one of them) would be disgusted by the way in which women's bodies are described in this book. Do not misunderstand me: There is nothing else shocking or offensive in this book except for its laughable "writing style." I am opposed to Palahniuk not because of his subject matter, but because he does not know how to write. I am convinced that Palahniuk's devotees support CHOKE because they feel a strange personal affinity with the author. This means that anything that this man publishes will be welcomed uncritically by his fanatical readership. They do not have a strong reading background and therefore cannot compare Palahniuk's work with that of other authors. The author of CHOKE is nothing more than a bargain-basement Bret Easton Ellis. The reason for Chuck Palahniuk's popularity is that he is an author who is in the service of mainstream American culture. He is not, however, a writer. His books are so much slop.
Rating:  Summary: Entertaining, satirical, and funny Review: Chuck Palahniuk writes an interesting book about the antihero Victor who is a sexaholic. Victor goes to sex addiction clinics, not too try to stop himself but to pick up women. Victor's descriptions of the meetings and the people he meets at them are hilarious. Victor is working on a 12 step program for sex addicts, although not very hard, he is stuck on the 4th step in which he is supposed to list all of the bad things he's done in his life. As the book progresses he meets a girl he actually likes and this makes him want to try to complete his recovery program. He is writing absolutly everthing down for the forth step and this gets him into trouble neer the end which leeds to some interesting twists.
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