Rating: 
Summary: That's interesting. Now stop it.
Review: Mr. Palahniuk is obviously very intelligent, very witty, and very talented. For me though, morbid fascination is not a substitute for sympathy where character development is concerned and the overtly inelegant way irony, metaphor, and other literary devices are displayed (kind of like prostitutes in Amsterdam's red light district), while hyper- or maybe metaliterary, is also pretty tedious after a hundred pages or so. The book did successfully transfer feelings of self-deprecation, emotional masochism, and being unsatisfied from the antagonist to the reader - not through any connection to the character but through the act of reading; I can think of far more efficient ways to evoke those feelings than by reading fiction. (Kudos, though, for the self-fulfilling effect - clever.) This is the first CP I've read and I'll try another, but this one didn't appeal. (What's that? My senses of disinterest and vacuousness are *exactly the point*? So, so clever! See also: self involved. See also: dull.)
Rating: 
Summary: Wicked, mordant and liberating
Review: I happened to stumble upon this book by accident... or was it destiny? Anyway, I quickly realized that Palahniuk was the author of Fight Club and instead of getting that book (having seen the movie already), I decided to go for Choke. And what a wonderful choice I had made! I devoured the book in two days and the thing that stroke me the most was how much I related to the book. No, I'm neither a sex-addict nor do I work in Colonial Dunsboro; I was raised by a single mother. I quickly related to Victor in the sense of having to be attached to your mother in more ways than one: you hate her and love her for that very reason. I don't know whether Mr. Palahniuk was raised by a single mother as well (after reading Fight Club & Survivor I could almost say he was) but the way he presents the mother-son relationship is so genuine and honest that anyone raised by both parents can quickly relate to Victor's story. In Choke, Palahniuk reminds us that without a "damsel in distress" there can be no "knight in shinning armour", and that we have the power to choose between both roles. As with Palahniuk's other works, this book discusses several subjects among them hope. Let us never forget that life is what we make of it and that we'll always have the power to change the course of our lives as long as we have hope and the will to change it.
Rating:
Summary: Better than the rest
Review: I liked this book more than many other that I've read recently. Having read Palahniuk's Fight Club, I was not surprised by this book. But that's a good thing. I liked Fight Club and I was hoping I would like this one as well. Which I did. It's a good, quick read. Just don't read it if you're looking to cheer yourself up.
Rating:
Summary: The best book I've read in a while...
Review: If you are a fan of past Chuck Palahniuk novels (Fight Club, Survivor), Choke certainly will not disappoint you. Like his previous books, it is thought provoking, entertaining, easy to read, and above all...filled with the black humor that has become Palahniuk's staple. Not for those easily offended by descriptions of kinky sexual acts of the most perverted kind. The main character is a non-recovering sex addict, who uses staged choking incidents in various restaurants to get money to pay for his ailing mothers treatment. There isn't anything extremely special about him...or is there? Palahniuk does an amazing job of immersing us in the world of this sex starved nobody with a tendency for mischief, a rock collecting best friend, and mother with some very odd secrets. The two hundred plus pages go by in a flash, and leave you wanting more. While Fight Club was a bit stronger overall, Choke is easily Palahniuk's second best novel. I highly recommend it to both existing fans of his, and to those who have never read one of his roller coaster ride-like books. Definitely one of the best stories in quite some time.
Rating:
Summary: He really did choke.
Review: Let me start by saying I like Chuck's work. I thought fight club and survivor were very good but this one was substandard. Like alot of his work the characters are one dimensional and that is ok if the action of the plot moves fast enough but sadly this is not the case. None of these characters (except Denny)are sympathetic and I did not connect with any of them. I was struck by how masoginistic our antihero Victor is. As with other of his books chuck uses the protagonist to spout slogans but there were few that we could hold on to. i recomend this book only to those devotees of Chucky P's work who worship him or those who are between the ages of 17-19 They'll like it.
Rating:
Summary: Choke on this
Review: Chuck Palahniuk fabricates an alternative world of delusions and bleakness in Choke. He uses the novel as his canvas to paint shock, black humor, confusion, and irony but at the same time, scattered with gemstones of truth. The development of character and plot flow in one stream of concsiousness toward chaos, therby enforcing his themes. Chuck Palahniuk takes full advantage of the shock effect and lures his audience of young minds into his eccentric world of dark philosophy. The anarchic escapades of our protagonist, Victor Mancini, serves as a vehicle for the authors satirical take on our society. His works certainly cater to mainstream readers yearning for something different.
The author takes pop culture how it's given to him, digests it, and spits it out in the form of Victor Mancinni, a medical school dropout, and blooming sex addict in a 12 step program. At this point he realized all the virtues his mom had taught him were lies.
Victor dines out in bourgeoise restaurants and deliberately chokes on food waiting to be rescued. In the aftermath, these good semaritans sympathesize and send him birthday cards every week, like he was their own child. He learned this during childhood when he almost died eating a corndog.
His facade for this scenario is that he's staying the underdog to contrast with his saviors superiority, claiming that his saviors do this to save themselves. He secretely likes to think that hes putting adventure into peoples lives full of incompletes. The truth is that hes only doing it for the money.
He had hope, goals, promises of impossible happiness if he worked hard enough, suffered, and tried to help others for this is what his mommie told him.
Another example of Victors christ complex, is when he finds an opportunity to fake a scapegoat and starts admitting to crimes that senile old ladies accused him of doing, when he had not committed any at all. "The Titanic thing, I did that. That Kennedy assasination deal, yeah, that was me. The AIDS bug? Sorry. Me, again." For some reason, this sparks compassion into the old wrecks and creates a more peacful living environment at Saint Anthony's Medical Institute.
In the closing of our tale, Victor crosses the line between delusion and psychosis into believing that he is Jesus Christ and says " I want to become a better person." Ironically, when he actually attempts in helping his institutionalized mother in feeding her a ridiculously excessive amount of pudding, she chokes and dies.
Every one of these scenes are portrayed as being very anti-climactic. As excitement is built up it takes a sudden dive back to nowhere. For him, the only way to make ends meet is to create an alternative reality. To summarize, the plot and character go well together as they progress into psychosis hand in hand. The book is a study of absurdity; one disallusionment preceeding the other. The message of the novel seems ( I say "seems" because the dialougue is coated with messages upon messages that makes the book totally arbitrary; like the readers own working space) to be that one can get ahead in life, or solve a problem, by changing the way we percieve things. Ergo, truth is relative; you escape pain by constructing your own mental environment in a way that comforts you.
The beautiful way in which Chuck Palahnuk describes setting and actions using every literary device to the last detail counterbalances the negative aspects of his philosophy and makes the book easy to swallow. No pun intended.
Rating:
Summary: Back before the Blue Jay sings
Review: I was completely immersed in this novel by Chuck Palahniuk! I found this to be absolutely hilarious. I often found myself laughing maniacally outloud. Victor Mancini is a dreadful man, but you have to love him. I love Palahniuk's ability to make you not only want to find out what happens to this character, but I was actually worried about him, and rooting for him. "If I had a tumor I would name it Ida" Poor Victor. I thoroughly enjoyed his episodes at the Nursing home with all the patients, those were precious. Each person he came into contact with you didn't know who to feel more sorry for.
The description of Victor job was so clear, I felt like I have been there. Though not as shocking as Fight Club, the plot twist was surprising and it did leave you a little off center.
I loved it, anyone I have recomended it to loved it! You must go out and buy this book, You must read it when you can laugh out loud, and enjoy all the insanity that flows through this novel effortlessly.
Rating:
Summary: This book got me casually reading again...
Review: In the past few years, I can't say I've picked up a novel I wasn't required to read in college. I loved the movie Fight Club, so I decided to check out another work by Chuck Palahniuk. This novel was so interesting, I could not put it down and had it finished in two days! Palahniuk dark humor and depiction of our most animal instincts was incredible. As dark as the main character is in this book, I think most everyone can identify with some of his thoughts. Palahniuk's style allows you to read quickly and aside from a very few slow parts in the book, I could not wait to turn the page. I recommend this book to anyone, especially those who haven't picked up a book in a while. I liked the book so much, I went out and got a copy of all his other books.
Rating: 
Summary: Must Have!
Review: I was recently introduced to Chuck Palahniuk's work by a friend and I must say.....I have a very good friend now. This book was great! The book did have a slow introduction to the characters but Chuck thew in just the right amount of laugh out loud humor to keep you pressing on. Before you get half way through the book you feel like you personally know these characters in the book. (I swear to god Denny's character was based on an old buddy of mine!) Although the twist at the end wasn't a FIGHT CLUB twist, it was still good. If your into crazy, demented characters with a story line that only gets better by the page, I would suggest this book. As for me, I'm moving onto another Palahniuk book.
Rating:
Summary: Unfulfilled
Review: Palahniuk has a gift for pointing out the obvious and making us grimace, for baring the darkest and blackest parts of what makes us human and forcing us to view them with pure honesty, and I admire him for that. But having the talent to entertain and enlighten doesn't necessarily produce a good novel. Choke left me feeling empty and confused. The sex addiction issues and the dysfuncional mother-son relationship were the well developed themes, but I felt as if nothing gelled together to form a complete statement of intent. Despite a very thorough synopsis of humanity's ailments, the plot just became more and more contrived and ridiculous as the book moved on, and the various 'surprise' endings were disappointing, to say the least because they were not developed; it seemed like they were just thrown together at the last minute to bring things to a close. I enjoyed Fight Club but Palahniuk has failed with this one. Hopefully his next effort will be better.
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