Rating: 
Summary: Strong, yet funny...Well-written story...
Review: From the author of Fight Club comes a similar novel of twisted characters with lives only Palahnuik could invent. The story of Choke follows the events in a few months of Victor Mancini's life...an avid sex addict, a colonial fair worker, a part-time fake-choker, and so much more. The story unwinds and starts to piece together as you read to form an intricate tale of Victor's struggle to find meaning in his addict-drivin life. A hilarious (and very quick)read for any adult or mature teen looking for something with more honest substance than just about anything else in society today. Highly reccomended. (Warning::Several explicit sex sequences...funny but explicit)
Rating: 
Summary: "Annoying" might not be the right word....
Review: but it's the first one that comes to mind. Having read through most of the customer reviews of this book, I conclude that I may not be giving the author enough of a chance. It appears that those who have read more of his novels cite this as his weakest effort. This book is just so poorly constructed and devoid of originality that I am going to have a difficult time devoting any reading time to Palahniuk's other attempts. I'd also have a difficult time remembering how to spell his name if it weren't emblazoned on the Amazon page as I write. The novel recalls A Confederacy of Dunces in many respects. Both novels have unlikable protagonists with difficult, suffocating mothers. The humor in both works is on about the same sophomoric level as well. Those for whom Toole drew "guffaws" will likely find Palahniuk's lines equally refreshing. This writer tries way too hard at being clever. From its contrived, overworked opening to its "startling" denouement, the novel spins on erratically, never finding any clear direction or viewpoint. Nothing rings true. This is evident in his description of his friend's being placed in the stocks at the Historical theme-park where the narrator works. He relates that the ground in front of the stocks is riddled with animal feces and urine. In reality, why would this be the case? What kind of Jamestown are we talking about here? Certainly not the one that I have experienced. The same sort of fictional license is at work when the narrator describes his co-workers as so-many sexual deviants. In fact all the characters in the novel are sexual deviants. Again, in reality, this would hardly be the case. Of course, all this could be in the narrator's mind, but then what's the point? There is so much interesting and constructive fiction, history and biography on the market today that one would do well to avoid mucking about in this fruitless void.
Rating:
Summary: Strong Stomach Required
Review: Chuck Palahniuk's Choke is about the spiritual self-immolation and reclamation of one Victor Mancini, con artist and sexual addict. Once again Palahniuk makes short work of invoking compassion for his lost boy viewpoint character by daring you to like him in spite of all the reasons not to. And, if you're like me, you do. You pull for Victor even when he's told you not to. You pull for him through the most scatalogical, pornagraphic, manipulated and just plain sick moments of your reading life, and you feel either thrilled or sordid yourself as you are led through all the messed-up elements of his messed-up life. Me, I felt sordid. I wanted to put the book down after the third page, but the writing was too strong and the character too compelling. I gave it four stars because of the writing power, but kind of wish I had never read it at all. I think that, like Fight Club, it's going to be with me for a long time.
Rating: 
Summary: as good as fight club, if not better!
Review: this book totally amazed me. I got it yesterday and I'm now finished reading it today. I literally could not put it down, it kept me interested the entire time , page after page. Not once did the pace slow down and there were several instances where I laughed out loud at what I was reading. I've also read Fight Club and Survivor and so far this one was the most enjoyable for me. Although, perhaps if I had read Fight Club before watching the movie my opinion might be different. The problem with reading Fight Club after watching the movie was that I already knew the story, although the book was different, it wasn't really anything new to me. Regardless, if you have not read Choke, then what are you waiting for? Go out and buy it now, you will not be dissapointed!
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant!
Review: Chuck's a master of what he does, and what he does is out-write everyone out there. If you haven't read it...do. You'll be back to pick up the rest of his work before page 50.
Rating: 
Summary: Chuck Palahniuk "chokes"....
Review: Firstly, I am a fan of Chuck Palahniuk. I've found all his books to be original, refreshing .. if somewhat disturbing. So I had great expectations when I started on his latest book, 'Choke'. Was I disappointed? Well, let's see. I expected an original, thought-provoking story. Unfortunately the story, while original (..about a sexaholic, his strange mother, and his trashed out friends), is not particularly thought-provoking. The characters didn't have the depth or weirdness of those in his other novels. There is an unexpected, and rather good, surprise towards the end of 'Choke' but it wasn't enough to derive any entusiasm. I also expected Palahniuk's brilliant prose, complete with often funny one-liners. Here is an example from 'Choke': "The magic of sez is it's acquisition without the burden of possessions. No matter how many women you take home, there's never a storage problem." Great stuff. Sadly, there were only a handful of such gems in this book (whereas nearly every other page in Palahniuk's other books contained such jewels). Bottom line: a relatively weak, derivative effort by Palahniuk. Fans will be disappointed. Palahniuk newbies should look to any of his other works to appreciate his brilliance.
Rating:
Summary: Good, but not Chuck's best...
Review: Choke tells the story of a guy who is fixated on sex, and his mother. Luckily, this turns out not to be as gross as it sounds. The main character is a recovering sexaholic who works at one of those colonial-era recreations where the workers pretend like they're still living in the 18th century. He is trying to make enough money to get his mother a feeding tube. Needless to say, hilarious hijinks ensue. This book is pretty funny, but doesn't have the deeper meaning that Fight Club had. Its an entertaining read from a very talented author. If you're going to give Palahniuk a try, read Fight Club first. If you like that, then try this one out.
Rating:
Summary: Amazed... Once again
Review: Ever since Chuck Palahniuk's debut novel (FIGHT CLUB) he has brought to us such great novels as (INVISIBLE MONSTERS, and SURVIVOR), his most recent is now CHOKE. Once again, we are transported in the mind of Chuck Palahniuk and now we are told the story of Victor Mancini, a dropout from medical school who devises a scam to pay for his mother's elder care. HE pretends to choke on a piece of food in a restaurant and the person who "saves you" will feel responsible for the rest of his life. If you multiply that, you get a healthy flow of pay checks. The story basically is about Victor finding that his whole existance is a struggle to wrest an identity from overwhelming forces.
Rating:
Summary: Get some therapy
Review: I liked this book enough to finish it, but two things become abundantly clear during the reading: 1) this guy has a problem with women, and 2) this guy has a particular problem with his mother. Those are not, in themselves, bad, it's just that the point is driven home so often that it becomes tiresome. That the mother in the story is referred to as "the mommy" served only to annoy me after about the second time. Palahniuk is a funny, talented writer (I love his stories of the twelve step programs), but he relies too heavily on repetition to enlighten his readers. Chuck, get some therapy, and get over yourself!
Rating:
Summary: how did this book get pubished again?
Review: ... I didnt like the book "Choke" at all. I thought the few characters were degraded and I dont know why any normal person would want to go into the mind of a sex-adict. I thought the characters were undeveloped and vague in my immagination due to the lack of description, as well as primitive in their attitude towards each other as well as sex. If you really read into it, Victor (main character) has a one track mind- sex, and ocasinoally his poor dying mother.....this book was just unenjoyable, unless of course, you would want to spend 200 pages of your time reading about a gutter minded 20 some odd year old kid who is going through all of the sexual desires that any normal human goes through, only he gives into them...I really cant belive this book even got published, what a gross reflection of American culture!
| 
