Choke

Rating:
Summary: Great fun!
Review: This is definately the funniest book I've read so far this year!

Rating:
Summary: OK - Not as innovative as Survivor
Review: This book had an intersesting premise but was very choppy comapred to Chuck's other work. It was very explicative (which I don't mind when it adds to they story but it seemed like it was more for shock value). All in all a quickly forgotten novel but keeps your attention.

Rating:
Summary: HORRIBLY ENGAGING BUT SHALLOW
Review: Is it just me, or does this book read like a screen play? My feeling after completing this book was that it had been Chrichton-ized. That is, neatly tailored & compacted with enough interesting stuff to fill the 90 minute bill (i.e. Timeline). Curt little chapters with engaging set-pieces; the rocks filling the kitchen being the most memorable. Of course I am being cynical, the ardent fan would say that the choppy style and unrealistic hooks are absolutely brilliant and designed to steer the reader into this hellish other dimension where the actors at your local Jamestown reenactment are a bunch of drug addicts lorded over by a satanic "boss." This book, like the movie Fight Club, will leave you either loving it or hating it.
Bottom Line: This is a trippy little story that I'm betting will eventually be making it to a movie theater near you. Parts of it are really inventive - slug trap drinking binge, indeed. But overall this is a story that does not live up to the sum its parts.

Rating:
Summary: Crude, Thought Provoking and Hilarious
Review: Choke is the second Chuck Palahniuk book I've read; the first was Survivor. By now I've gotten the impression that all of Palahniuk's books are very similar in style, and a very unique style at that. Choke is an excellent representation of what's going on in this author's head.

It's hard to categorize this novel, but if I had a gun to my head, I would say it's about 25% drama, 75% comedy. If that sounds like a strange mix, then you already have a feel for this book. Although quite twisted, the story is straight-forward and moderately paced. There's not a whole lot of action in this book, but that's certainly not a bad thing. The main character likes to go on and on describing his thoughts on life and its problems. This is where most the humor slips in. The author definitly went out of his way to make this novel funny. It had me laughing out loud more times than I can count, in a way only Palahniuk can.

Mixed in with this incredible amount of dark humor is what I would consider "crude philosophy". By that, I mean thoughts that are presented in disturbing and unpolished ways. Although "unpolished" might be the wrong word, because most of it fits into the surrounding humor like a piece in a puzzle. It's crude on the level that you have to allow yourself to open up to it. To fully appreciate Choke, the reader needs consider the troubled, angst-filled thoughts of the main character before dismissing them, regardless of how wrong or ridiculous they sound.

Now, with that said, this is a very fun and easy read, as long as you're not easily offended... and if you are easily offended, what are you doing buying Chuck Palahniuk books for Heaven's sake!

Rating:
Summary: SUB PAR
Review: I forget how i came across this book, maybe it had to do with fight club, a great film. i never read the book. anyway, about the book. it jumps around way too much. the beginning was a chore to read and get used to. i dont see what all the hoopla is about with this, it really isnt anything great. there are some original ideas in it, that are weird. Chuck writes some interesting sentences, some good descriptions, but i didnt find the plot very satisfying. its just okay, nothing great. oh well, hope this helped.

Rating:
Summary: Anything for attention
Review: Chuck Palahniuk has his themes down at the point of "Choke". His protagonist, Victor Mancini is partially self-loathing but attempting to redeem himself. His friend, Denny is at worst one of the most screwed up piles of nerouses.

Victor is a sexaholic, a scam artist desperate to pay for his ailing train wreck of a mother who much of his self-loathing is directed at and is created by. He scams to be touched, to bring meaning to others lives, to make them his emotional parents who will dote on him with money and affection. He makes them feel special by choking at nice restaurants where there look to be well to do patrons.

As a day gig he works in a theme village which results in many of his scenes as caretaker with Denny.

At once a dispicible charater, one he makes not question of in the narrative, we still feel for him as he hurtles down the road towards rock bottom, again a typical Chuck Palahniuk theme.

Beyond trying to give away the plot or even explain too much of it some differences are clear in Choke compared to Fight Club and Survivor. The pace is a bit slower and there is more empathy engendered towards Victor and Denny. In fact all the characters while deeply flawed are very human and often humaine which is a bit different from Palahniuk's usual mode of character development.

While still a fast paced, tightly written novel Choke shows a lighter side, mind you when I say lighter I'm saying bleak rather than morbid, but it's there and welcomed.

You feel for these characters. There is a delusional segment that runs in Choke as in Palahniuk's previous books but this time it is a sad and well meaning situation instead of the flaming train wrecks from characters degenerating in previous books.

There is even hope in Choke. To me it is a sign that Palahniuk is examining his ideas and testing new waters. Think of Choke as a quest style book. It is less broad in it's spanse but focuses more on the duality in humans in a way that is sad and elegaic.

Another strong Chuck Palahniuk novel.

Rating:
Summary: Definition of Deus Ex Machina
Review: While still excellent, I was grossly disappointed by the lack of depth in the ending of this novel. Palahniuk's sophomore effort, following the cult classic "Fight Club," ended up like most writers' with excellent first novels: woeful.

Despite the way this review started off, I did like the book. Victor Mancini is as Palahniuk-esque as can be, and the plot line is refreshing and original. It just all goes downhill when Palahniuk tries another Fight Club-ish trick ending, and, unfortunately, it doesn't work out. So many questions left unanswered, so many loose ties well, untied, the author scrambled to finish the novel in the last, oh say, 20 pages.

Let me rephrase: compared to other novels, this effort was spectacular. Compared to Palahniuk's other works, however, it was bleak.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting.
Review: I had high expectations for this book after reading and seeing Fight Club. It has a great twist in the end, but between the pages the story seemed drawn out and I eventually became bored of the stories on masturbation and sex. It wasn't a waste of time, but I probably won't read it again.

Rating:
Summary: A Dearth of Redeeming Character
Review: 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

Rating:
Summary: It's a bizarre little world we live in.
Review: It's a bizarre little world we live in when biblical fiction and sex addiction can get incorporated into the same dark book. Palanhiuk definitely commands attention with his writing style and his use of repetition. Anyone who liked 'Fight Club' will be enthralled by the quality writing, and appauled by the exaggerated preoccupation with sex this novel has to offer.