Choke

published	June 11th 2002 by Anchor
first published	2001
binding	Paperback
isbn	0385720920 (isbn13: 9780385720922)
pages	304
description	Victor Mancini is a ruthless con artist. Victor Mancini is a med-school dropout who's taken a job playing an Irish indentured servant in a colonial-er...more [close] Victor Mancini is a ruthless con artist. Victor Mancini is a med-school dropout who's taken a job playing an Irish indentured servant in a colonial-era theme park in order to help care for his Alzheimer's-afflicted mother. Victor Mancini is a sex addict. Victor Mancini is a direct descendant of Jesus Christ. All of these statements about the protagonist of Choke are more or less true. Welcome, once again, to the world of Chuck Palahniuk. "Art never comes from happiness." So says Mancini's mother only a few pages into the novel. Given her own dicey and melodramatic style of parenting, you would think that her son's life would be chock-full of nothing but art. Alas, that's not the case. In the fine tradition of Oedipus, Stephen Dedalus, and Anthony Soprano, Victor hasn't quite reconciled his issues with his mother. Instead, he's trawling sexual-addiction recovery meetings for dates and purposely choking in restaurants for a few moments of attention. Longing for a hug, in other words, he's settling for the Heimlich. Thematically, this is pretty familiar Palahniuk territory. It would be a pity to disclose the surprises of the plot, but suffice it to say that what we have here is a little bit of Tom Robbins's Another Roadside Attraction, a little bit of Don DeLillo's The Day Room, and, well, a little bit of Fight Club. Just as with Fight Club and the other two novels under Palahniuk's belt, we get a smattering of gloriously unflinching sound bites, including this skeptical bit on prayer chains: "A spiritual pyramid scheme. As if you can gang up on God. Bully him around." Whether this is the novel that will break Palahniuk into the mainstream is hard to say. For a fourth book, in fact, the ratio of iffy, "dude"-intensive dialogue to interesting and insightful passages is a little higher than we might wish. In the end, though, the author's nerve and daring pull the whole thing off--just barely. And what's next for Victor Mancini's creator? Leave the last word to him, declaring as he does in the final pages: "Maybe it's our job to invent something better.... What it's going to be, I don't know." --Bob Michaels Victor Mancini, a medical school drop out, is an antihero for our deranged times. Needing to pay elder care for his mother, Victor has devised an ingenious scam: he pretends to choke on pieces of food while dining in upscale restaurants. He then allows himself to be "saved" by fellow patrons who, feeling responsible for Victor's life, go on to send checks to support him. When he's not pulling this stunt, Victor cruises sexual addiction recovery workshops for action, visits his addled mom, and spends his days working at a colonial theme park. His creator, Chuck Palahniuk, is the visionary we need and the satirist we deserve. [close]
date added	01-04-07 edit book

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Chris rated it:

02/22/08

Read in January, 2008

recommends it for: piss someone off

“Excrement” isn’t the right word, but it’s the first word that comes to mind.
See also: Crap
See also: Absolute penguin shit.

For serious, probably the most pitiful rubbish ever published. Anyone who says ‘for serious’ is a total assclown; it’s that simple. Until having the misfortune of plodding through this drek, I thought I’d read some truly piss-poor shit; I know better now, so I can at least claim to have learned something from the time I invested reading this sealshi...more “Excrement” isn’t the right word, but it’s the first word that comes to mind.
See also: Crap
See also: Absolute penguin shit.

For serious, probably the most pitiful rubbish ever published. Anyone who says ‘for serious’ is a total assclown; it’s that simple. Until having the misfortune of plodding through this drek, I thought I’d read some truly piss-poor shit; I know better now, so I can at least claim to have learned something from the time I invested reading this sealshit.
I didn’t expect to be thrilled, seeing that I only knew one thing about Chucky-P and suspected another; I knew that he was responsible for the garbage that is Fight Club and I was under the impression that he was another one of those nu-skool f-gs that think they’re such hot shit rapping about the absurdist difficulties that have defined their lives (I’ve always just lumped him in the homo-heap of hubris with such untalented wastes of sperm such as Augusten Burroughs and David Sedaris, and have basically always figured if I cared to look on the internet I could probably find a video-blog of them having a 3some). I didn’t know until recently that he actually is queer, and the level of shock I experienced was akin to being told I've blinked today. Just what the world needs; another hack that thinks he’s plumbed the depths of life and has something to say due to the thrilling credentials that he’s gotten effed in the a.

There is exactly one worthwhile sentence in the whole story, and unfortunately, Palahnuik blows this load prematurely on the first page; “If you’re going to read this, don’t bother”. Caveat Lector. I wasn’t about to take heed. Choke is the tale of a regrettable jackass raised by a boringly-over-the-top frenzied mother, who drops out of med school and now works amongst fellow failed nimrods in a slice-of-life recreation of colonial America when he isn’t pretending to choke on food at restaurants as a means of copping free meals and getting people to feel responsible for him after heroically saving his miserable life. For some reason, these people send him money and shit all the time, completely defying my own sense of logic. To show his range, Chucky also has this lameass (Victor Mancini) troll around recovery groups prowling for ass since he’s a life-long sex addict. Someone might correct me, but that sounds familiar. Most authors take decades before they start rehashing their own ideas; Chuck probably couldn’t go three books without resorting to his favorite crutch. The rest of his banal piddle is just trite filler; flashbacks to supposedly-poignant moments when the Mommy escapes to liberate her son from the corralling conformity of life (be advised, all such sequences are hella lame), preposterously insipid and uninspiring sexcapades, and Victor’s bland visits to his mother’s death-bed between shifts at the colonial reenactment which I think were intended to be comedic instead of tedious. Nothing lived up to the acclaim that the book is given: the dialog is stale and dunderheaded, anything intended as social satire comes across as useless due to the particular point of view from which the story is told, and the general concept of some life-long loser needing a hug is just weak. If you’re looking for flimsy characters, rampant cretinism, and pointless appraisals of life, Choke should be the next book on your reading list. If you like your characters a little beefier with something interesting to say and perhaps a purpose, pick up The Fountainhead.

At this point I have to say I’m done with the new homo-hilarity genre, having found absolutely nothing worthwhile in Dry or Running With Scissors by Augie-B, thought that Dress Your Family…by Sedaris was trash, and now Choke...... I’m thinking maybe it’s time to find a real realm of literature, maybe those Supernatural Erotica series, or Alternate History concerning such enlivening figures as Pol Pot or Idi Amin.
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Max rated it:

09/23/07

Read in September, 2007

I'm getting tired of Chuck Palahniuk.
This the fifth book I've read by him and I wasn't the least bit thrilled. I hate it when authors get formulaic. And I hate it even more when it's from an author that I really really like. I can't read Dean Koontz, Michael Crichton, and others because of this. And loved their stories! It's just that I figured them out. I knew what to expect. And what's even worse than that, is that I knew who the characters would be. I knew their mannerisms, their quirks, t...more I'm getting tired of Chuck Palahniuk.
This the fifth book I've read by him and I wasn't the least bit thrilled. I hate it when authors get formulaic. And I hate it even more when it's from an author that I really really like. I can't read Dean Koontz, Michael Crichton, and others because of this. And loved their stories! It's just that I figured them out. I knew what to expect. And what's even worse than that, is that I knew who the characters would be. I knew their mannerisms, their quirks, their motivations.
Because these authors never change them.
I don't want to say anything negative about the quality of their writing or the quality of the story. They're all great; they wouldn't be best sellers otherwise. I'm just bored with the same thing over and over again.
Choke gave me nothing new from Palahniuk. I opened the book and I instantly knew who I was dealing with. I understood the ancillary characters.
First of all, since reading Edgar Allen Poe in high school, I now know to never trust a first person narrative. It's just a too too skewed perception. Authors use it for misdirection. And Palahniuk is no stranger to misdirection. His readers expect a twist, so he hints at an obvious one. Well, his readers now know not to fall for the obvious one so we look for clues for the real twist. And that's when people stop taking Palahniuk seriously.
Just look what happened to Shyamalan when he wanted to tell a good story, just without a twist. People didn't want that.
He's a good writer and story teller, but people now want only one thing from him: a Fight Club-esque twist. Isn't this the type of thing that his characters actually fight against? To turn the mores and expectations of society on their ears? And here he is, pandering to that.
Or maybe that's the only thing he can do, and that is somehow even more disappointing.
Then, each of his characters must have a "thing." A quirk, something unusual that they do, that actually has nothing to do with the story. It's to make these characters seem more unique, but in reality, it just makes them seem Palahnuik-esque. And that's not a real person; it's a caricature.

I remember knowing someone who once told me about a conversation she was having with a friend. The entire time they were having this conversation they were taking out every screw they could see in the girl's restroom they were in. Why were they doing this? Who knows. I thought it was brilliantly strange and unique and "Palahnuik-esque" for them to do that. It's great when it happens every once in a while...but when every Palahniuk character does this, all the time...it just seems silly.
And redundant.
I like Palahnuik's writing and story telling style. When I first saw Fight Club, it blew me away. I knew I would love the book. And I did. And what surprised me was how much more and differently, I liked the book. While the twist is the same and a lot of the same things happen, the book, it turns out, was more intense. And funny.
Next came Invisible Monsters. Even though I was expecting a twist, I loved it. Each character had weird quirks that, at the time, made them very interesting. Plus, this was the only book I've ever read to ever make my stomach queasy. Believe me, I'm jaded and there's nothing new under the sun for me. The most disgusting and revolving horror movie will never make me flinch, but Palahniuk did it.
When I read Diary: A Novel, I was interested. It was a wholly unique and exciting idea. One, that I would never expect to have interested me. The book is a Diary of a character reading another diary. Exciting, right?
And then came Lullaby. Talk about putting me to sleep. Nothing was new under that sun. Every quirk, every "unexpected" twist was dry to me. It was an interesting story, but I was no longer interested.
And that's how I feel about Choke. It's an interesting and well written story...just one that I'm no longer interested in.
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Amy rated it:

04/16/07

Read in January, 2003

Excerpt:

"Here, I'm supposed to tell her the truth. I admire addicts. In a world where everybody is waiting for some blind, random disaster or some sudden disease, the addict has the comfort of knowing what will most likely wait for him down the road. He's taken some control over his ultimate fate, and his addiction keeps the cause of his death from being a total surprise.

In a way, being an addict is very proactive.

A good addiction takes the guesswork out of death. There is suc...more

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Mike rated it:

11/18/07

bookshelves: favorites

"There is no human soul, and I am absolutely for sure seriously not going to fucking cry."

reading a chuck palahniuk novel is like one of those long booze-soaked all-night discussions with someone you've just met. by the end of it you're convinced that you've solved all the world's problems, and how to proceed seems so clear. once you wake up in the morning you remember how good it was, but details are hazy and the big plans are gone.

his books all share similar themes, but i fi...more

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Jo Ann rated it:

10/17/07

Read in January, 2004

By the author of FIGHT CLUB, which I loved. Interesting. Very interesting. It didin't sweep me away, but I somehow appreciated it more months & years later. I like books like that. Sometimes they're not as fun to read at the time but they stay with you-make u think (God forbid!)
review
VVictor Mancini is a ruthless con artist. Victor Mancini is a med-school dropout who's taken a job playing an Irish indentured servant in a colonial-era theme park in order to help care for his Alzheimer's-a...more By the author of FIGHT CLUB, which I loved. Interesting. Very interesting. It didin't sweep me away, but I somehow appreciated it more months & years later. I like books like that. Sometimes they're not as fun to read at the time but they stay with you-make u think (God forbid!)
review
VVictor Mancini is a ruthless con artist. Victor Mancini is a med-school dropout who's taken a job playing an Irish indentured servant in a colonial-era theme park in order to help care for his Alzheimer's-afflicted mother. Victor Mancini is a sex addict. Victor Mancini is a direct descendant of Jesus Christ. All of these statements about the protagonist of Choke are more or less true. Welcome, once again, to the world of Chuck Palahniuk.
"Art never comes from happiness." So says Mancini's mother only a few pages into the novel. Given her own dicey and melodramatic style of parenting, you would think that her son's life would be chock-full of nothing but art. Alas, that's not the case. In the fine tradition of Oedipus, Stephen Dedalus, and Anthony Soprano, Victor hasn't quite reconciled his issues with his mother. Instead, he's trawling sexual-addiction recovery meetings for dates and purposely choking in restaurants for a few moments of attention. Longing for a hug, in other words, he's settling for the Heimlich.
Thematically, this is pretty familiar Palahniuk territory. It would be a pity to disclose the surprises of the plot, but suffice it to say that what we have here is a little bit of Tom Robbins's Another Roadside Attraction, a little bit of Don DeLillo's The Day Room, and, well, a little bit of Fight Club. Just as with Fight Club and the other two novels under Palahniuk's belt, we get a smattering of gloriously unflinching sound bites, including this skeptical bit on prayer chains: "A spiritual pyramid scheme. As if you can gang up on God. Bully him around."
Whether this is the novel that will break Palahniuk into the mainstream is hard to say. For a fourth book, in fact, the ratio of iffy, "dude"-intensive dialogue to interesting and insightful passages is a little higher than we might wish. In the end, though, the author's nerve and daring pull the whole thing off--just barely. And what's next for Victor Mancini's creator? Leave the last word to him, declaring as he does in the final pages: "Maybe it's our job to invent something better.... What it's going to be, I don't know." --Bob Michaels...less

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Austin rated it:

03/07/08

recommended to Austin by: I Read It At Work When It Came Out
recommends it for: Palahniuk Fans

Chuck Palahniuk cannot end a book to save his life; none of the ones I've read were very satisfying in the end. But what he does do - extremely well - is tell short, interesting, and often funny anecdotes that are nearly all based on real, actual events that happen to people every day, and that is not something to be taken lightly.

If it could be read as a series of events that are all interesting in and of themselves, Choke would be his best book, a hilarious and compelling series ...more Chuck Palahniuk cannot end a book to save his life; none of the ones I've read were very satisfying in the end. But what he does do - extremely well - is tell short, interesting, and often funny anecdotes that are nearly all based on real, actual events that happen to people every day, and that is not something to be taken lightly.

If it could be read as a series of events that are all interesting in and of themselves, Choke would be his best book, a hilarious and compelling series of slice-o-life narrative and takes you to your own backyard and points dramatically at the insects that live beneath the nearby rocks (or, in this case, inside tin-pans full of beer). However, when he tries to create connective tissue that ties these bits together, he often falls flat, and leaves me wanting more than he can deliver.

Don't get me wrong, this book is worth your effort. The story about the girl who wants to be mock-raped, and her continual frustration at her partner's inability to "do it right" is fantastically funny, and their "masturbation race" at the end made it a little difficult to not laugh when I went back to work. (In fact, most of the book centers around sex, in lots of extremely perverse ways. Sadly, it is rarely sexy, but very, very funny.)

Then you realize what you're laughing about. And now that's funny, too. It's something that Palahniuk does extremely well. However, when the end comes stumbling toward you, there is a sense that the effort to tie it all together falls short. All the elements themselves are fantastic, but to force them to be parts of a larger whole seems to miss the point of what makes them work as scenes. The title itself refers to what is ultimately such a small amount of the book, perhaps a nod to the fact that he himself sees that as the strongest part, which is not a ringing endorsement.

Still, check it out from the library and give it a shot. You won't loose any money, and it's a quick weekend read. And then you'll have something really dirty to bring up at your next fancy dress party, which is always a good way to make friends. ...less

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amanda rated it:

10/23/07

bookshelves: 50booksin07

Read in August, 2007

When I first started reading Palahniuk a few years ago, this was definitely the one I was most interested in. However, I was never able to find a copy. Victor Mancini is a med-school dropout, which is only because he needed to find a fulltime job immediately to pay for his ailing mother’s care (three grand a month). He’s making six bucks an hour at a colonial theme park, so obviously that monthly $3000 isn’t coming in from that. To bring in enough money he pretends to choke on his dinner a...more

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Johnsergeant rated it:

12/21/07

bookshelves: audiblecom, audiobook

Read in January, 2003

Downloaded from Audible.com

Narrator: Chuck Palahniuk
Publisher: Random House Audible, 2002
Length: 7 hours and 10 min. (abridged)

Publisher's Summary
Fight Club, Chuck Palahniuk's controversial and blazingly original debut novel, introduced a fresh and even renegade talent to American fiction, one who has retooled the classic black humor of Terry Southern and Kurt Vonnegut for the lunacy of the millennial age. In this novel, Choke, he gives listeners a vision of life and love and sex and mort...more

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Madeline rated it:

06/25/08

bookshelves: the-list

"If you're going to read this, don't bother.
After a couple pages, you won't want to be here. So forget it. Go away. Get out while you're still in one piece.
Save yourself.
...
What happens here is first going to piss you off. After that it just gets worse and worse."

I always feel a little stupid reviewing a Chuck Palahniuk book. It always seems like a futile effort. Especially with Choke, which opens with the above quote. How can...more

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Nathan rated it:

10/07/07

bookshelves: books-i-hope-die, fiction

Read in May, 2007

recommends it for: Martians who aren't sure whether or not to settle here.

Wow! A book about a suburban white boy with low self-esteem and mommy issues! How novel! I've been told time and again by friends I otherwise respect to read Chuck Palahniuk. Well, I finally did, and it made me realize I've got too many friends. Choke is deeply funny in places, but at times it very much does not feel like it has any kind of natural rhythm, and it often seems contrived purely for the sake of the sick laugh. I haven't lost faith in Palahniuk and will probably read something else b...more

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Danica rated it:

06/10/08

Read in June, 2008

this is my second book in a row that fits in the "books i'm embarassed about when some dude is reading over my shoulder on the subway on the way to work." first "american psycho," now this. i'm must be getting a rep on the 2/3 train as being a total perv that dresses in nice suits.

but i digress. i enjoyed this book. it's my first palhaniuk book, and it's definitely piqued my interest in reading more of this stuff (i think i'll read "survivor" next, after i f...more

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Tyler rated it:

06/10/07

Read in February, 2007

This book is subversive and awesome, a real thought-provoker. Just look at these quotes:

"Language was just our way to explain away the wonder and the glory of the world. To deconstruct. To dismiss. People can't deal with how beautiful the world really is. How it can't be explained and understood... We don't live in the real world anymore. We live in a world of symbols."

"People had been working for so many years to make the world a safe, organized place. Nobody realized h...more

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Heather rated it:

05/29/08

Read in April, 2008

Hm, wow. I've heard that Mr. Palahniuk's first novel (ha-ha, i typed that by accident as "nicel", which is fitting) was too "safe", not shocking enough, according to would-be publishers. He fumed, and sat down to write the most shocking thing he could, which was Fight Club. I saw the movie before i knew it was a book, and enjoyed it terribly; now i hesitate to read the book, as i wouldn't want to ruin the film. Oh, how backwards that is.
Anyway! On to Choke: He cer...more

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Pwntalive rated it:

(review of isbn 0385501560)

08/10/07

Read in July, 2007

recommends it for: chestnut junkies

I liked all of chucks books on some level. but only a few of them really grabbed me by the booboo. this was one of them.

Following chucks gross out style and familiar character arcs, we trace the path of yet another outsider with emotional problems. This guys a sex adict. He attends 12 step meetings to pick up on other "sex-aholics". Works as a colonial re-inactor during the day, pretends to choke in restaurants to earn extra money at night. The money goes to help his dying mother, ...more

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Ben rated it:

04/18/08

Read in April, 2008

I cannot fault the author for trying to introduce his audience to a potentially interesting character, Victor. He’s a med school dropout (who appears very knowledgeable in the medical field anyway) currently working at a living museum of an 18th century remake of some American town. There are two activities that Victor engages in and I have difficulty deciding which one was more awkward - that fact that he is a sexaholic or the fact that he likes to go to nice restaurants and pretend to choke ...more

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Kristen rated it:

07/04/08

bookshelves: read-2008

I just finished this book and mentally I am pretty worn out. He actually says some pretty meaningful things in very quick random bursts. I have to stop and think about the statement, irrelevant to the story line at the time. I liked this book, but it isn't for the enjoyment, it is for the shock of it. Reality is always more perverse than we can ever dream and this story seems real to me. My favorite part is where the mother is painting his shadow on the cliff wall in order to remember him l...more

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Lisa rated it:

04/23/08

Read in April, 2008

recommended to Lisa by: Nora's Dad
recommends it for: no one I liked

If I could give it negative stars, I would. So many things I didn't like about the book...here's a few in list format!

1. No paragraphs...only phrases. It's hard to feel like youre reading a complete thought, when....you're not.
2. I know using the word "Dude" is addictive, but oddly enough, it's even more annoying to read it over and over than to hear/say it.
3. The way he always (and when I say always, I mean every time, every other page) referred to his penis as his 'dog' was n...more

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Monk rated it:

11/25/07

bookshelves: modernlit

Read in January, 2002

You know, it's really messed up what a person will do to get some extra bucks.

The protagonist in the story is a man in a miserable life. He works in a colonial recreation town, he attends seminars and support groups for things that don't pertain to him. He has a destructive relationship with a woman as screwed up as he is. But, he has a new angle.

One night, after almost choking to death in a restaurant, he is saved by a helpful patron and saved. A few days later, the man tracks him down ...more

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Johntaylor1973 rated it:

10/05/07

Read in June, 2002

recommends it for: Anyone who loved Fight Club

Victor Mancini is a very troubled guy. From his sex addictions to his mother issues to Palahniuk's favorite well to draw from--the disillusioned 30 something who is trying to find his personal Jesus--Choke is BY FAR my favorite of Chuck's books to read.

The last one I read, Haunted, was extremely uninteresting and forced, but I digress.

Choke starts out both shocking and hilarious, and I read the entire book in one happy sitting. His misadventures in the old-timey town, his quest to buil...more