false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1179207875m/890213.jpg 29059 28 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 <I>Choke</I> are more or less true. Welcome, once again, to the world of Chuck Palahniuk. <p> "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.<p> 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 <I>Another Roadside Attraction</I>, a little bit of Don DeLillo's <I>The Day Room</I>, and, well, a little bit of <I>Fight Club</I>. Just as with <i>Fight Club</i> 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."<p> 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." <I>--Bob Michaels</I> 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. 3185242 2001 Choke total:23037|5:4917|4:8209|3:6791|2:2310|1:810| 23037 83224 29150 2093 29059 0385720920 9780385720922 21748 1963 3.61 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255655585m/29059.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29059.Choke 1 24 false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Jan 13 17:29:01 -0800 2008 Fri Feb 22 21:30:07 -0800 2008 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...more...]]> 29059 0385720920 9780385720922 21748 1963 3.61 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255655585m/29059.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29059.Choke 5 18 false Mon Sep 17 19:53:41 -0700 2007 Sun Nov 18 14:01:37 -0800 2007
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 worl...more...]]> 29059 0385720920 9780385720922 21748 1963 3.61 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255655585m/29059.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29059.Choke 1 11 false Wed May 09 22:48:41 -0700 2007 Mon Oct 08 09:36:07 -0700 2007 more...]]> 29059 0385720920 9780385720922 21748 1963 3.61 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255655585m/29059.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29059.Choke 3 8 false Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun Sep 23 12:20:36 -0700 2007 Sun Sep 23 12:26:14 -0700 2007 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 th...more...]]> 29059 0385720920 9780385720922 21748 1963 3.61 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255655585m/29059.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29059.Choke 4 16 false Wed Jun 25 09:52:11 -0700 2008 Wed Jun 25 10:11:15 -0700 2008 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."...more...]]> 29059 0385720920 9780385720922 21748 1963 3.61 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255655585m/29059.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29059.Choke 1 6 false Tue May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Wed Sep 12 18:23:40 -0700 2007 Sun Oct 07 14:49:03 -0700 2007 more...]]> 29059 0385720920 9780385720922 21748 1963 3.61 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255655585m/29059.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29059.Choke 2 4 false Fri Nov 05 00:00:00 -0800 2004 Wed Oct 22 18:18:54 -0700 2008 Wed Nov 05 15:24:41 -0800 2008
The first was at an Olive Garden with my mother, where an extremely lanky busboy had to give me the Heimlich to dislodge a chunk of poorly chewed steak consumed during a meal of Alfredo.

The second involved another steak-relat...more...]]> 29059 0385720920 9780385720922 21748 1963 3.61 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255655585m/29059.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29059.Choke 4 5 false Thu Aug 28 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Jun 04 08:18:45 -0700 2008 Thu Aug 28 20:25:04 -0700 2008 more...]]> 29059 0385720920 9780385720922 21748 1963 3.61 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255655585m/29059.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29059.Choke 1 3 false Wed Apr 23 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Feb 25 08:50:22 -0800 2008 Wed Apr 23 13:32:41 -0700 2008
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,...more...]]> 29059 0385720920 9780385720922 21748 1963 3.61 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255655585m/29059.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29059.Choke 3 4 false Tue Feb 12 13:55:26 -0800 2008 Fri Mar 07 10:19:40 -0800 2008 more...]]> 29059 0385720920 9780385720922 21748 1963 3.61 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255655585m/29059.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29059.Choke 4 3 false Thu May 29 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Aug 13 22:48:03 -0700 2007 Fri May 30 06:59:18 -0700 2008
Seriously, this book is WEIRD. But, having said that, it's what made it so entertaining. The story never really WENT anywhere, though the ending was a surprise. The whole book was random, jumping from ...more...]]> 29059 0385720920 9780385720922 21748 1963 3.61 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255655585m/29059.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29059.Choke 1 4 false Sun Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Jun 12 08:55:08 -0700 2008 Mon Jun 16 13:20:45 -0700 2008
Franzen's The Corrections, Roth's Portnoy's Complaint, and BBE's American Phycho are not in my favorites by any stretch of the imaginati...more...]]> 29059 0385720920 9780385720922 21748 1963 3.61 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255655585m/29059.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29059.Choke 5 3 false Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2003 Wed Nov 28 09:45:14 -0800 2007 Wed Nov 28 12:30:04 -0800 2007 more...]]> 29059 0385720920 9780385720922 21748 1963 3.61 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255655585m/29059.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29059.Choke 5 3 false Thu Feb 28 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Feb 13 09:02:29 -0800 2008 Thu Feb 28 08:32:26 -0800 2008 more...]]> 29059 0385720920 9780385720922 21748 1963 3.61 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255655585m/29059.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29059.Choke 4 2 false Wed Feb 18 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Feb 15 07:20:59 -0800 2009 Wed Feb 18 13:42:07 -0800 2009 1 more...]]> 29059 0385720920 9780385720922 21748 1963 3.61 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255655585m/29059.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29059.Choke 3 2 false Sun Nov 30 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Thu Nov 27 20:09:48 -0800 2008 Sun Nov 30 18:23:13 -0800 2008 more...]]> 29059 0385720920 9780385720922 21748 1963 3.61 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255655585m/29059.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29059.Choke 3 2 true Fri Aug 08 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Jul 29 12:15:51 -0700 2008 Fri Aug 08 13:41:18 -0700 2008 more...]]> 29059 0385720920 9780385720922 21748 1963 3.61 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255655585m/29059.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29059.Choke 5 2 false Sat Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2002 Fri Oct 05 00:51:46 -0700 2007 Fri Oct 05 00:59:41 -0700 2007
The last one I read, Haunted, was ...more...]]> 29059 0385720920 9780385720922 21748 1963 3.61 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255655585m/29059.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29059.Choke 5 2 false Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2003 Mon Apr 16 11:20:41 -0700 2007 Mon Apr 16 11:26:17 -0700 2007
"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...more...]]> 29059 0385720920 9780385720922 21748 1963 3.61 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255655585m/29059.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29059.Choke 3 2 false Thu Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Fri Apr 06 12:52:41 -0700 2007 Sat Apr 07 13:33:09 -0700 2007 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=890213