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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN num: 9780385720922
ISBN number: 0385720920
Label: Anchor
Manufacturer: Anchor
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 304
Printing Date: June 11, 2002
Publishing house: Anchor
Release Date: June 11, 2002
Sale Popularity Level: 12629
Studio: Anchor
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Product Description:
Victor Mancini, a medical-school dropout, 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.
Amazon.com Review:
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 subsequent 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
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers -
Well, I didn't this book was that funny and written so smartly, a lot of jokes not only sexual jokes, but those about death are awesome... this is a great book for people who likes jokes and are not afraid of laughing at death, addictions and oder human abilities....
Rated by buyers -
(First published in 2001, this book has been re-released because of the upcoming movie.)
Choke tells the tale of Victor Mancini, a recovering sex-addict and medical school dropout. A story filled with piercing social commentary accented by creative storytelling. Palahniuk presents the personality of Mancini by way of disgusting, yet thought-provoking parallels and phrases in the same vein as a Physician's Desk Reference. A drug-addicted, baby-boomer mother, an overly dependent best friend, multiple urban legends, and a miracle-working doctor all make for an incredibly enjoyable and somewhat disturbing read.
This book was very interesting, and I enjoyed it fully. Palahniuk is one of the better contemporary satirists out there, and Choke is a prime example of his ability. All the characters were well developed and perfectly caricatured. Furthermore, his clever writing style matches the storyline perfectly, and his perverse jumps from sex to grotesqueries to religion keep you reading when you most want to turn away.
What we have learned from Palahniuk with "Fight Club" is that his novels transfer beautifully into film, and I am sure Choke will be no different. This is one of Palahniuk's best works, and I would have no qualms suggesting it to a friend or even stamping it with a parental advisory sticker.
Whether you are a Palahniuk fan or not; this book is well worth the read, and I personally cannot wait to see the film.
Armchair Interviews says: Another book from an edgy writer who gave us "Fight Club.
Rated by buyers 
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I think Chuck Palahniuk has more funny ideas than he really knows what to do with. "Choke" is so stuffed full of them that none of them have a chance to breathe. A protagonist who pretends to be choking in restaurants so that strangers -- check. A group of stoners and losers who work in a strict mock-Colonial village -- check. Seeing the world through the jaundiced eye of a medical school dropout -- check. All of these elements appear in "Choke" and none of them are as funny or effective in combination as they could have been with a little authorial restraint.
This novel was severely bogged down by Palahniuk's stylistic quirks -- phrases that are repeated for emphasis until the reader is sick of them, attempts to shock with explicit sex, and, in this case, a narrator who talks like a Valley Girl. For sure.
It seems like Palahniuk's attention was divided as he wrote this. Too much of his energy went into trying to be transgressive and extreme. Denny and Ida Mancini could have been great characters, but they were overshadowed by Victor's not-very-compelling narrative voice.
Grow up, Mr. Palahniuk, and try again. I believe you have it in you.
Rated by buyers 
-
I have no problem with the fact that this book is pretty much soft-core porn. I do have a problem with the fact that it is trying really hard to be meaninful but it's actually pointless, boring, and dumb. If it wasn't for the dirty parts the freakin thing would be unreadable.
Rated by buyers -
I picked up Chuck Palahniuk's Choke after seeing the movie preview for the same title a few weeks ago. The movie preview made absolutely no sense, was hard to follow, and tough to summarize - as Palahniuk's novel would turn out to be. But the preview was intriguing enough for me to go out and buy the book, and I'm glad I did... sort of.
There really isn't much of a story line to Choke. The book centers on a drop-out med school student, Victor Mancini, who works at a colonial theme-park; fakes choking in restaurants to ultimately pay his mother's institutional bills; and is a raging sexaholic. In a strange twist, he also may be a direct descendant of Jesus Christ.
That pretty much sums up Choke.
The book doesn't so much present a linear story line, as it is a tale of self-discovery for Victor, who is trying to figure out his ancestry as well as why he is the way he is. Along this path, Palahniuk describes detailed sexual situations, gruesome medical conditions and creepy mental disorders that follow Victor from scene to scene. Palahniuk's descriptions are so vivid, in fact, that you'll start to wonder, "Could this ever happen to me...?" And you'll then quickly pray that it does not...
On the plus side, Choke is certainly interesting, moves quickly, and is very funny in some parts. You can knock this out in a long weekend or two, and it's an easy read, especially after trying to absorb The Unbearable Lightness of Being, as I did previously.
But along the same lines, there are better options out there if you're into books about 20- to 30-somethings looking for answers on the road through life.
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