Regular marked price: $14.95Discount Price: $10.17
Cost Savings: $4.78 (32%)Price fluctuation possible.
How soon does it ship: Normal ship time within one day
Shipping? Absolutely FREE if you qualify for Super Saver Shipping.
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: 13614
Studio: Anchor
Other books you might be interested in perusing:
Editor's Notes and Comments:
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 -
Graphic and entertaining. In a good way, of course.
I found the main character absolutely intriguing, and was delighted to read small excerpts from his past every once in a while. The rest of the characters all had a certain charm to them. The first-person narrative was great, and never exasperating.
However, the book seemed to take too much time describing Victor's many sexual encounters, and not enough on his choking experiences.
I knew the main character was a sex addict and all, but isn't the book called Choke?
I found myself sitting between my mom and grandma at Thanksgiving reading a detailed sex scene, looking over my shoulder every few seconds as to make sure they weren't staring at me wide-eyed.
In the end, it made for a very good read, I recommend it to anyone out there who wants something different and refreshing. I can't wait to see the movie, and I can't wait to read it and go through the experience all over again.
Rated by buyers 
-
So maybe I made the mistake of watching the film before I read the book, but I expected the book to be better--and it wasn't. In fact, the book enlightened me to the fact that the author attempts to be evocative, erotic & intellectual with this wannabe-doctor self-made genius of a man. The film, I think, was better because it took out some unnecessary "metaphors" of philosophical proportions. The dialogue seemed artificial, and yes--the book is as inflated as my review appears before you. It was fun looking up all the sex terms I had no idea existed though!
The premise upon which the author wrote the book is I think where the real narrative lies... (see official website).
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 
-
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.
Find other books like this one:
