If you pick this book up, don't even bother looking at the back cover, what is written there cannot even begin to tell you what you are about to read. I picked this book up based off of a few different people's recommendations and hearing the author's name dropped by several of my favorite authors. I had been told over and over how absolutely hysterical this book is, so of course I had to read it.First let me warn you this book is not for everyone... in fact it's not for most people, but there is a select group out there that this book is perfect for. In this book you will find addictions, depravity, sex acts of all kinds, death, pain, obsession, profanity, blasphemy, and enough repetition to drive an English major insane. But don't let that stop you from reading... this is actually a very strange yet disturbingly profound book.Short Summary: Our title character is a sex addict who fakes choking in restaurants to make people feel like heroes... he's had a terrible childhood with a completely insane mother who kidnapped him on multiple occasions. She's now in a home and is fast approaching her end, while her son, Victor, attempts to deal with his past, his problems, and his future.If you are looking for a book about redemption, this isn't it. Victor is a failed med student who is riddled with psychological problems raging from sexual addiction to severe childhood trauma. He wanders through life searching desperately for meaning, purpose and hope... all while fighting to keep from being a "good guy." The only truly multidimensional character in the story is Victor, and the book is told stream of conscious from Victor's point of view. Victor behaves badly and fights to mentally defend his behavior to both the reader and himself. We swap between the current day and his childhood, or actually his memories of his childhood which are told with a bitterness not toward his mentally unstable mother, but toward himself.Victor is filled with a deep rooted self loathing that comes across clearly to the reader, however he constantly defends his actions and feelings but his defense is hollow. It is clear that he knows that his life is pathetic and his future is going to be devoid of true happiness should he continue on his current path. As a reader you follow his mental wanderings, excuses, and find yourself hoping that he latches on to something healthy.I don't want to give too much of the plot away, although there really isn't much of a plot. This is more of a character study of an addict, and addict who knows that things should be different but rejects and rebels against society to the point that he cannot even comprehend a healthy existence. As I said this book will not be for everyone, it is harsh, gross, filled with bodily fluids, depraved sexual acts, profanity and bad choice after bad choice. Most of supporting cast is filled with stereotypes and one dimensional jokes, also the way that this is written is very repetitive and the style will be jarring to many readers. It is not an easy read to whip right through due to the way that it is written. I am glad that I read this book, but I don't really know who I know that I would recommend it to.Oh, and yes, parts of this book are very funny... but on the whole I was left feeling rather sad for the people in it. Perhaps I'm just feeling sensitive today, but the hopelessness of the situations that these people put themselves into is a rather sobering idea. The concept that keeps reiterating itself through the book is the idea of reality and who we are, do we create ourselves or do we let society decide who we are... if we try to fight against society are we just dooming ourselves to unhappiness and ultimate misery?
"E se invece Gesù avesse passato la giovinezza a commettere errori?Prima di azzeccare il suo primo miracolo?"Divertente, brillante, delirante, vorticoso. A partire dall'incipit:«Se stai per metterti a leggere, evita. tra un paio di pagine vorrai essere da un'altra parte. Perciò lascia perdere. Vattene. Sparisci, finchè sei intero. Salvati. Ci sarà pure qualcosa di meglio alla tv. Oppure, se proprio hai del tempo da buttare, che so, potresti iscriverti a un corso serale. Diventare un dottore. Così magari riesci a tirare su due soldi. Ti regali una cena fuori. Ti tingi i capelli. Tanto, ringiovanire non ringiovanisci.»Palahniuk è un maestro nel capovolgere gli eventi; le sensazioni stesse che il lettore prova per i suoi personaggi vengono ribaltate senza sforzo, seguendo il corso naturale e bizzarro degli eventi. Il protagonista, Victor Mancini, sessodipendente che vive di espedienti cercando di mantenere la madre in fin di vita, vuole trovare una ragion d'essere, snocciolando critiche sulle miserabili vite degli altri, comprese le nostre:« È pazzesco quanto una donna può fraintenderti se per sbaglio, mentre le affondi il muso tra le chiappe morbide, dici: ti amo. Dieci volte su dieci, l'uomo che pronuncia quelle parole intende dire: amo quello che stiamo facendo.»Il suo amico di sventure, Denny, vive nel suo strampalato mondo dove tutto ha una logica, alla disperata ricerca di un progetto da realizzare..In un film verrebbe definito come la "spalla" del protagonista, in realtà alla fine della storia, anche il suo ruolo si inverte. E nel frattempo ci regala le riflessioni su cui inciampa durante i voli pindarici della sua mente: «A volte è come se fossi io a voler essere picchiato e punito. Va benissimo anche se Dio non esiste, però qualcosa da rispettare lo voglio lo stesso. Non mi va di essere il centro del mio universo.»La madre di Victor, una donna che vive da anni in un nichilismo cosmico, e che ha cresciuto il figlio impartendogli regole di sopravvivenza dalla validità assoluta:«-L'unica frontiera che ci rimane è il mondo dell'intangibile. Tutto il resto è cucito troppo stretto.-Per intangibile la Mamma intendeva Internet, i film, la musica, le storie, l'arte, le voci che corrono, i programmi per computer, tutto ciò che non è reale. Le realtà virtuali. Le simulazioni. La cultura. Perché la realtà non arriva mai al grado di perfezione cui può spingersi l'immaginazione. Perché soltanto ciò che è intangibile, le idee, i concetti, le convinzioni, le fantasie, durano. Le pietre si sgretolano, il legno marcisce. La gente, bé la gente muore.» E poi vi rimane il resto del libro, un carosello di personaggi sbandati, disillusi o troppo creduloni, ma pur sempre umani. Se vi aspettate un linguaggio formale e pulito, avete sbagliato libro. Ma anche in questo Palahniuk è costante. Le espressioni sboccate, il sesso ovunque, la degradazione al massimo livello, son tutti elementi che se all'inizio fan storcere il naso a chi non è abituato, di pagina in pagina diventano elementi indispensabili della storia. E la rendono completa: l'ennesimo ribaltamento del libro. La stellina mancante, è dovuta al fatto, che ho finito di leggere il libro ieri, e come ogni lettura intensa va digerita prima di poterla sigillare con un giudizio definitivo. Però una mezza in più gliel'avrei data volentieri, anche a caldo. Un consiglio, non seguite l'avvertimento dato nell'incipit. Continuate a leggere: ne vale la pena.
What do You think about Choke (2002)?
I have choked in public on two different occasions.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-related dinner at QDoba shared with about a dozen friends. An ambulance was called much to my irritation.Choking, at least in my experience involved vomiting up ropes of phlegm as the body attempts to dislodge the offending article. There's nothing comical about it, and nothing pops out like a cork, splashing comically in someones drink. It is disgusting, it is frightening, and generally feels unpleasant for everyone involved.That's why I can't really view the plot of "Choke" as being all that credible these days. No one who saves you is going to feel like they need to take care of you their whole life.I didn't buy into the strictness of his period correct theme park. I wasn't convinced by his notion that there was loose sex waiting around every corner of society. The notion of any one mother having as many quirky ticks as his did wasn't a sell. There was no plot thread that didn't break my suspension of disbelief. While the flashbacks seem deliberately unrealistic and exaggerrated, the present tense fares only slightly better.And that's the flaw with about half of Palahniuk's novels; they just flat-out don't seem plausible to me. It's just ridiculous in a way that he's trying to sell to the audience as secret facts."Invisible Monsters", "Haunted", and "Snuff" also fall into this category. He goes into waters he doesn't know how to navigate, but never loses the swaggering authority that brought him so much attention with "Fight Club". There was a certain point in each novel where I cried foul and couldn't get back into the setting.So much of "Choke" is like that, which is why I don't understand how it's the favorite of so many Palahniuk fans. The story is ludicrous without being genuinely surreal, and the eye-rolling threatens to damage my vision after a while.The only real saving grace is that good or bad, a book by him won't take a regular reader more than an afternoon to clear, especially since the style is exceptionally breezy, and that's all the recommendation I can really give it.
—Nicholas Karpuk
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 nausiating. Really. Disgusting.4. I never gave a shit about one single person in this book. Not a single one!5. There's a chapter at the very end about having sex on planes. It's the most descriptive and comprehensive chapter in the book, and I can't figure out how it has anything at all to do w/ the plot. I wouldn't be surprised if he wrote this chapter 5 years before even thinking about the plot of this book, and didn't know what else to do with it, so he just stuck it in there. Or, on the other hand, maybe he revolved the entire book AROUND this chapter...like it was the egg and the book is the chicken.And the so-called 'clencher' your hear about in reviews...not so clenching.
—Lisa
If I ever teach a philosophy course, it’ll go like this:Week 1: Socrates, Plato, AristotleWeek 2: AugustineWeek 3: Nietzsche Week 4: PalahniukWeek 5: PalahniukWeek 6: PalahniukWeek 7: PalahniukWeek 8: Palahniuk Week 9: PalahniukWeek 10: PalahniukWeek 11: PalahniukWeek 12: PalahniukI doubt I’ll get tenure, but who wants that anyway?Today, class, we will discuss the finer points of choking as a means of receiving and maintaining love and support. Tomorrow, we’ll learn the implications of learning that one is the ultimate physical manifestation of good. Thursday, we’ll have a look at the idea of building something, anything, without a tangible goal other than the process itself. I’m going to miss class on Friday, but, in my absence, I’d like you all to attend at least one meeting of a support group for those afflicted with sexual addiction. Try to make friends.Class dismissed.
—Caris
