A Review of Choke by Chuck Palahniuk

Choke, by Chuck Palahniuk, is a 2001 novel following the life and actions of sex addict Victor Mancini. Written out of chronological order, Choke flashes between Victor's present life and his unrooted upbringing with his conspiracy theorist/activist mother. The title refers to the fact that Victor has begun to fake choking on food in expensive restaurants to elicit "Good Samaritan" behavior from other patrons. Victor takes advantage of the kindness of these strangers and uses the charity money they give to him for various fictitious maladies to pay his mother's nursing home bill. Despite the generally good reviews of Palahniuk's work that I have heard and read in the past, Choke did not live up to my expectations.

Choke was my first introduction to Palahniuk's written work. I had seen the movie Fight Club prior to reading Choke, and I think that this is one of the reasons that Choke seemed stale to me. Again, characters with addictive personalities were employed, as were characters that wished to make a statement about what they considered to be the substandard condition of society. It felt as if the success of Fight Club was used as a crutch in the writing process of Choke.

As the principal character is a sex addict, roughly half of Choke is dedicated to a discussion of sex and sex addiction. For those that are easily embarrassed talking about sex, this book is not for you. Unfortunately, this results in a considerable amount of monotony throughout the book.

While the book could possibly be interpreted as a critique of modern society, Choke ends up being a character study much more than anything, and one that fails to result in any substantial thesis. One could argue that the thesis of the book is that we, as humans, must live in the moment, for nothing really matters. However, this is probably the easiest type of book to write and if the author truly believed it, why did he spend any amount of time writing a book, other than to make a buck? This thesis, in any book, annoys me to no end due to the investment of money and time that I make in purchasing and reading a work.

I have not read Palahniuk's other works, so I cannot say how Choke compares to his other books. However, I was left unimpressed and cannot say whether or not I will read more of this author's writing. If you are looking for a quick read, perhaps on the beach this summer, Choke is a good choice. If you are looking for substantial, thought-provoking writing, look elsewhere.