Chokecvr
Choke

Choke is a 2001 novel by American author Chuck Palahniuk.  Woopty Doo.  I will start with that.  I read this 7 years ago on the plane to Japan and had forgotten how crap it is…accidentally read it again out of boredom.

Most of us have either read, watched the movie or at least heard someone else talk about Fight Club.  This is for a good reason.  As a book it was intense and fresh.  As a film it was well done and fun to watch.  It even “Made people think.” or something along those lines.

“Choke” sadly, will make you think about little more than going out and buying a new book to read.

From the very first few pages Palahniuk is being gimmicky and cheap and trying to catch his reader in primitive devices that frankly, he should be above.  Each chapter there after is more of the same, with only a few, very few exceptions.

I am not a big fan of giving full reviews or plot summaries.  I think you should go READ something yourself.  I will say however, just so we can have this conversation here, that essentially the main character is a Med school drop out named Victor.  He works at a colonial re-enactment type theme park…or something.  These chapters are fun, interesting and fresh.  Little else in the book is.  So this guy Victor is emotionally all screwed up (big surprise, anyone else read fight club?) and to deal with everything he goes to “sex addict” meetings in order to pick up chicks.

Lame.

Perhaps Palahniuk was trying to be SHOCKING, but he only succeeds in being gross as he rambles on and on about sex related injuries and STD’s and impacted colons and blah blah blah.  Just gross…gross and dull. Painfully dull.

Through out the whole book it is as if Chucky is trying to stand up and say “Hey look everyone! We are morally decadent!” No shit Chuck.

Wake up and smell the left overs.

Out of five stars I give this 2.5 and thats being kind as I liked Fight club.  Read it if you find yourself either stranded on a desert island, locked up with no other literature in a Japanese prison or just immensely bored.