Product Description

Victor Mancini has devised a scam to pay for his mother's medical care: pretend to be choking on a piece of food in a restaurant and the person who "saves" you will feel responsible for the rest of their lives. Multiply that by a couple of hundred times and you generate a healthy income.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5585 in Books
• Published on: 2002
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
We can more or less deduce the following of the main protagonist in Choke; Victor Mancini is a ruthless con artist. Victor Mancini is a medical 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 Alzehimer's-afflicted mother. Victor Mancini is a sex addict. Victor Mancini is a direct descendant of Jesus Christ. Welcome, once again, to the world of Chuck Palahniuk.

"Art never comes from happiness" 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 Palanhiuk territory. It would be a pity to disclose the surprises of the plot but suffice 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 that book and the other two novels under Palahniuk's belt, we get a smattering of gloriously unflinching sound bites, such as this sceptical slight 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 Palanhiuk 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. And what's next for Victor Mancini's creator? Leave the last word to him, declaring as he does on the final pages: "Maybe it's our job to invent something better ... What it's going to be, I don't know." --Bob Michaels, Amazon.com

Brett Easton Ellis
‘Maybe our generation has found its Don DeLillo’

Independent on Sunday
‘Immensely entertaining…An extremely funny account of an outsider stuck inside America.’

Customer Reviews

The guy can't miss
For those who loved FIGHT CLUB, this is probably Palahniuk's second best, and even second best is great. That, along with INVISIBLE MONSTERS and CATCH 22 are some of my favorites. That said, this novel, as with most of the author's works, does not fail to deliver.

The story is that of a sexaholic named Victor Mancini. Victor has an ill mother's whose medical bills are eating him alive. To make money he fakes choking on food in restaurants--the payoof is that the person who saves his life each time feels as if he's done something good. And of course, the money that's involved.

What struck me immediately about this novel was Palahniuk's ability to make the character so real, unlikable, yet human and with vulnerable qualities. I've only know two other books that achieved this: "She's Come Undone" and "Barring Some Unforeseen Accident," and both books are equally riveting. But "Choke" takes a lot more detours and seemingly unimportant events come together at the end.

Another amazing aspect to the author's work is that the writing style is remarkably simple and spare, yet peppered with graphic descriptions and sex. I read somewhere that the majority of readers are women, and while there are certainly some that will wamr to this book, it's really more a "guy's" book, much like "Fight Club." A cult classic, as with all of Palahniuk's work, this one will last the test of time.

"Bizarre" isn't the right word...
Before we get this review started, a word of warning: THIS IS NOT FOR LITTLE KIDS. THIS IS NOT FOR PEOPLE WITH WEAK STOMACHS OR ARE EXTREMELY SENSITIVE.

Okay, with that said, I found Chuck Palahniuk's "Choke" to be a very strange, perverted, dark, and bizarre novel....but it's supposed to be. And, it's a very creative novel, despite if you love the novel or hate it.

I had read "Fight Club" after seeing the movie, and I found the novel to be just as entertaining and creative, if not more. So, I wanted to read another novel by him, so I picked this up. Wow....nothing could've EVER prepared me for this.

"Choke's" main character is Victor; a compulsive sex addict who creates heroes by purposely choking at restaurants and allowing himself to be saved. He does this to feel better about himself, and to help pay for his very sick and dying mother's medical care. And as the story and novel goes on and on, the more twisted and darker it becomes, adding up to one hell of a shocking climax.

The novel is told by the narrator, just like in"Fight Club." He still uses the same sense of thinking, the same amount of sarcasam, and the same dark humor found in "Fight Club." And yet, it's still just as refreshing. I never thought of novels told by the narrator to be all that great, until I read his work.

Again, this is not for kids, and this is not for those who get offended easily. It is a VERY sexually explict novel; I don't think I have ever read anything so sexually graphic! It's going to be one of those books where you're going to be embarrassed to read in public, fearing that somebody just might snatch it out of your hand and start reading it aloud. As intense as the sexual content is, it fits the story.

I found "Choke" to be a really entertaining and thought-provoking novel. Palahniuk has a way with words and knows how to create a very dark world that none of us have ever seen. Again, this novel is not for the weak and sensitive. If you liked "Fight Club," or any of the other novels by Palahniuk, chances are you will enjoy this one as well. While it may not be one I'm going to read over and over again, it is one I am glad that I took the time to read.

Sorry that this review is so short, and believe me, I'd LOVE to tell you more. However, this is a book in which you must be careful how you describe it. If you give too much away, then you just might ruin it for the reader. I feel I have given the right amount of information that you need to know. The great thing about this novel is even after reading the back of the cover, you still don't know where this story is going to go, until it sucks you right in, whether you're ready or not.

"End" isn't the right word, but it's the first word that comes to mind.

The Things We Do for Love
The book begins with this warning: "If you're going to read this, don't bother." This book "is a stupid story about a stupid little boy." And many should follow that advice. The book revels in sexual addiction, fantasies, and mental illness in a way that few will find a happy experience. The story itself is very self-indulgent, because the core theme of the book did not need to be so filled with unpleasant scenes and language. I graded down the book for the degree that this takes place in ugly thoughts and deeds that were not essential to the story's development.

On the other hand, the character development of Victor Mancini, the anti-hero in Choke, is masterful. Mr. Palahniuk has taken on quite a challenge, and pulled it off very well. As someone who loves character development, I was impressed.

If you enjoy the type of humor in the book, savage parodies of our sex-symbol-filled society, you will find yourself laughing aloud in many places. My favorite was the section about hypnosis.

The novel evolves through an alternating combination of flashback and narration of what is occuring in the current time. Obviously mixed in with the currrent narration are fantasies of an extreme nature, usually involving sexual relations. The flashbacks relate to a little boy whose Mother moves erratically in and out of his life.

Victor Mancini is a drop out from medical school who now works at Colonial Dunsboro where he pretends to be an Irish indentured servant from the 18th century. His Mother, Ida, is in a nursing home suffering from Alzheimer's, and Victor is her guardian. Since the $6 per hour he makes at Colonial Dunsboro doesn't pay for much nursing home care, he supplements his income by pretending to choke in restaurants. He does this with great panache until someone saves him. The grateful hero often wants to stay in touch, often sending some money to help Victor out. Do this often enough, and you can pay for nursing home care.

However, it's complicated because his Mother doesn't quite recognize him any more, and she's stopped eating. What should he do?

Much of the story development will strike you as needless repetition, yet it is all carefully calculated . . . so be patient. If you make it all the way to the end, you will like the book and the story much better. In fact, you may find that you will want to read the book a second and third time to rethink what you believed during your first reading. Pay close attention as you go.

After you read this story, you definitely should think about why you do what you do. How much of it is simply a cry for love? Can you find better ways to earn and enjoy love? Perhaps. It's worth exploring.

May you enjoy even more love than you give. Be generous!