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Book Cover - Doubleday
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Novel will 'choke' squeamish
By Dan Crissman
The Flat Hat
For readers who may not enjoy references to drugs, nymphomania, clogged colons and mental deterioration, avoiding "Choke" by Chuck Palahniuk would be a good idea. For those who enjoy reading about the seedier side of life, this book will satisfy.
Palahniuk's works are a welcome change from the normal, humdrum style of today's writers. He always writes in the first person, addressing the reader, and basically recalls a tale in a conversational tone that the reader can almost hear. Every book he writes satirizes some of the prominent traits he sees in the people of modern society. His debut, "Fight Club," is a prime example of his satiric style, as is his incisive follow up, "Survivor."
In "Choke," Palahniuk tackles some of the major issues that men face in their late 20s, albeit in an exaggerated way. The basic plot revolves around the life of the main character, Victor Mancini. Victor has been tormented since childhood by the political shenanigans of his mother, a child of the '60s. She was a person who loved to stage meaningless little pranks meant to break down the pillars of society. At one point she even mixes up the bottles of solution in hair coloring boxes so that the women who buy them will end up with completely opposite hair color than they wanted as a feeble attempt at provoking nonconformity. Throughout his turbulent childhood, Victor's mother would be released from jail and try to reclaim him, always in an unusual way.
Finally, he escapes from his mother and goes to medical school and has a promising career ahead of him. That's when Mother comes back to ruin his attempt at normalcy. In her old age, she gets Alzheimer's disease and needs Victor to drop out of school and get a job to pay for her medical bills. He visits her often, but trying to deal with that kind of mother would make anyone's life unbearable. Victor deals with it by going to sexaholic support groups to meet promiscuous women. This attempt to find companionship actually becomes a sexual addiction, which he feeds in hilarious ways (i.e. trying anal beads from an S&M addict).
The most striking thing about this book is how appropriate it is for the College. Victor's nowhere job is pretending to be a merchant in a place called "Colonial Dunsboro." Through Victor's work, Palahniuk shows the reader the other side of the people that work in Dunsboro, emphasizing that they are real people and have a life outside of the Colonial environment. He hilariously describes the blacksmith's affinity for marijuana, one employee's confinement to the stocks because of his "constitutionals" in the outhouse, and the milkmaid's fame for... well, use some imagination.
The book's name comes from Victor's interesting night job. To keep a steady income, Victor goes to fancy restaurants and pretends to choke in the middle of dinner. A kind person then "saves" him and is willing to do anything to help him get "back on his feet." Having done this hundreds of times, Victor lives on a supply of money-filled birthday cards from his "saviors."
Like Palahniuk's debut, "Fight Club," some very interesting revelations about important characters occur near the end of the book. These revelations warp the perception of these characters and bring the events of the book together in way that is completely unexpected. Like every Chuck Palahniuk book, the ending is a ridiculous exaggeration of everything the main character and the reader fear most.
Aside from the dark issues dealt with, the story itself is extremely funny. The situations are so outlandish that the characters' inability to see the humor in them makes the situations that much funnier.
"Fight Club," which is still Palahniuk's best book, employed many of the same tactics and humor to create its satire. In "Choke," Palahniuk goes even further to create a character that oozes ridiculousness at every turn. Perhaps the fact that he goes so far may be the reason why "Choke" doesn't top "Fight Club."
The best thing about this novel, though, is Palahniuk's use of language and structure. He takes common phrases and makes them have symbolic meaning in the context of the story. Palahniuk shines at turning everyday language and action into something extra. This book is a prime example of his talent.
Choke - ****
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