Saturday, October 20, 2001
Title: Choke
Author: Chuck Palahniuk
Publisher: Random House
Where to start with a description of Choke is a difficult decision, being the latest book by Chuck Palahniuk, the author who will no doubt be remembered for years to come as the man who wrote Fight Club. Choke is his fourth novel, the first since the infamous Fight Club. This is the story of Vincent who was raised periodically by his mother (who would abduct him every time she got out of prison), but more often by foster families. With this the book flashes back through the times he spent with his mother, and details all the information he filled his head with. His mother is now in a nursing home where dutifully Vincent visits her, but with this it is evident that she is quite mad, and to be honest always has been. This has always provided her with a different way of looking at things, a way that seems to have some validity in an interesting fashion. All of which has undoubtedly has an effect on Vincent, who has dropped out of medical school so he can work to afford her hospital bills. To this end his life is a series of scams and a craply bizarre day job. Along with this Vincent is a sexaholic, so along with the flashes of his childhood we get highly explicit and at times entertaining accounts of his sexual endeavours. Which leads to such classic scenes as the sexaholic meetings - if you do these things then you are a sexaholic, to which Vincent responds "I didn't, but I do now!". Along with Vincent we have his best friend, who is also a sexaholic, who is collecting rocks to prevent himself from masturbating; and then there is the doctor at the nursing home who Vincent has fallen totally for. As with Palahniuk's other work there is a strong sense of a warped humour and view of reality at work, which again leads to a compelling result.
RVWR: PTR
October 2001
