Title: Choke
Author: Chuck Palahniuk
Type: Fiction
Page Count/Review Word Count: 296
Rating: 9/10
When you read a Chuck Palahniuk book, you know what you’re getting yourself into – something awesome, with an alternative twist. Here, we follow the exploits of a guy called Victor Mancini as he wheedles out a living, largely through working at a historical re-enactment theme park or by pretending to choke in restaurants. Palahniuk’s take on this latter profession is interesting – in some ways, Mancini sees himself as performing a vital public service, bringing meaning to people’s lives by allowing them to ‘save’ him. Of course, getting regular cheques through the mail from his saviours, who are looking to continue to save themselves, also helps.
There are plenty of fun little plot devices here, including the idea that Mancini might be the second coming of Christ, after being cloned from Christ’s fossilised foreskin. Like I said, in many ways this is similar to a lot of Palahniuk’s other work – it’s weird, and I like that. And this is just the core of the story line – there are plenty of other weird things going on to keep you entertained, and it’s definitely the sort of book that will keep you turning the pages.
For me, the difficult thing to decide here is whether I’d recommend this over other Palahniuk books – so far, I probably would. I’d say it has an edge over Fight Club and isn’t quite as good as Rant, but the good thing about reading Palahniuk’s work is that it doesn’t really matter which book that you read, because they’re all good and they all make you think. In the end, everyone is different, but if nothing else, this book has the potential to change your life. Go!