Choke (novel): a Review

Choke is a novel by Chuck Palahniuk, the author who brought the world the wonderful story of Fight Club.

This is the book's description taken directly from Shelfari.com: "Victor Mancini, a medical-school dropout, is an antihero for our deranged times. Needing to pay elder care for his mother, Victor has devised an ingenious scam: he pretends to choke on pieces of food while dining in upscale restaurants. He then allows himself to be “saved” by fellow patrons who, feeling responsible for Victor’s life, go on to send checks to support him. When he’s not pulling this stunt, Victor cruises sexual addiction recovery workshops for action, visits his addled mom, and spends his days working at a colonial theme park."

The story itself wasn't that interesting to me, but the themes in the different parts of the story really got me hooked. 

While reading about Victor's addiction, we explore the reasons behind his acts and why or exactly how he became a sex addict in the first place. 

Victor is in a 12 steps rehab program, he is stuck on the fourth step; putting to paper every low and high of his addiction. The book itself is the fourth step. Every incident in it a major or changing point in Victor's life. The chapters go back and forth between his childhood past and his adult present.  His past is just memories of all the felons his mother committed over the course of her custody of him, his present is him trying to figure out why his mother did what she did.

Victor thinks of himself as a hero because he makes others heroes. He deliberately puts himself in dangerous situations like choking in restaurants (cool title, am I right?) to give others confidence in themselves and as he puts it, a great story to tell.
What makes this novel very extraordinary is the question it asks; are we heroes because of our actions, or because of who we are?

Now, I would say what any Batman fan (and any sane person, if I may) would say, that what you do defines you, not what you are. The great thing about Choke is that it presents both sides of an argument, something my English teacher would absolutely hate to see. "Always persuade by presenting one side of an argument."  Chuck Palahniuk isn't trying to convince you or persuade you into thinking one thing or the other, he is simply telling it like it is.

final rating: 3/5