Choke
Book, 2001; Movie, 2008, R
Premise - A man who cannot afford his mother a feeding tube in her nursing facility pretends to choke to death in fancy restaurants to earn sympathy money. Having strangers save him from choking is just one of the man's eccentric addictions, most notably his sex addiction, that simulates the love he never received from his mother.
Review - Fight Club is one of my favorite films of all time, and I enjoyed the book as well, so I've had a vague interest in pursuing other Chuck Palahniuk novels for quite some time. Every time I read a premise, it's just as zany as the last, and this premise in particular had me curious. I also used it to fulfill the "10 to try" category of "Read a book that makes me laugh" even though I wasn't sure if I was actually going to laugh or just be horrified. As expected, it was a bit of both. Chuck Palahniuk's work has an incredible ability to both satirize and humanize society's most "deviant" members, from the violent to the sex addicted to the bit of both.
The more I learn about Chuck Palahniuk, the more intrigued I am. At the end of the audiobook recording, there's a quick interview that mentions he's from Washington and went to the University of Oregon and lived in Portland, so he's a PNW guy! He's also gay (which explains so much of the commentary on toxic masculinity that gets wildly misinterpreted in Fight Club), and he also worked in hospice for a while, which explains a lot with this particular book...
Unlike Fight Club, which is my only point of reference for his writing, Choke has a very limited plot. It's much more about essence than about events. For instance, the novel starts when our protagonist, Victor Mancini, has already been choking in restaurants for quite some time. We don't get to see the development of this particular hobby. Similarly, we don't see much development of his sex addiction, it's just how we start the book. We instead get a lot of snapshots into different moments throughout Victor's life (including his rocky childhood), that gives us more of a character piece than a thriller like Fight Club.
I listened to the audiobook narrated by Chuck Palahniuk, which was just so hilariously deadpan, it was ridiculous. I especially wanted to cry laughing at Denny's rock collection because it was so absurd. His writing style also includes a lot of repeated phrases, i.e. "What would Jesus NOT do?" that were just read with subtle tonal differences every time, it was brilliant. The film just could not capture as much of the insane world building and the deadpan humor (though I will say I thought Sam Rockwell was very well cast). The film also just didn't cast a frail enough mother (which I know they did so they could keep the same actress in the flashbacks, but still, her thinness is a major theme in the book because she cannot consume food and ends up choking to death because she can't swallow, which is a play on what Victor has been faking all along... I love the symbolism in this book).
These are probably some of the most disgusting characters to know in real life but that's what makes them so insanely powerful (and even lovable?) in fiction. To dive into their mindset and worldview is such an incredible skill of Chuck Palahniuk's. (93/100)
Quote - “I admire addicts. In a world where everybody is waiting for some blind, random disaster or some sudden disease, the addict has the comfort of knowing what will most likely wait for him down the road. He's taken some control over his ultimate fate, and his addiction keeps the cause of his death from being a total surprise.”
I like this quote more for its accurately delusional thinking. The one thing people with addictions are looking for is control, and what addiction actually gives them is... not that. Also the labeling of oneself as an "addict" as if it's some other form of human is equally incorrect and yet common.
What to read/watch for -
If you liked this book/film, I'd recommend Fight Club!
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