Book Review: Choke by Chuck Palahniuk

I've not done a book review before, but I felt compelled so here goes.

Palahniuk (hereafter, simply "P") takes the gross, the disturbing, but also the banal, and he wrings meaning out of it. Everything from colonial theme parks, to nursing homes, to people that make a habit out of anonymous sex in airplane bathrooms. P shocks you with lurid details, but its the message that he drives home that will linger and end up more disturbing.

Some of the scenes in Choke read more like essays with a formulaic feel, but P brings the story home with a page-turning build up in the last third and a totally satisfying ending. Satisfying is almost never the right word for P. He wants to jangle nerves, make people ask questions about their own lives, their own addictions, sanity, goals, self-image, and family.

There's a debate going on, it's probably always been going on, about books and reading; should reading the book-equivalent of twinkies be encouraged with the hope that the readers will eventually move on to more literary faire? In other words, should we encourage Twilight as a gateway drug to War and Peace? Books like Choke and Fight Club render the argument moot. It challenges the soul and yet his words are like crack for your eyeballs.

I take a writing critique course regularly and we often talk about not wanting to "bounce the reader out of the story," meaning, we don't want to disrupt the readers flow. It has also been said that great writers know the rules so that they can break them for greatest effect. There were times when I had to put Choke down and simply savor an incredible passage or at least give myself more time to process the point being made. "For real, this is a way heavy moment." (page 256) For real, this is a way heavy book.

Maybe it's just been too long since I read Fight Club, but I think Choke is better. Sure the story arc is the same and a lot of the same themes show up, but when I'm as consistently original as P then maybe I'll feel able to criticize Choke. If you've never read any P, this is a great place to start.

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