Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Choke, by Chuck Palahniuk

I found Fight Club a great story and I only saw the movie. The author of the book that spawned the movie is Chuck Palahniuk, who also wrote this gem of a book called "Choke" among a number of other highly successful titles. He writes in a rough-and-tough style, so if you get offended easily by foul language, bodily functions, and unusual sexual situations, don't even think about reading it. If you forget this piece of advice, don't worry because the author will warn you himself when you pick up the book. You may choose to heed the warning and leave it where you found it, but in my opinion, you'll only miss out on a great book if you do that. Behind all the seeming insanity, there's actually a very deep message that makes it worth going on until the last page. Social and political criticism abound. Invitations for deep self-reevaluation of our life styles and relationships are found on every other page. You have to get through it all to be able to put the message together, though.

It all starts with the story of a guy who goes to restaurants and causes himself to choke on some piece of food. Invariably, someone comes to his rescue and saves his life. The act creates a bond between the con-artist and the saviour, which of course is used well to the chokee's advantage. Morbit premise, yes, but the book goes deep into why someone would do this and explores the consequences. I love it and think that it merits a reread. Or two.

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