Choke Audiobook By Chuck Palahniuk cover art

Choke

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Choke

By: Chuck Palahniuk
Narrated by: Chuck Palahniuk
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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.

His creator, Chuck Palahniuk, is the visionary we need and the satirist we deserve.

©2001 by Chuck Palahniuk
(P)2002 Random House, Inc. Dark Humor Fiction Genre Fiction Humorous Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Psychological Comedy Funny Witty

Critic reviews

"One of the freshest, most intriguing voices to appear in a long time. He rearranges Vonnegut's sly humor, DeLillo's mordant social analysis, and Pynchon's antic surrealism (or is it R. Crumb's?) into a gleaming puzzle palace all its own." (Newsday)
"At times very funny. Also sick and perverted....Readers will love it. Readers will hate it and be offended by it. Must listen to figure out what you think." (AudioFile)
"Displays a Swiftian gift for satire, as well as a knack for crafting mesmerizing sentences that loom with stark, prickly prose and repetitive rhythms." (San Francisco Examiner)
Brilliant Storytelling • Thought-provoking Themes • Perfect Tone Match • Vivid Characters • Dark Humor

Highly rated for:

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This is a voyeristic look into the oddities of society. The story is told with perfect a perfect combination of sarcasm and intelect.

The view from here

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This will be a struggle for some to read who are unfamiliar with Chucks work. Otherwise it's another amazing story.

Darker subjects are covered so be patient

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at the end of the book, the Author shared his reasons behind the wiring of this story that was cool thx

weird but interesting. 🙃

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I love this story and was happy to hear Chuck read it. Shame it's abridged.

Shame it's abridged

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This book was like a wild ride from start to finish. So many things coming from out of left field, and such powerful character development that compels you to love Victor in his flaws, and love Denny too haha.

A wild spiral ride

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The truth behind the facade of the human condition. Oh-Chuck does not hold out on you-he will go there, and thensome.

One-of-a-kind story teller.

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This book has too much hype surrounding it...
I bought it because I was looking for something juicy and risqué, so instead of buying "50 Shades of Grey," I bought this. Though the story flowed well and the characters were well developed, the so-called "sex scenes" were pretty normal as well as most of the interaction between each characters. I was also on a road trip and was hoping this book would be great company. Instead, I had to keep turning it off because it kept making me sleepy! By the time the book finally started to pick up, it was pretty much almost over and not only did it have a predictable ending, but I was so worn out by trying to finish it that I just wanted it to be over already!

I really wasn't that impressed...

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First off let me start by saying, this book is not offensive, edgy, or even really that "erotic". It is in fact fairly boring and highly uneventful. I was told (when I asked what Palahniuk book to start with) that it had some brilliant subtext and original characters. What I got was subtext that was repeated so much that it was no longer subtext but text written 10 feet tall on a billboard. The sexual acts within the book were some of the most tame, uninspired,snooze fests I have ever read/listened to. Its not even the authors voice that does it in, his voice lends itself well to the story. This book should have been condensed to about half its length. I didn't need a million descriptions of why his mother is crazy/the anti anti hero. I get it, move on with the story. I don't need a million examples of his sex life, he's pathetic, I get it, move on. I don't need a million repetitions of repetitions to make me feel like I'm losing it with the character, I have a better imagination then that, I get it, move on. This story kind of meanders about in a little circle never really speaking out, never really making an impact. The characters seem very forced, like 2D characters bent in half to try to make them somewhat 3 dimensional. Its a book that tries to hard. Its like the kid in grade school you see desperately trying to color inside the lines, nearly shaking with frustration from trying to keep the crayons tip inside the treacherous little black lines. Someone needs to tell that kid that sometimes, its ok to color outside the lines. Don't try so hard, we're not stupid. We get it. Hope his other books don't disappoint.

Does not live up to hype

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I was engaged and interested throughout the entire book. It has a good pace and the scenes are well created to keep you guessing. The only thing I didn't like was the way every character had some gross flaw, even the animals. I do believe everyone has some inner turmoil but it would have been more believable if the author included at least one character who wasn't gross. I would still recommend this to anyone who wants to go on a trip that will make them laugh at times and well.... choke at others.

Great trip

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...the performance decidely took away from the story to the point it took several listenings to finally get through it.

The story was fine bot,...

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