Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Choke by Chuck Palahniuk

I entered into this book with no bias, having never read any of Palahniuk's novels, and not knowing what to expect. A clean slate. I know a lot of people don't care for the writing style, but for me, it's very similar to a stream of consciousness, a sort of disjointed inner monologue interspersed with memories and you know, it kind of works for me. I like a bit of grit in my fiction. I like that Victor has just enough of medical school under his belt that he has a WebMD reaction to every ailment, that he checklists his trysts, that he lies to the elderly with dementia to avoid the horrible reality of the disease. In a way, Choke is every dysfunctional relationship and aberrant behavior anyone has ever has, mixed with mental illness, rolled into one big disgusting, uncomfortable ball, a bitter pill to swallow. It doesn't pull punches about addictive and avoidant personalities, and I appreciate that. It's not the best book ever written, but it should be read. I would absolutely love to see this adapted into film.


Holy crap, apparently it was adapted into film! I'll have to check it out.

Rated 5 stars on Goodreads