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June 20, 2001
Choke
I'm almost done with Choke by Chuck Palahniuk.
First off it's not as engaging and as experimental as Fight Club is, but it's a pretty compelling and fun book nonetheless.
A couple of good things:
The protagonist likes to pretend he's choking at restaurants. He chokes until someone steps up to become a ready-made hero, in much the same way that Marcel Duchamp had made readymade art. These heroes self-select themselves by stepping forward at a crowded establishment and save the "choking" man. He receives birthday cards from the heroes, check, money and greetings of hoped stable life.
He' chooses his target market. He eats at the restaurants, keeping a list of where he's been. He's been at it a while and is running out of new restaurants.
The people, when they send money, are paying for their heroism in installments.
The protagonistÕs mother likes to liberate things. She wants to liberate animals at the zoo, but instead of opening locks and cages, she throws a handful of purple tablet formed LSD, "Garden Variety" she terms it.
A side character fights his battle with sexual addiction by bringing home a rock for every day he doesn't give into his obsession. He gets addicted to the rocks and is soon bringing home ten rocks (and sometime boulders) home a day. The neighbors look at him, thinking he's weird, so he resorts to carrying the rocks in a baby blanket or stroller to disguise his parcels. People treat people with baby's differently than they treat a man carrying a rock.
The protagonist spends time at his motherÕs nursing care facility. He's sees all the other senile and ill people. He spends time with them, helps them resolve their life's mysteries. He'll tell one that he was the one that stole their car, he was the one that burned down their house, he was the one that corrupted their husband, or slept with their wife. The people donÕt know any better, but leave happier, fitter.
The book is full of pranks and jokes, and obsessive/compulsive behavior. It make a humorous read - not great literature, but a good BART book, short chapters, quirky humor and an oddly strange jumble of compelling plot lines.
Posted by tdotjay at June 20, 2001 10:31 AM
