Tuesday 12 March 2013

When a Sex Addiction is serious...


Choke by Chuck Palahniuk

Reviewed by Nick Devin

When people hear the name Chuck Palahniuk the mind races to his first novel Fight Club, the modern classic.  In a way it will be hard for him to ever shake that motion.  With his novel Choke, Palahniuk explores similar ideologies but through different characters and outrages scenarios.  The main character Vincent, a sex addict and a medical school dropout, is trying to overcome his addiction and keep a stable life.  The book follows his journey to find himself as he delves into extreme sexual situations.  Due to having a bad relationship with his mother as a child, Victor can’t communicate well with women and only notices faults.  When Vincent visits a strip club, all he can notice is a mole on the dancer and then decides to give a quick diagnosis.  As well as his addiction, Vincent has to try and take care of his mother who has gone insane and lost her memory in a nursing home.  He can’t afford the bills and has become a scam artist by pretending to choke at expensive restaurants and waiting for someone to save him, resulting in a cheque for a lump sum of money. 

The novel almost feels like reading Fight Club with the characterisation of Vincent so similar to that of main character in his first book.  This isn’t necessarily a bad thing as it is still entertaining, and Choke is riddled with humorous moments, but it isn’t anything new to Palahniuk’s collection.  

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