Initialy dissapointed?
Choke was my 4th Chuck experience after FC(movie), Invisible Monsters, and Lullaby.
Choke apears high on most Top Chuck lists, but at first it hardly grabed me at all. I've warmed to it more now, but I'm wondering if anyone had a similar experience. Just seems strange to me that a lot more people critisize Lulliby than Choke.
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read Diary, you'll change your mind.
Shop smart. Shop S-Mart.
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choke did that to me until i finished it. as a whole it rang true for me, it's second or third from the top on my list (depending on the day)
i find that more and more peopel think that Choke is one of the lesser of his books. It actually grabbed me right away. I think it might have been Victor Mancini's character, or the introduction [with his mom and the school bus], but i just thought that it did a great job of really surprising me. Fight Club did it too. It was just that chuck got you to think one thing isnt true, then slowly got you to think another thing, then BAM! there's this completely unexpected event or discovery.
We can't stop here...this is bat country!
I admit this, when I first got it out of the library, the opening chapters didn't grab me at all, but a few days later my fmaily and I took a trip to Alton Towers, the theme park, we stayed two nights at a caravan park, and everynight id sit in the tent and read it with a torch, and it grabbed me by chapter three, when I got hime id read more than half of it and I finished it 2-3 days later, and it remains one of my favourites, along with fight club, Invisible Monsters is my least favourite, but I have only read those 3
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[SIZE=1]Every word is an unnecessary stain on silence and nothingness.
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.[/SIZE]
YOU'LL BURN THE TENT DOWN WITH A TORCH.
uhhh hey man, why don't u take this prozac pill ::jams the prozac down yer throat at full speed:: I think you need to calm down a bit, it was a torch, which is what we call a "FLASHLIGHT!" here in Scotland, please, alow me to apologise for my silliness while you choke on this pill
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[SIZE=1]Every word is an unnecessary stain on silence and nothingness.
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.[/SIZE]
It's been a while seince I've read it but the ending didn't grab me but then I kept reading and before I knew it I was ahlf way through the book wanting to know what happened next.
I really got to re read it.
[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Grae [/i]
[B]uhhh hey man, why don't u take this prozac pill ::jams the prozac down yer throat at full speed:: I think you need to calm down a bit, it was a torch, which is what we call a "FLASHLIGHT!" here in Scotland, please, alow me to apologise for my silliness while you choke on this pill [/B][/QUOTE]
JUST BERCAUSE YOU'RE FOREIGN DOESN'T MEAN YOU CAN TRICK ME WITH YOUR VOODOO.
VOODOO? Uhh hey, chillax man... CHILLAX!!! 
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[SIZE=1]Every word is an unnecessary stain on silence and nothingness.
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.[/SIZE]
the worse for me was lullabye. although enjoyable id idnt even find the horror part of it. it black magic, okay. horror is scary fo me
I first read Lullabye and that is a close second to Survivor as favorites go. I was kind of disappointed at the end of Choke. I expected it to be better. I dont know why, but I thought there should have been more to the ending. I liked Diary better than Choke. It's one that I warmed up to after reading it and thinking about the ending.
"I want him declared a nuisance and taken away for the night....I want him declared a nuisance to the community."
I read Choke when it first came out and I, too, was sort of disappointed. A lot of the narrative was good, and Chuck's commentary was interesting, but it was the ending that really made me go "er...so that was it?" I think I definitely need to re-read it, though.
[SIZE="1"]"A person's life story is equal to what they have plus what they want most in the world, minus what they're actually willing to sacrifice for it." -- Craig Clevenger, [i]The Contortionist's Handbook[/i]
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"You're right. Cunts are indestructible." -- Bukowski
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My first experience with Choke, true story:
Me: "Hey, this book looks nice. Oh goody goody, it's by Chuck Palahniuk!"
Victor Mancini: "If you're going to read this, don't bother."
Me: "Okay, Mr. Main Character Sir!" (puts the book back on the shelf)
Anyway. No, the only disappointing thing about Choke was that first line. It sounds so childish... like a Lemony Snicket book, or something equally pointless.
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I loved Choke- it might be my favorite, but that's too hard to pinpoint. A lot of people seem disappointed by the ending, which I thought was awesome. Just thinking about it makes me want to read it right now. As far as Chuck's most lacking work, I'm not sure- I think Invisible Monsters impacted me the least, but that's not to say I didn't like it.
I told you! I spent last summer with my uncle hunting wolverines!
I thought the ending was great too. The language and tone of the last page or so blew me away (We can spend our lives letting the world tell us who we are. Sane or insane... - all that up to the last line). I think, although it's hard to say, Choke has become my favorite over time. It's definitely the funniest, and I think it has the strongest characters.
"So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."
-[I]The Great Gatsby[/I]"
"I'm breathing so I guess I'm still alive/
even if signs seem to tell me otherwise."
-Tool, "Prison Sex"
I was into from the first lines, i liked the taunt. Maybe it was the humor/addiction themed book i needed at the moment.
So...We are still going to die. Right?
[QUOTE=Fiberoptic Jesus]Choke was my 4th Chuck experience after FC(movie), Invisible Monsters, and Lullaby.
Choke apears high on most Top Chuck lists, but at first it hardly grabed me at all. I've warmed to it more now, but I'm wondering if anyone had a similar experience. Just seems strange to me that a lot more people critisize Lulliby than Choke.[/QUOTE]
i loked the first chapter, sorta like a warped child story
i'm gonna eat your children!
me, i loved choke, i thought it was amazing. and the first line of this book starts in the same form i write, so i suppose, that has some significance. also, my mother, who use to tell me that it was her and me against the world after my dad died, now has dementia, and is in an assisted living facility. so i guess i like it because of similarities. also, i read the book while i was in a treatment center for drugs. i know victors addiction was to sex, but you apply the same principles to it, even work the same 12 steps. for me, diary (because of my interest in art) and choke were my favorites. all chuck palahniuk's books were created equal, its just that some were created more equally than others.
We need anything politically important rationed out like Pez: small, sweet, and coming out of a funny, plastic head. - Dennis Miller
i loved choke, it's prolly my favorite, but i was dissapointed by survivor.
it took me a while to get around to reading it because they didn't have it at the library, but when diary came out i went to buy it and when i got in the store i realized i didn't have enough money and decided to buy survivor instead, because so many people at the cult list it as their favorite. the girl at the register told i should get diary instead because survivor wasn't very good and diary was great (turns out she was right), but i couldn't afford it and therefore didn't listen. anyway i remember reading it and thinking "how is this chucks best book?" i'm not saying it isn't good but it just seemed kind of ametuerish compared to his other, newer books. it's the only book by chuck that i've only read once.
The very first Chuck book I read. Once I broke through the first chapter, I found it to be an excellent books. Everything I had been looking for packaged perfectly together.
Upon first read though, I misinterpreted the ending and it kind of gave me that bad feeling you get when you think an ending is really shitty.
Re-read it later, got the story straight, and found it to be excellent.
In my rankings, it gets number three.
Survivor did not disappoint me at all. Sure, it was somewhat outlandish; but that's the Chuck I like. Victor and Tender kick Misty Marie's ass any day of the week.
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What is it about Choke that you don't like? Personally Choke is my favorite C.P. book (although I havent read Diary or Survivor yet). Choke was the 2nd one I read after Fight Club, which I read due to movie infactuation, but I was drug into the book and couldnt stop reading it. Maybe I should go back and try to voer analyze it, because I was so shocked by it when I first read it I didnt stop to think about it 
I personally found Lullaby the hardest one to "believe". I still read it in one day and it's still a good book, but I couldnt lose myself int he world and charecters like I could in Choke, Invisible Monsters, and Fight Club.
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[*][COLOR=Black]Fight Club[/COLOR]
[*][COLOR=Black]Choke[/COLOR]
[*][COLOR=Black]Lullaby[/COLOR]
[*][COLOR=Black]Invisible Monsters[/COLOR]
[*][COLOR=Black]Guts[/COLOR]
[*][COLOR=Black]Diary[/COLOR]
[*][COLOR=Black]Survivor[/COLOR]
[*]Stranger than Fiction
[*]Fugitives & Refugees
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Yeah, FC still number one, but Choke is definately number 2. The characters are believable and it was the funniest. Survivor has a good beginning, but kinda loses the momentum for me later on. Lullaby was pretty good, too, but I didn't like how it became supernatural and just fake towards the end. Invisible Monsters was alright, but for some reason not too memorable. Diary, again, was just alright. Again, the situation wasn't believable enough for me. I found his choruses kind of forced in this one (Like the one about the pills and booze, repeat). They showed up too often and were more obvious, making me not like it as much. I'm just not diggin the books that have the supernatural element. For me, his work just comes across stronger when the events are plausible and therefore easier to relate to. Also, I like his male protaganists above the female. He's able to get their mentality across better/stronger, and that helps me understand and like the character more. Sorry for going on and on. I'm sure that most of you disagree with me, and that's fine, but I felt like having my say.
Choke is to date one of the best books iv ever read. i found invisible monsters to be a fabrication of complication, yeah best line from choke "Dude why are there rocks in the fridge"
It’s all a dream until you wake up and realize that you never slept last night and that’s real blood on your hands. The axe you can see in the corner of your eye, that’s your axe. You used it last night when you killed her. It all comes flooding back. Now you start thinking.
Where’s the body?
Can it be traced to me?
Who the fuck did I kill?
What’s happening to me?
I didn’t do this shit, did I?
.jpg "Dr.Jekyll8Mr.Hyde's picture")
Choke has always been my favorite. The plot is absurd and mesmerizing. It also puts a hilarious spin on morbid situations. How can you not buckle with laughter with lines like:
[QUOTE]"I don't know," Denny says. "A baby's not like having a dog. I mean a baby lives a long time, dude."[/QUOTE]
Denny has to be one of my favorite characters. He's so bloody vivid.
i agree, Choke is one of my least favorite. it is still good, i honestly like all of his work, it's not a situation where i only like a certain one cause it's my favorite author. choke is low on my list, not because of any of it's content or anything, it just didn't grab me the way the other's did.