Choke by Chuck Palahniuk

Choke is about a junkie who drops out of medical school. The reason why he dropped out of med school is not clear, for obvious reasons. But the junkie is intelligent.

We’ve spent so much time judging what other people created that we’ve created very, very little of our own.

You see, Chuck casually drops such gems. I haven’t understood his writing process for a reader who goes through a book from two perspectives, one from the reader’s and then a writer’s perspective.

Reading books from two perspectives helps you understand the works in depth. I started this exercise years ago, opening several perspectives of understanding in my reading journey.

A Well-Written Piece

Steven Erikson, Murakami, Stephen King, and Chuck Palahniuk are the prominent writers whose works I read in 2023. After I read a book, I go through the writer’s interviews where he spoke about the book. I watched videos, read their memoirs, and even explored small articles where they gave interviews when the book was released. This help me understand the writer’s thought process while they sculpt the best of their monuments.

Every writer has their unique process of writing. We won’t discuss them now. As you try reading more about the author and his books, you’ll slowly start to understand how his mind works and his thought process while he writes the book. You’d also understand the emotions that the writer felt.

But man !! You would never understand this guy.

Chuck Palahniuk! I’ve watched almost all of his interviews and even surfed through articles about him. His life stories are extremely intriguing. Mr. Palahniuk’s life journey has been a fascinating rollercoaster since his childhood. You simply must watch his interviews! He’s had so many unbelievably crazy experiences, most of which have made him what he is today- a mind-tickling writer.

Those aren’t even tickles. His sentences make you pull your hair while still finding pleasure in the process.
But, I am not yet able to decipher his writing process.

Let’s see about that some other day. I need to write many ideas that have been brewing inside my head. I must write them before the brew cools down and starts smelling.

So, let’s go to the book.

Synopsis

Choke is about a junkie who drops out of medical school. The reason why he dropped out of med school is not clear, for obvious reasons. But the junkie is intelligent. The junkie is so intelligent that he remembers each muscle that is involved in procreation while he’s inside a girl. (forgive my graphic writing, but my words are saintly compared to the content written by Chuck).

So, the junkie is abrupt, spontaneous, and intelligent …and he’s poor. So he works as a replay artist in an exhibition farm and makes a few bucks.

That is not everything with the junkie guy.

He has a mother to take care of. She is an old-time junkie who spent all her life tossing her child from one rehab to another, snatching him from foster parents. He needs to make a lot of money and finds a simple yet superior way to do so- making people feel super!

He exploits the deepest desire of human beings and makes a hell of a lot of money from that. Also, his mother thinks he is Jesus Christ’s blood. Plot getting turbulent? Well, I’d stop here and let you experience the turbulence. Read the book ASAP.

Please read the book ASAP because I need someone to discuss it.

Thoughts

This book doesn’t attribute to any genre. There isn’t any category inside which you’d push this book. You’d find it difficult if you were a librarian. You wouldn’t know where you would want to place these books.

Would it make its place in the fiction section? Maybe, but how could you consider it fiction when it speaks about the most authentic and raw emotions human beings feel?

Will the Psychology section accept this book as its own? Hmm. Yeah, but which psychologist will write such graphic content that the ones who came to calm minds need to reassess their lives? Which psychology professor will write about sex on a roleplay farm?

Postmodern? Nothing is postmodern here. While you’ve read many books and dwelled inside many minds, fictional or real, nothing feels postmodern. The concept of postmodernism dies a paradoxical death here.

Where would you place this book?

There needs to be a desperate genre named the ‘Palahniuk’ genre. That would provide enough justice to his books.

Chuck impressed me from the moment I started reading Fight Club. His simple renditions about the human mind look profound and unintelligible to rudimentary minds.

But, if you slightly open yourself to his ideas without preconceived notions, you will be taken to a world of wonders. It’s the world of the human mind. Not the well-looked-after happy and pleasant parts but the minuscule corners underlooked by psychologists, where the contents rule the person without him knowing.

Graphic writing is necessary. You’d not want to spend all your life thinking our existence is a red carpet of flowers. The existence is grey, and yeah, grey is not postmodern. It’s a color. Not many dare to speak about the ‘dirty’ intricacies of the human mind. Everyone feels these emotions, but few have the talent and courage to write them for us. Such a writer must never be beaten with rose-painted intellect.

It feels difficult even to write a review about the book. It chokes your mind. The writer never takes a side throughout the books nor preaches any moral to the reader. The world is full of stories of morality, good and bad. You also need your dose of subjective understanding of human emotions.

Some writers ask you to pick their next books, and some writers shake your hearts and brains, and you’d simply buy their next book. Chuck does both to you. I’m intrigued to read his other works.

I’ve decided against rating this book as it transcends the boundaries of ratings and reviews.