Autumn Reads...

Choke by Chuck Palanuik- 4 stars ****

I picked this book up in Fopp! on a whim as I enjoyed the film 'Fight Club' and thought I would sample something by the same author before reading the popular book from which the film originated.

The story follows Victor Mancini, a troubled middle aged man whose mother ruined much of his childhood with her penchant for strange crimes (such as swapping all the dye bottles around in different hair dyes) and her general craziness. This has obviously had an effect on Victor as a man, as he goes to sex addict meetings to pick up women, and fakes choking on his food every night in different restaurants so that his saviours send him money on a regular basis. His mother now ill in hospital, he visits her often, hoping to uncover the truth about his father and discover the secrets of her diary, which is written entirely in Italian.

Despite training to be a doctor, Victor works in a historical museum, where fellow employees are punished for being historically innacurate in their roles, meaning the secret smoking of cannabis in the 'blacksmiths' and debauchery in the barn is not uncommon!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, although it is literally miles away from my normal reads (especially holiday ones!). Mancini's character is very bizarre but because the author justifies all of his actions, you actually start to understand how he behaves as he does. It is written in a very obvious narrative structure, so it feels as though the lead character is speaking directly to you, and the final twist in the plot was totally unexpected. Victor has quite a dark outlook on life, as can be seen when he says: 

'We live and we die and anything else is just delusion. It's just passive chick bullshit about feelings and sensitivity. Just made-up subjective emotional crap. There is no soul. There is no God. There's just decisions and disease and death.'

A cautionary word though; the book is very sexually explicit, so steer clear if you blush easily!