Choke by Chuck Palahniuk

Victor Mancini, a medical-school dropout, is an antihero for our deranged times. Needing to pay elder care for his mother, Victor has devised an ingenious scam: he pretends to choke on pieces of food while dining in upscale restaurants. He then allows himself to be "saved" by fellow patrons who, feeling responsible for Victor's life, go on to send checks to support him. When he's not pulling this stunt, Victor cruises sexual addiction recovery workshops for action, visits his addled mom, and spends his days working at a colonial theme park. His creator, Chuck Palahniuk, is the visionary we need and the satirist we deserve.From the Trade Paperback edition.

Settling herself on the towel, Gwen shakes her head and says, “Why do I do this? Why do I always pick the guy who just wants to be nice and conventional? The next thing you'll want to do is marry me.” She says, “Just one time, I'd like to have an abusive relationship. Just once!”

Interesting premise and has themes similar to Fight Club, but there's not a lot to this book.

After the set up of the various sub plots, some scenes of Vincent interacting in the various subplots, comes the revelations and very little actually happened. Any consequences of his activities are not part of the limited story.

Some of the scenes are amusing; a lot more are lewd due to the sex addict subplot. If you're squeamish about bodily fluids of all kinds, possibly consider skipping this one.

It's not my idea of “subversive” as most of the criticisms of society and convention are overtly stated.

It was mildly entertaining but although it seems to take on heavy topics (addictions, the medical care system, child abuse, finding meaning in life, etc.), Choke is lightweight.

I saw a tweet today which stated:

honestly PINK FLAMINGOS is such a potent depiction of the difference between transgression and edgelordiness

Really weird book. That twist at the end really got me though! Respect to chuck for refusing to write any sex scenes sexily and instead making them all sound gross