Before I start I want to say thank you to all of you who voted for me in the
Best of Blogs, and a quick congratulatory shout out to Coldguy for also
receiving the honor of being featured. However I’d like to offer a round of
applause to the rest of the bloggers featured, and I wish them the best in their
future endeavors (my goodness, I just gave them their WWE walking papers).
Everyone featured was skilled in their fields, and it was tough competition no
matter how abject the vote appeared. Truly, I was among the greats. Now, let me
begin my first column as a featured writer of the amazing
ThatGuyWithTheGlasses.com
site. I just linked to the site you’re on! YEA! Things are looking up!
Ahoy-hoy my friends, I
return with another edition of Worth a Look, where I bring you the best of the
best that you don't know about. For this edition I won't be doing a television
show or a movie. Instead I bring you a form of media rarely used. It's quite
rare really, though apparently there are stores of them. They're called books.
Booo~oks. Must be Dutch or something.
Choke. Yes, this
Worth a Look is about strangulation. I want you to throttle yourself until you
turn red and pass out. Well, actually you can do that if you want, but Choke
is the title book by acclaimed author and certifiable nut job Chuck Palahniuk.
Does the name sound familiar? If not, get your head out your ass and listen!
This is the guy who wrote Fight Club! Yes, Fight Club that
extremely edgy mind game with Edward Norton and Brad Pitt that had one of the
greatest twists in cinema history. Yeah, it was a book first, and Choke
is by the same guy.
So what is this sure-fire dark twist on paper about? Well it's about a man named
Victor Mancini who is a sexually addicted con man who grew up with a mother who
placed beliefs that all manners of medical conspiracies were out to get him
while she stole him away from his foster parents, which in turn has transformed
him into a sexual drifter of sorts who is unable to settle down. So he goes to
woman to woman, and thus his lechery is born. Sound a tad over the top? Welcome
to Chuck Palahniuk.
The guy is a pretty talented author, but as I said, the guy is weird. I'm not
going to speak much on it, but this is the guy who brought us Haunted,
which I believe is the only book to include sexual molestation, murder,
extortion, prostitute hunting, voluntary bodily decomposition, statutory rape,
violence against the homeless, cross dressing, bowling ball murders,
cannibalism, genital mutilation, suffocation on said genital mutilation, sibling
impregnation, wax enhanced masturbation, and baby eating. Yes, baby eating.
Chuck Palahniuk is known as a shock writer, and he has well earned that title,
however I would not take away from his literary skills. As far as dark novels
are concerned, this guy is one of the best, and it's a uniqueness that makes his
work entertaining.
Choke follows Vincent as he goes through life from the sex addicts
meetings where he ironically enough prays on the sexually depressed and hungry,
to the hospital where our “protagonist” flirts with the ever intriguing Dr.
Paige while visiting his memory lapsing mother who creates a new identity for
her son upon every visit. We even get to follow our favorite jerk to the
restaurants he frequents so often to earn the title of this book.
When Vincent goes to restaurants he fakes choking halfway through his meal. He
begins to gag and spasm until some Good Samaritan saves him, and from there he
cons them into giving him money by talking about how high his fictional bills
are getting. What’s appealing is that Vincent isn't a good man, but he's not a
bad guy either. He may appear selfish, crude, and rather vile, but we learn
about what made him like this and we can’t help but feel bad for him. None of
Palahnuik's characters are ever defined so black or white; all of them are a
shade of gray we can relate to in the back corners of our mind. These are the
messed up people we all believe we are, or fear we’ll become, and to read a book
about them is disturbingly excellent.
We follow Vincent’s life closely, but we also find out about his past through
flashbacks (*no LOST reference here*), and as the book moves on we start
following the other characters more closely. We start to learn more about
Vincent’s hospital ridden mother, and the deliciously awkward romance between
Vincent and Dr. Paige. It even follows Danny, who’s our lovable fiend’s best
friend who suffers from his own woes that makes him ever so appealing. And of
course, just like Fight Club there’s a nice twist at the end to throw us
for a loop. It’s not nearly as shocking as the classic in Palahniuk’s last film,
but it’s still entertaining, and I’ll admit that it shocked me. No spoilers
though. (*psst! Turns out he’s a gorilla! You didn’t hear that from me.)
Now obviously you need to enjoy black writing to read this book, but you must
also never read this book where someone can read over your shoulder. See
Palahniuk is graphic, and I mean really graphic. I mean at points you
feel like you're reading a porno. Not quite sure what I mean? Let's just say
I've never heard "white soldiers" uttered so many times in a book with no
relation to war at all.
So why read this book you might ask? Well, I recommend it because I enjoy the
author. He's different, and his topics are shocking. Reading him doesn't require
literary analysis, but rather a psychological insight into his strangely
appealing characters. Anyone who's seen Fight Club knows who weird the
characters were, but we fell in love with them. That twist shocked us just as
much as it did the cast, and it's the romantic appeal that gathers our interest.
Palahniuk's characters are his strength, because as I've said they represent us,
or what we fear we may become.
But is it all serious? No. Choke is like Fight Club which contains
plenty of humor, just all in the dark setting. Actually, Palahniuk’s writing is
some of the funniest around, if not morbid in some respects. It's not a
depressing book; it's a book that immerses you in itself. We're all sexually
confused creatures, and although I don't wish to delve into a huge report about
this book, I do want you to understand what Palahniuk's work accomplishes. He
appeals to us in our most vulnerable state, and begins to make you question
yourself. “What is the true impact of sex on our culture?” The topic of
passionless love or intercourse is a rather popular note of interest for our
shock writer. In fact I've heard reports that the matches in Fight Club
were actually supposed to be symbolic of gay sex. Who knew?
Palahniuk is a great writer, and you really should check out his work. I haven't
read all of his work, but Choke was amazing (and Haunted was
freaking weird. Baby eating... geez). I recommend it to anyone who wants a good
read to view this story as quickly as possible. Why? Well because in late
September a movie of this film is coming out, and I urge you to see it, but only
after reading the book. It's rather universal to know that a film is never as
good as the book through its respected medium, so I urge you to read the dark
classic before seeing it.
In the end, Choke is not a title that our children will read in English
class several decades from now. It's never going to be revered in the same
breath as The Catcher in the
Rye or
Grapes of Wrath or anything like that. However, those books aren't the same
kind. This book is a classic of darkness. As I said before, you will read this
and begin to question yourself. The characters of his works aren't noble,
they're us. They're the fiends and the rebels of our world, and his work is
truly mystique. If you rarely read or you've never checked out this man's work,
I highly suggest you do. This is one book that is definitely Worth a Look.
LINKS
Choke Trailer
This is the theatrical
trailer for the movie. It looks actually… very good. Fight Club was
excellent, so here’s to hoping. I’m using this as my main link just because a
book is a tad difficult to provide a large link to without bordering on just
pirating you the title, or delivering something to small to be worth anything.
Amazon.com
The classic Amazon link to
purchase the book new for under $15--which is a steal. You can also read the
first few chapters I believe. Just in case you are curious.
My Two
Cents
For those new to my
readings, or those that need a reminder, My Two Cents is Worth a Look on a much
smaller scale. These are two viral clips or websites that I don’t feel worthy of
a lengthy promo, but are still worthy your time nonetheless. Anything can be
here assuming I find it worth the time to look at. If you ever have a clip you
feel would make a great addition here, or a website that people just have to
know about, drop me a PM or an E-Mail and I’ll check it out. So let’s finish
this article up then.
DX Public
Service Announcement
I’m going to start you out
light. This is an opening from WWE back when they were still the Fed. This was
during their transition from the overly campy and cheesy storylines of the 80’s
to the crude styling of the Attitude Era. WARNING! Contains large amounts of
swearing, and is quite funny!
6 Days of Tragedy: Part 1
6 Days of Tragedy: Part 2
I said that previous was
light because the above is likely going to be somewhat controversial. I actually
could do an entire piece on this topic, but to avoid a backlash of opinions, I’m
going to keep it here for now. This is a set of videos made by
Moral Virus on Youtube
chronicling the week of the Chris Benoit murder-suicide. The video is made by a
wrestling fan, and first shows off how we all took to the initial news of Chris
Benoit being dead. It then moves onto how the details of the other deaths came
out, and the Youtube Generation attacking those still making tributes or giving
honor to the Rabid Wolverine. The second video continues this, but features some
fantastic editing and quotes that shame the attackers. It focuses less on the
attacks, but on the war they erupted in opinions. Unlike the Virginia Tech
massacre or the Amish school shootings, there was a large populace of people who
still honored Benoit for the life he lived. Moral Virus’ video captures the
moment rather perfectly as he gets almost everything that
embodied the Internet, Youtube specifically, for those brief six days. I’m sure
that all of us saw at least one video or picture about the Benoit tragedy,
whether positive or negative, so we can all relate.
I normally limit myself to
a single paragraph for My Two Cents, but I want to stress that although
controversial, this piece is truly epic. Whether you agree or not this video
captures the moment with the right music and the ultimate editing. Take these
two videos with an open mind, and see the incident from the eyes of a fan.
I hope with the great works
of Chuck Palahniuk and the 6 Days of Tragedy video that I can encourage you to
check out something new and unique. Enjoy my friends.
Peace.
BUT WAIT!
One final message for those
that read! I’m welcome to any and all suggestions for possible topics for Worth
a Look. After all, I can’t claim to know everything that’s good, so if there’s a
show, a band, a game, a movie, or even as aspect of culture that you think
should be featured just let me know, and provide any links you can. Or if that’s
too much work, throw over something you think might make a nice “Two Cents”.
Alright, now I’m done.
Peace.
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Show/Hide comments
Show/Hide comment form
I never read the book, despite being recommended it (due to how much I enjoyed Fight Club, both the book and film version). And considering the film version of Choke interests me greatly, I should get started.
Oh and congratulations on getting the featured writer spot. You're a
lucky bastardvery talented writer.