"Fight Club" established Palahniuk as a brilliant satirist of deranged times. Victor Mancini, the protagonist of his new novel"Choke, " needs to pay for elder care for his mother, who is suffering from Alzheimer's. An antihero for millennial America, Victor finds that his whole existence is a struggle to wrest an identity from overwhelming forces.
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."