Book Club Book/1001 Book

Well... I get to check another book off the 1001 list! The book started ok and went downhill fast. Not my cup of tea. I will offer this book up as a bookray for those who are working their way through the list.

From Palahniuk's website:
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.

List of participants (order subject to change w/o notice):
1. Mary-T - Germany (Int'l)
2. seethroughfaith - Finland (EU)
3. afraberg - Netherlands (Int'l)
4. iliotropio - Belgium (Int'l)
5. cally-c - UK (UK/EU)
6. brunton11 - UK (UK/EU)
7. katrinat - UK (EU/Int'l if nec)
8. Tubereader - UK (Int'l)
9. garibaldisghost - UK (Int'l) <-- Book is here!
10. JESSYDAV - US (US/Int'l if nec) - Asked to be skipped.
11. Shelly-Sparkles - AUS (AUS) - No response.

RELEASE NOTES:

Off to Mary-T... Happy Reading!

This arrived today. Thanks for sharing and shipping, angela.
I'm looking forward to reading this... but I need to read another ring before.. hope it won't take me too long ;)
... to be continued

18-April-08
Finished - sorry it took some time - right now I don't get time to read much and the books start to pile up...
Well - in the beginning I struggled a bit before I got an idea on what this is all about or to get into the story.
Dude, then I was swallowed into the middle of choking.
Addicted is not the correct word - but it's the first that comes to mind.
See also: hooked
See also: curiosity
And well, the end had its thrill as well. I really liked this twist. That's my kind of stuff... ;) But I don't want to spoil here.
I only rate it with 6 since the story had some weak points...

I will send this out to the next participant asap. I already have the address.

this arrived today. thanks

Sadly I'm just about to leave for Sweden and this doesn't really look like reading I want to take with me for that journey - so it'll wait until I get back to be read.

Don't expect to stall the ring though.

This was not my kind of book. I quit after page 101 and really wonder why I read that far.

There was such an outcry in the 1920s over DH Laurences Lady Chatterley’s lover - which was banned as pornographic right up until the 1960s because of its explicit sex scenes, use of previously banned four-letter words, and perhaps also because the lovers were scandalously of different classes (a working-class male and an aristocratic female) … yet what passes for literature today - like this book - IMHO makes DH Laurence look a bit like Alice in Wonderland or something.

Shudder!

Call me a prude or not - but several things disturbed me in the 100 pages I did read- including the fact that sexual addicts and victims might end up in the equivalent of AA together. I wonder how on earth talking about sex can help sexual addicts in the first place -since in the book they fed off on each other exploit stories - and secondly how victims could actually be helped in any way in this kind of setting.

What I did find interesting was a) the insights of what it was like to be - and work with - suffers of Alzheimers. b) the ideas beind the colonial historical replay and c) the interwoven story of the mum and her boy (but in the end it wasn't worth it for me to wade through pages of immoral sexual behaviour and thought to find out what the secret really was. I suspect I was better off not knowing.

Thanks for the chance to read this book- and for the knowledge that I won't bother reading anything by this author again. Some books are better of not having read - and for me this was one of them.

PMing afraberg now so I can post this on ...

speedy reply from afraberg so this book is already on its way to the Netherlands

This book arrived in my mailbox yesterday.
I'll start reading ASAP.

Thank you very much for sharing angela861.
And thank you very much for sending seethroughfaith.

I loved the book! I really have to read more of this author!

Today the book went on its way to iliotropio.

Choke is here and looks irresistibly provoking...
Many thanks afraberg for sending it!

Extremely disturbing...
On its way to cally-c. Enjoy!

Arrived yesterday! I have a huge pile of rings to read, so I'll get to this in turn.

I found this very dark & quite disturbing. I did like the first chapter though, pulls you into the book very well & you can't say you weren't warned!

Book is on its way to brunton11 later today.

Thanks to angela861 for sharing & iliotropio for sending on!

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Sent to to brunton11.

Received today. Mixed reviews so I'm looking forward to this one!

I liked this book. It was different to what I usually read - I have to confess from earlier reviews and the first chapter I thought it might be a bit too much but I was wrong. I agree it was graphic in places and at times a little strange though the twists and turns towards the end made up for that. Apologies to all you blondes out there but I loved the section where the blonde model dyed her hair to lower her risk of cancer...

I have an address for katrinat so will try and get this book in the post to her as soon as possible. Thanks all for sharing.

Posted to katrinat today. Sorry for the delay.

Looking forward to this, I have a hectic couple of weeks coming up but should get it finished in the next 3 weeks

What a strange, strange book. Not sure if I enjoyed i or not, but I was certainly kept amused and confused.
Once I have the next address I will pass this on

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Sent to Tubereader in Luxembourg

The book has arrrived safely. I have a couple of rings / rays ahead of it but it should not take me too long to get to it. I'll update this JE once I start reading it.

Thanks angela861 for sharing and katrinat for sending!

JAN 25TH UPDATE: I am going to start reading this book today, really looking forward to given the mixed opinions of previous readers!

JAN 26TH UPDATE: Half way through the book so PMing garibaldisghost for their address.

Finished reading this book yesterday evening. Not really my cup of tea but I read it easily.

Reminded me a bit of Bret Easton Ellis' books in terms of the contents but I liked better how it was written. I must say that I think there could have been a bit more room for development of the more profound parts of the story that I think was missing in the book. Maybe it is because the author wants us to think about it and not give his judgement?

I found Victor's behavious with the old ladies at the care centre a bit disconcerting, lovely but still I could not very well understand why he does it...

Thanks again to angela861 for sharing!

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

The book has been posted to garibaldisghost who is next in line.

Happy reading!

Safely arrived through the snow today.

A very well written but rather odd tale. Not the deepest of stories but nonetheless enjoyable.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

On its way overseas to a fellow bookobsessed member who chose this from the 1001 VBB - enjoy!!