A good addiction takes the guesswork out of death.

While working at a colonial theme park, Victor moves between a lesson for schoolchildren and memories of a sexual encounter with Miss Lacey. She calls his behavior a symptom of addiction; he counters inwardly by imagining himself as a James Bond figure. He then argues that addicts at least have some idea of what will kill them, turning a loss of control into a supposed plan.

Victor jokes that addiction offers certainty about the cause of death in a life otherwise exposed to unpredictable catastrophe.

This is an antihero’s sardonic rationalization, not medical advice or a recommendation that addiction is a reliable way to control life or death.

A fictional addict’s rationalization; not advice to acquire an addiction or to plan a death.

Death

• Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes. Oscar Wilde
• All the good music’s already been written by people with wigs and stuff on. Frank Zappa
• Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much. (misattributed) Oscar Wilde
• True friends stab you in the front. (not found) Oscar Wilde
• To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance. Oscar Wilde

Chuck Palahniuk, Choke (2001), Publisher’s excerpt, reflection following Miss Lacey’s remark about James Bond and sex addiction. Spoken by Victor Mancini. Checked at Quotogeny, https://quotogeny.com/q/a-good-addiction-takes-the-guesswork-out-of-death/ (28 October 2026).

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