{"id":2835,"date":"2025-05-12T09:24:56","date_gmt":"2025-05-12T09:24:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=2835"},"modified":"2025-05-12T09:24:56","modified_gmt":"2025-05-12T09:24:56","slug":"book-review-first-aid-for-choking-victims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=2835","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: First Aid for Choking Victims"},"content":{"rendered":"
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First Aid for Choking Victims<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

by Matthew Zanoni M\u00fcller<\/p>\n

Genre:<\/strong> Literary Fiction \/ Short Story Collection<\/p>\n

ISBN: <\/strong>9798990324022<\/p>\n

Print Length:<\/strong> 314 pages<\/p>\n

Publisher:<\/strong> Malarkey Books<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Reviewed by John M. Murray<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong>Every breath is a battle against the weight of perfection in this unflinching story collection about the vagaries of youth.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

First Aid for Choking Victims<\/em> examines the turbulent interior lives of young adults in rural New York. Each of the eight stories stands alone, but they are all loosely connected by the common theme of the impact of love, sexuality, or grief on people in the transition period between childhood and adulthood.\u00a0<\/p>\n

From a daughter navigating the new family dynamics after her mother\u2019s miscarriage to a new girlfriend adrift in the murky waters of a visit to her boyfriend\u2019s family, each story follows complex people striving to understand the world under the weight of intense emotions.<\/p>\n

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\u201cMr. Perfect\u201d chronicles a basketball player coming to terms with his best friend\u2019s death. Chris and Matt were so close\u2014his nickname was insulting but from a place of love: Matt-Light. When a train accident kills Matt, Chris retreats into himself and tries to fight off the obvious conclusion that Matt committed suicide despite being the school\u2019s \u201cMr. Perfect.\u201d The tragic death is haunting and the ambiguity around it is alluring even to the reader. The story captures the intensity of interpersonal conflicts in a few pages\u2014parties where friends bicker and it\u2019s never clear who cares for each other. This is a difficult episode in one person\u2019s life captured with a raw sense of vulnerability, pushing readers to constantly reflect.<\/p>\n

The prose is measured but prone to energetic bursts of unpolished emotion, which seems to mirror the chaotic inner worlds of each perspective character. The break between each story is timed to deliver one last emotional punch before offering a respite, time to consider the characters and their actions with compassion. Tone and pacing shifts between stories give each a unique feel, a few boasting a rhythmic cadence to the dialogue that pulls the narrative with surprising depth. Humor is used to interesting effect, too, often a stark contrast to the unsettling moments of death or emotional trauma. The writing itself acts like a character, unpredictable but reflective of the disjointed nature of memory.<\/p>\n

Some of the topics aren\u2019t comfortable nor the characters likable, but M\u00fcller\u2019s insightful framing of their experiences makes the stories all the more engaging. The writing is lush with a tendency to capture the way a few key sensory details stand out, the branches of a tree or the feel of a ripped cushion between one\u2019s fingers on a terse car ride. Above all, there\u2019s an obvious sense of tenderness. The stories don\u2019t exploit the trauma or glorify the unhealthy responses; they merely expose the private truths of the human experience.<\/p>\n

First Aid for Choking Victims<\/em> is an extraordinary collection of almost novella-length stories exploring loss, identity, and the struggle with perfection for young adults trying to crawl out of chaos to normalcy.<\/p>\n

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Thank you for reading John M. Murray\u2019s book review of First Aid for Choking Victims <\/em>by Matthew Zanoni M\u00fcller! If you liked what you read, please spend some more time with us at the links below.<\/p>\n

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The post Book Review: First Aid for Choking Victims<\/a> appeared first on Independent Book Review<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

First Aid for Choking Victims by Matthew Zanoni M\u00fcller Genre: Literary Fiction \/ Short Story Collection ISBN: 9798990324022 Print Length: 314 pages Publisher: Malarkey Books Amazon Bookshop Reviewed by John M. Murray Every breath is a battle against the weight of perfection in this unflinching story collection about the vagaries of youth. First Aid for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":2836,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bookreviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2835"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2835\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}