Pygmy
by Chuck Palahniuk
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Book Summary Information
Author: Chuck PalahniukEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-05-05
ISBN: 0385526342
Number of pages: 256
Publisher: Doubleday
Book Reviews of Pygmy
Book Review: In a class by itselt
Summary: 5 Stars
While Chuck Palahniuk's PYGMY clocks in at 241 pages in the hardback edition, it reads like a short story, launching the reader directly into its world without warning, careening rapidly towards its conclusion and ending abruptly. It is richly detailed with linguistic tricks, that often read like poetry, to amuse the reader. It's pages are blotted with black censorship scars which, while superficial, still amuse. It has been rounded out with chapters that include the back story and training of the narrator, while an action-packed drama with martial arts and espionage is played out in linear time.
An observant American reader, having completed this book, is left with the glow of a new terrorist fantasy to worry about and the acute paranoid question, "Do they really think Americans are like that?". While most reviews have centered upon this story as a cynical portrayal of America, it should probably be better viewed as a cynical portrayal of the "perception of America by the outside world", which is a very timely subject and, not surprisingly, territory for GREAT humor. This is a paranoid, self-conscious American nightmare deeply rooted in the American image problem.
PYGMY is a brilliant modern work of humor that is a darkly cynical narrative of American paranoia, wrapped in the most unlikely "coming of age" story you will ever read. It is written entirely in minimalistic "Chinglish" sentences by a (probably North Korean) teenaged boy who has been transplanted to an unspecified mid-western American city to perform grass-roots acts of terrorism and topple the American way of life. With his head-full of anti-American propaganda, memorized quotations of histories greatest tyrants, communists and subversives, his brainwashed perceptions of traditional American high school culture, and his scientific understanding (or lack of understanding) of sex and sexuality, the youthful PYGMY embarks on the ill-fated mission he has trained for his entire life.
And it is totally hysterical.
Over the years I've read every Palahniuk novel, some of them several times and Invisible Monsters is still my favorite, and I look forward to each new work. PYGMY surprised me. It is the most compact/minimalistic prose and funniest book that CP has written to date. The Palaniuk hallmarks of a modern fantasy with sexual absurdity, anti-commercialism, obsessive-compulsive technical details, blatant disregard for social sensitivity, violence, and grotesquery are all employed in this book. It comes up short on including detailed human dynamics and the evolution of human emotions that are other hallmarks of Palaniuk stories, but the reader has to remember that the book only consists of the missives (called "dispatches") sent back to the homeland by "agent number 67" following military directives. And that is why this book works and what makes it so different. The literary trick of the novel being only "letters" written home by a exchange student frees the author to use colloquial language exclusively - a daring stunt executed gloriously. The Chinglish language is very popular humor right now and the author's choice of using Chinglish exclusively is to be commended. Palahniuk proves once again that he has his finger firmly on the pulse of pop culture. In past Palaniuk novels, pop culture issues have been at the core of his character's anxieties and modern dilemnas, but this time, the pop culture is in the presentation! It's clever and fun to read.
Take your time with this book, it is rich with bold humor that jumps off the page if you just have fun with it. Once you are familiar with its cadence it is a quick read, and a page turner, but if you slow down and appreciate the generosity of the author for taking the time to create this unique and funny book, you will enjoy it all the more. Admittedly, some passages had to be reread because it is just too foreign of a literary concept at moments and I got lost in a sentence, but that's ok, because it's like a roller-coaster ride for your brain - it's just fun. And some passages needed to be reread because they are just so much fun to read or I couldn't believe what I "thought" I just read and had to reread to be sure. For more fun, read passages aloud. Read them aloud to yourself or to your friends or family. When the prose is spoken aloud, the absurdity of it is outrageous and even funnier. You won't get far before your laughing and will have to stop.
I am giving PYGMY 5 stars because of its unique qualities and cutting edge story, but mostly because it's just so damn funny. This review was written after just finishing the novel this morning and I intend to immediatly read it again for a second time. I anticipate it will be even funnier and more enjoyable the second time around.
Summary of Pygmy
The Manchurian Candidate meets South Park?Chuck Palahniuk?s finest novel since the generation-defining Fight Club.
?Begins here first account of operative me, agent number 67 on arrival Midwestern American airport greater _____ area. Flight _____. Date _____. Priority mission top success to complete. Code name: Operation Havoc.?
Thus speaks Pygmy, one of a handful of young adults from a totalitarian state sent to the United States, disguised as exchange students, to live with typical American families and blend in, all the while planning an unspecified act of massive terrorism. Palahniuk depicts Midwestern life through the eyes of this thoroughly indoctrinated little killer, who hates us with a passion, in this cunning double-edged satire of an American xenophobia that might, in fact, be completely justified. For Pygmy and his fellow operatives are cooking up something big, something truly awful, that will bring this big dumb country and its fat dumb inhabitants to their knees.
It?s a comedy. And a romance.
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