Pygmy is the latest novel from Fight Club author Chuck Palahniuk. It's sort of a romantic comedy about a foreign exchange student who is really a terrorist set on carrying out something called Operation Havoc, but a potential romance with his host family's daughter gets in the way. While this book is probably more original than it needs to be, it is still not as good as some of Palahniuk's previous work.
The story begins with an exchange student, who is only ever called ‘the operative', getting off the plane to meet his host family. It never names the country he is from, though the cover of the book implies perhaps North Korea. From the beginning, this young operative sees all things American as evil, including a visit to Wal-Mart and a trip to church. His goal is to ‘plant his seed' in an American girl, then enact his Operation Havoc, though it is not explained until much later just what that operation entails.
By the end of the second chapter, the operative anally rapes a bully and sets off a series of events that result in a school shooting where the operative gets to be the hero. While this is going on, it becomes obvious that the operative is falling in love with his host sister. The way the author describes these feelings is pretty clever because it's like a robot learning how to feel. You can expect the usual Palahniuk brand of social commentary in the form of inner monologue as the operative makes his way through the story.
This entire book is written in broken English, so it takes some deciphering to read it all. The narration sort of reminds me of the way Yoda speaks, and the only bits of ‘normal' dialogue come from quotations of other speakers in the story. Writing the book this way makes it read a little like poetry, and the author does have some fun with his descriptions of certain things. It can also make the task of reading this book rather daunting, but luckily it is a very short story and hardly even novel length.
Here's an example of the writing, taken from the first chapter. It describes the operative going to the car for the first time with his host family, while holding hands with his host mother:
Looped around one bony chicken claw, keys of automobile rattle and swinging. American-type model require 17.1 minute merely so feed gasoline tank full. Keys of host family residence structure. Other automobile keys, crushed between bony chicken claw and hand of operative me. Fingers of this agent close around keys, attempt slip steal begin off from claw.
I bet whoever got to edit his book went through a lot of alcohol and tobacco products before it was finished.
What I got from this book, and I could very well be reading way too much into it, is that the overall theme implies that love conquers all. It's about a terrorist child who has been programmed from birth to be this killing machine without any feelings or sense of conscience, and he's suddenly conflicted with his teachings when he is actually treated like a human being instead of a tool for covert military operations. If you look at the way young extremist Muslim children are coerced into suicide attacks, one can't help but think how much of that could be prevented if someone were able to get to those kids before they carried out the attacks. This is all my opinion and has little to do with the book, but I think the author did have an underlying theme he was trying to put across in a very subtle way.
In the end, I liked Pygmy and found it to be mildly entertaining. The writing style, although quite odd, was at least consistent throughout, and I was able to get into the groove of understanding it pretty easily. It's such a short book that there's not a whole lot to get into, and it mostly fails in comparison to some of Palahniuk's earlier work. If you're a fan, you'll still want to read this. If you are just beginning to discover Chuck Palahniuk, you probably shouldn't start here.
Palahniuk ( Fight Club ) depicts Midwestern life through the eyes of Pygmy, a thoroughly indoctrinated little killer who hates America with a passion,...More at Buy.com
Palahniuk ( Fight Club ) depicts Midwestern life through the eyes of Pygmy, a thoroughly indoctrinated little killer who hates America with a passion,...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
The Manchurian Candidate meets South Park Chuck Palahniuk s finest novel since the generation-defining Fight Club. Begins here first account of operat...More at Buy.com
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