Baffling
Spoilers, I suppose. Now I admit that it's ignorant for me to dislike something without having read it, but someone at work was telling me that in Pygmy, there is a bully who the main character rapes but that this actually just makes the bully realize that he is a homosexual. Gleaning on the surface of things, this sounds really terrible writing to me and I was wondering if it does come across this poorly in the book.
IMHO, yes.
How many men have suddenly realized that they are gay (or decided to come out of the closet) after forcible rape? Chuck writes it off, in the book, as Stockholm Syndrome, which struck me as rather pat.
Or, flip it around, suppose Chuck had written a tough female character, high-school aged, had her violently raped and made her as a result of the rape, fall in love with the rapist...
"Tuffy, you're a Dalek, but only because you're only being kept alive by metal, science and hatred." - ScubaSteve1729
I found the bully falling in love with Pygmy unbelieveable. Also,I found that nobody knowing the boys real name unbelieveable too. I saw this whole book as being an animated tale,suspension of disbelief is a must or you'll constantly be saying "no way" while reading it. I don't think it's poor writing at all! Palahniuk got the story across clearly with broken english for 200 something pages. I think that's innovative! Pygmy was good when you subtract realism when realism needs subtracting.
You shit on these nukkas two times Dr.Dre?
Oh Fo' Sho'!
Almost as if it were an episode of The Simpson's.
Oh wait. It was.
People take that concept way too far to give certain stories credit where none is due. It should be lightly taken, as in - hey, there are no such thing as space monsters and starships, but I'll buy into it for the duration of Star Wars.
It shouldn't be a constant stream of - hey, shouldn't someone know this kids name? Hey, shouldn't the government have gotten involved when an exchange student decapitated someone at a party? and speaking of that party, drugs alcohol, and no monitor at a function for a school club that takes place on campus? Hey, shouldn't the police have this kid under surveillance? Hey, how did that other kid learn deadly kung fu in the span of a day? Why is he recalling people's words in perfect english when he can't seem to speak or write it? A dildo that flies around the room, really? Really?! Really. And she was doing it for a science fair, and none of the teachers gave her shit about it. Okay, sure. A family whose father works in top security clearance areas, yet is still allowed to bring a foreign exchange student from a known hostile nation into their home?
The bully being a latent homosexual didn't bother me at all though.
People take that concept way too far to give certain stories credit where none is due. It should be lightly taken, as in - hey, there are no such thing as space monsters and starships, but I'll buy into it for the duration of Star Wars.
It shouldn't be a constant stream of - hey, shouldn't someone know this kids name? Hey, shouldn't the government have gotten involved when an exchange student decapitated someone at a party? and speaking of that party, drugs alcohol, and no monitor at a function for a school club that takes place on campus? Hey, shouldn't the police have this kid under surveillance? Hey, how did that other kid learn deadly kung fu in the span of a day? Why is he recalling people's words in perfect english when he can't seem to speak or write it? A dildo that flies around the room, really? Really?! Really. And she was doing it for a science fair, and none of the teachers gave her shit about it. Okay, sure. A family whose father works in top security clearance areas, yet is still allowed to bring a foreign exchange student from a known hostile nation into their home?
The bully being a latent homosexual didn't bother me at all though.
I vaguly remember that Simpsons episode,the one where Bart is sent to France and an exchange student was sent to The Simpsons to initiate "Operation Sparrow" or was the kids codename "sparrow"? Everybody rips off the Simpsons I guess that's just transferred to a different format now with Pygmy.
You shit on these nukkas two times Dr.Dre?
Oh Fo' Sho'!
you have a co-worker that's read Pygmy? I wish I worked at a cool place like that. I'm lucky if I can find somebody who's read The Davinci Code
Well, Chuck is homosexual, I doubt it, but maybe that happened to him?
It isn't just the past we remember, it's the future too. Fifty per cent of memory is devoted not to what has already happened, but to what will happen next. Appointments, anniversaries, meetings, all the rolling engagements and plans, all the hopes and dreams and ambitions which make up any human life - we remember what we did and also what we will do. Only the knife edge of the present is 'hard' to any degree. Past and future are things of the mind, and a mind can be changed.