I read the book over the summer, but only just registered here. I'm prefacing just in case I get something factually wrong, because it's been a while since I read it. Anyway, did anyone else take a while to realise Pygmy was replacing some of his repetitions with American things? E.g At one point I think he replaces a periodic element with Xanax. I only realised after a while, because I'd started absent-mindedly jumping over the repetitions to get to the actual plot, but when I realised what Chuck had been doing, I did a double-take and looked back and saw that I hadn't realised he'd been doing it for a few chapters. read more »

Question for ya'll - do you think Pygmy's parents were actually killed, or was it all propaganda on the part of Pygmy's totalitarian state? On pages 155-156, Pygmy is informed that "enemy agents sourced the United States detonated dirty nuclear device, murdering countless, contaminating wide sector. Parentage of all present reported casualty."

And in Dispatch 31, pictures of the supposed remains of the parents are shown to the operatives.

This attack was the rational for Operation Havoc.

However, what's with Dispatch 14? The dispatch about the giant military parade in Pygmy's home country where a "deranged" man and woman dash out to the parade to embrace Oleg. Pygmy also sees a couple who, from his description of the event, sound like his parents (see pg. 98). They share identical facial features with Pygmy, and Pygmy seems to recognize them, wishing inside his head that they won't dash out to rescue him. read more »

To me this is Chuck's best work since Fight Club. and the most simmilar. The themes and style. I loved Pygmy.

Anyone see this and read the book? awesome movie, but it seemed to me that they hit quite a few plot points similar to Pygmy, not that it's a bad thing. I doubt they copied Pygmy and it only made the movie better.

I've been waiting for a paperback version of Pygmy, anyone know when it will arrive in the UK? There are two items on amazon.co.uk listed as Pygmy (paperback), one released in May next year, and one released in June, but I don't know which one I should trust - if any! I'd greatly appreciate any help.

ok...........what?

i've been really patient with this book reading it very carefully. and i've really begun to appreciate it's humor. when they were singing choir songs i was dying. however, did Trevor really just shoot up the gym? and then dispatch 14 has me reallly confused. where is he, and why are they killing their parents? and also do Pyg and the other operatives have a teacher in the USA? they always seem to be in a class. or is that just flashbacks to his country?

Alrighty well I just started reading this book and like everyone else says, I think it is hard to understand at first. I just got done with chapter 2 and I was just seeing if someone could make things clearer.

To my understanding - Does pygmy jam hie penis in the other kids mouth in the bathroom?? weird question but that's what I got from the Mighty Python Smother.

And he jams his finger in his butthole....eh? eh?

Am I understanding this correctly? haha

I was just reading some of the online reviews for this book and to my surprise there was an overwhelming amount of criticism.

I understand that it is extremely over the top and pretty unrealistic but that really was not the point.

Another thing that bothered many was the writing style, which, I thought was absolute genius. It gave us (Americans) a completely alien vision of our culture and much of human behavior as a whole in a way I did not think was possible in a fiction novel.

Honestly a work of fiction has not made me think this much since I read "brave new world" and "gods debris".

This novel reminded me of my experiences with salvia divinorum.

By the way I have read:
Fight Club
Invisible Monsters
Rant
Dairy

And this novel blew them all out of the water IMO.

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.