Finished Pygmy (MAJOR SPOILERS!!!!!!!!)
Okay, so I finished Pygmy. Overall, I liked it. Definitely his most heart warming ending. But like Chuck always said, all his books are about romance and the boy getting the girl.
As for the syntax....I enjoyed it. It was fun. Probably about Dispatch 26, I was starting to tire of it. But other than that, i thought it was funny. Really made stuff funnier in some cases. Like the part at the funeral where Pygmy starts thinking how much easier it would be to kill everyone there, screw a few dead women, and then take off!!!
Not a whole lot for strange twists. I didn't see that Doris would be a super agent. I had started to figure he wouldn't kill everyone....wasn't sure where Chuck would go with it if he didn't stop. Considering the classic's that Chuck has produced, it wasn't his best. But it wasn't his worst.
If he gets a chance to read this...."Thanks Chuck. Keep up the good work. I love reading what you put out, and I have started telling as many people as i can about your brilliance! Don't listen to anyone's bitching about not writing exactly like Survivor. You write what you want, we'll enjoy it or we won't. And don't worry about people complaining about the writing in Pygmy. I didn't think it was hard to understand, and I think it was a great idea. Love ya, Reggie"
wonder who will water all the children of the garden when they sigh about the barren lack of rain and droop so hungry 'neath the sky?
i didn't find the ending happy or heart warming. To me it just said that Pygmy was worn down by Western Capitalism and the affection of the white devils.
As a big fan of Finnegan's Wake, Naked Lunch and A Clockwork Orange i really enjoyed what Palahniuk did with language in this book, it was challenging and fun to read.
Still haven't figured out what the cover (holding his own arm) has to do with the book. Anyone have any ideas?
I found that the narrative, which did help Pygmy stand out from the rest of Chuck's work, made the climax seem a little deadpan.
Just finished it five minutes ago and I really really liked it. I've just read two Palahniuk books, being this one and Rant, and even though I liked Rant better, my friends are going to hear some great words about it.
The only thing that really confuses me, even though it's not plot related, is that myself being Mexican, didn't have that much trouble reaeding the Engrish or Broken English.
I'm way curious of the reality of what really happened, did Pygmy started writing better after the first half of the book, or did we just get used to it?
In fewer words, awesome book.
Just finished it about ten minutes ago myself. While the cover claimed it was a romance and a comedy, I would have challenged that right up to the end. The book requires a constant escalating of your suspension of disbelief and it may be the most absurd thing Palahniuk's written. However, if you can do that, it leads to a fun a heartwarming ending.
I really didn't tire of the dialogue. Knowing a bit about linguistics, I kept wondering why the vocabulary of the operatives was so high while their grammar and syntax was so bad. There's a bit of explanation in their regarding their indoctrination, but you kind of need to add linguistics to your suspension of disbelief. I really enjoyed the language overall. I showed a chunk of dialogue to a friend and he said, "Is the whole book like this? How can you read this?!" HA!
As PYGMY's forced to straddle the extremes of two oppositional political ideologies (totalitarian socialism and liberal capitalism), he's really forced into a breaking point for his identity. As a person who thinks a lot about political ideology, this was a fun read and an interesting meditation. The absurd distortions or an America corrupted by liberal consumerism and a totalitarian state corrupted by authoritarian, fascist socialism provided a sense of a cautionary tale without being preachy at all. Good stuff!
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