Wow, I had a real different reaction to Pygmy (Spoilers)
So, I bought Pygmy the day it came out and finished it the following saturday and, don't get me wrong, I absolutely loved it. It's definetely one of my favorites, right after Invisible Monsters and Rant and followed by Lullaby. But now that I am reading some reviews, I have found I had a different experience with it and was wondering if anyone felt the way I did.
A good bit of the time, I felt the story got really sad and almost tear worthy. Specifically, the chapter that talked about Pygmy leaving his parents and, after taking the test, finding them slaughtered. Another chapter that really "got me" was the one where "pig brother" started asking Pygmy things that he couldn't answer and Pygmy held that deadly substance up to his brother's nose. That chapter got me because it just kind of made me sad that, while Pygmy was starting to learn to think on his own, he still feels obligated to protect the mission but this time, I could tell it hurt him to do it.
I also didn't see this book as a complete, over-the-top comedy. I saw it more of a "mirror comedy," in which we see ourselves for what we come off as instead of what we are used to. The things Pygmy said to describe church, school, etc were things he didn't know any better to say. Now, I'm not saying they weren't funny, some statements made me put the book down and take a second or two to stop laughing from, but I am saying that it was kind of like listening to a kid try to be a serious adult and it's just a cute kind of funny.
Anyways, like I said, I loved the book. The Operation Havoc project was absolutely genius and I think would totally work in real life, unfortunetaly. Another thing I find ironic is that SOOOO many people are bashing this book because they couldn't get past the EASILY INTERPRETABLE style of writing and the book sometimes covers how lazy and unintelligent Americans can be. Irony, gotta love it!
Btw, please excuse any bad spelling or grammer. I type very fast and I am kind of too lazy to read over it all and fix everything.
I loved this freakin' book. Although didn't find it sad or heart breaking. Instead I marvled at pygmy's innocent
,deadly alien view on the whole of american lifestyle. I especially liked how pygmys mantra of listing elements to escape his emotions were slowly but surely bein corrupted by "american ideals". However at first the writning was a tad difficult to decipher but aa few chapters in I couldn't get that damn accent out of head. For a week now I've been saying this operative this & this operative that. Say, could be this operative cha-pow lunging lizard throat jab, render easy quick death.
"The church says the earth is flat, but I know that it is round, for I have seen the shadow on the moon, and I have more faith in a shadow than in the church."
– Ferdinand Magellan
I agree there are a lot of hearbreaking/heartwarming moments throughout the novel that may be somewhat "hidden" by Pygmy's dialogue. If you were to judge the work based on the characters' behavior and not Pygmy's dialect, you'd have a more emotional story, for sure.
As some of you have already mentioned, Pygmy's dialect has a way of sticking to you. In my head, I have a voice, an accent and a tone for Pygmy that's pretty firmly set. That tone is always very hateful, so when I hear Pygmy's voice muse about staying with his host family or stopping Operation Havok, I still hear that come through in a somewhat bitter voice. These aren't bitter moments, though.
yea i loved Pygmy and fee the same way as you guys about it..its deff in my top 5 chuck books
-ANDY
I loved the book!
Honestly, I think the reason some people don't like it is because they don't understand it. Personally, I had no problems with the broken English, or "Pygmy language" and found it hilarious. I don't want to insult anyone, but I think this one takes a little more intelligence to get through, and maybe some people don't have the patience for it.
But, yeah. I thought it was amazing.
so everyone who liked the book is just gonna knock everyone who didn't like it, right? i don't think you guys are stupid for liking 'pygmy' but every time i read one of your 'reviews', you're calling me stupid for not liking it. that's ignorant and unintelligent to me.
I don't like the fact that people say "oh you just don't like it because you didn't get it."
No. I got it. I still didn't like it.
Step back. Evaluate. Recognize.
I didn't say whoever did not like it is stupid .
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Notice the use of the word, some. I said "some people." And that would be an accurate description. Some stupid people liked it. Some stupid people didn't. Others are probably smarter than me and didn't like it. It's all preference, like how some people read romance novels for fun!
*shudder*
This, I think, is probably his best satirical work. Its not a jaw-dropping, eye-opening novel, but rather one that points our all our so called "values" as Americans. And the so called "values" of a foreign nation who enforces the idea of the state above singularity. Anyone who has spent enough time around immigrants, foreigners, individuals with poor-english (most Americans anyway) know that they have a way about pointing out the obvious and making ourselves ask the question "Really? Do we really come off that way?" Honestly, thats what made the book work for me at least, his rhetoric. "Religious propaganda distribution outlet." We all call it 'Church', but subconsciously some of us think "Religious propaganda distribution outlet" we just don't call it that. Pygmy points out all these cultural values that is obvious to us and makes fun at it, with a someone serious undertone. This is why I call it his best satire. I see what Chuck was going for; a coming of age story. At 13 peer pressure, fitting in, acceptance, having a crush, sporting rodneys all the time in math class for no reason, are such powerful stimulants, more so than a totalitarian state brainwashing you from birth. This is why I like it. I liked the broken english, I liked getting into the mindset of narrator and seeing the world as he does.
Thats my piece.
douche
I thought it was more of a coming of age story then anything else. Besides all the peer pressure stuff pygmy matures and realizes that his parents (totalitarian government) really is not what its cracked up to be but that his new parents (America) may be flawed in many ways but we are loving and caring and have the best of intentions for people. I found it amazing how much pygmy evolved throughout the book.
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Fantastic way to sum that up.
Pygmy is the first and only of Palahniuk's books to make me cry. And previous comments are completely correct; the narration style does not exaggerate the "sad" events in the present/flashbacks; it's not written in intentional tearjerker style. I think Pygmy's simple comments on his own surroundings are what made certain scenes more emotionally hard-hitting to me. For instance, the protesters outside of clear-yellow bully/Trevor's funeral. Pygmy is simply listing off what he's experiencing with his senses, and the sound of the protesters just happened to be included, and repeated/"chorus". He does not take a stance for or against them, and that made me so much more upset than if he would have.
As far as a heartwarming kind of sad, his running from the plane entrance back to hug host chicken mother and his own blatant will not to make the mistake of ignoring a mother's goodbyes again was probably the most heartwarming couple of paragraphs/connection from a flashback to the present Chuck has ever written.
I think the range of characters is also definitely Chuck's most defined set thus far, and the majority of them really do mess with the reader's morals and sympathies. Such as Trevor, introduced as the typical awful middle school bully, quickly transformed into a confused child experiencing Stockholm and misconceived feelings of love, transformed into a killer. From his introduction a few pages in to his "suicide" (/pre-shooting spree) note a few pages from the end, Pygmy's presentation of Trevor tugged my sympathies around more than any other Palahniuk character.
Are the scissors broken in your house, son?
i loved pygmy from beginning to end. especially how it was written from the operatives point of view: no emotion,focused on the operation at hand. I think it gives the reader a choice on how they want to feel about the situation at hand. i guess most readers were disappointed with the book because of the ending. Happy endings aren't really popular with this day and age we always want to see the hero fail or at least struggle severely.
anyway it was a great read.
"Everyday takes figuring out all over again how to fuckin live."
Fantastic way to sum that up.
Pygmy is the first and only of Palahniuk's books to make me cry. And previous comments are completely correct; the narration style does not exaggerate the "sad" events in the present/flashbacks; it's not written in intentional tearjerker style. I think Pygmy's simple comments on his own surroundings are what made certain scenes more emotionally hard-hitting to me. For instance, the protesters outside of clear-yellow bully/Trevor's funeral. Pygmy is simply listing off what he's experiencing with his senses, and the sound of the protesters just happened to be included, and repeated/"chorus". He does not take a stance for or against them, and that made me so much more upset than if he would have.
As far as a heartwarming kind of sad, his running from the plane entrance back to hug host chicken mother and his own blatant will not to make the mistake of ignoring a mother's goodbyes again was probably the most heartwarming couple of paragraphs/connection from a flashback to the present Chuck has ever written.
I think the range of characters is also definitely Chuck's most defined set thus far, and the majority of them really do mess with the reader's morals and sympathies. Such as Trevor, introduced as the typical awful middle school bully, quickly transformed into a confused child experiencing Stockholm and misconceived feelings of love, transformed into a killer. From his introduction a few pages in to his "suicide" (/pre-shooting spree) note a few pages from the end, Pygmy's presentation of Trevor tugged my sympathies around more than any other Palahniuk character.
Right on. I just didn't see why everyone was getting bent out of shape about the rhetoric. Its whats being said, not how its said.
douche
I thoroughly enjoyed it, in all honesty. Yes the language was slowing my reading pace a bit. But I can see why someone wouldn't like it.
It's typical Chuck taking extremes to draw a point. But, for me, its these extremes that catch my eye and have me laughing out loud at the rediculousness. Maybe it takes away how realistic it is. Maybe it adds.
I respect people who offer a different opinion from mine. And as it stands now I loved the book and am constantly pushing for everyone else to read it and laugh.
The anti-commercialism edge was subtle but beautiful, the way he uses bowel movements, smells to be able to distinguish the "American" diet that is going to kill us.
The Wallmart chapter was funny from start to finish... That rape scene with all that gory details made the imagery that much more tasteful... I was cringing and enjoying the imagery at the same time.
Its one of those things, like Chuck has said, it will make you laugh at first but then break your heart in the next page. And that's exactly what Pygmy did for me.
lets be serious this was not even close to being one of the best. It was just too too much.
its supposed to be funny. its a satire. I really dont see how it was great enough to draw tears from anyone, and dont get me wrong I love chuck palahniuk
I feel the same way you did I loved the dispatches about his past training.The story was very heart breaking and warming at the same time. Although I found this to be a over the top laugh out riot. I think people are not so much turned off by the broken English more then why does this foreign kid have a broken English thought process but either way I loved it and thought it enhanced the story. It to has become one of my favorites.
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