'Pygmy': Chuck Palahniuk's 2009 Novel, Plot Revealed!
In emailing back and forth with Chuck earlier this week, I asked him what he's been up to. I might have been feeling him out for what he's been working on a little. But it wasn't my primary intention. Still, little did I know he'd be willing to reveal this much, about his follow-up book to 'Snuff'.
The book is called 'Pygmy', and it's already written! Read on below for the plot:
I've just finished the first draft of a novel called "Pygmy," a dark comedy about terrorism and racism. The lead character is a 13-year-old foreign exchange student sent to live with a suburban, white, middle-class family. Oh, and they're Christians. The visit is for six months, and he's one of a dozen similar kids, all shipped to America to live with typical families.
The secret truth is that Pygmy is a terrorist, trained since infancy in martial arts, chemistry and radical hatred of the United States. He has six months to build a prize-winning project for the National Science Fair. If he succeeds, he and his project will go to Washington, D.C. for the finals competition -- where the project will explode, killing millions.So far, Gerry Howard says it's the best book I've done. Fingers crossed for luck.
Remember, folks, you read it here first!
Comments
YES!!!!!
That sounds incredible! I can't wait for it to come out!
I was wondering when Chuck might wrap his pen around this subject!!
Sweet!
--Robert West
I immediately thought of Ishmael Reed when I read this premise. I read this book called Reckless Eyeballing by him (Ishmael Reed) that touches on racism and terrorism. Chuck's approach to these subjects are always original. The reason I mentioned Reed's novel Reckless Eyeballing is for the similar subject-matter factor. This upcoming book by Chuck, I think, will be a great binary star after reading Snuff. Pygmy is to Snuff what a ninja is to a pirate.
woo hoo, i finally joined the cult, glad to be with you fellow chuckers if you will, i only discovered chuck 2 years ago and quickly read fight club and choke, then had a break, then read survivor, then another break, now i'm back in full palahniuk force, i read diary last week in 24 hours, i just finished invisible monsters yesterday (it took 2 days) and now started rant today, lookin forward to snuff and pygmy, also gotta get lullaby, i think choke and inv. m. are my fav so far, i'm blown away. anyway glad to be with you other twisted people. ha
doh, sorry, i'm new here
holy shit i was e-mailing my friend and telling him about invisible monsters and i had travel channel on in the background, the show anthony bordain-no reservations comes on and he's in portland and chuck is showing him around portland, fuckin bizarre huh. that was cool.
Meh... I am a fan of Mr Palahniuk from way back but (in addition to the obvious Simpsons episode similarity) this also sounds a bit like that awful movie "American Dreamz" where the "all American" muslim kid is gonna blow him self up on American Idol
I think Chuck may be pulling our collective legs...
That sounds really interesting. Already anticipating it now... and Sniff isn't even out yet... >.<
kid aj....what can we say? oregonians just breed awesomness....
this book sounds fantastic, i cant wait.
well, chuck palahniuk never ceases to amaze me.
Yes, very cool. Can't wait to read it.
Is this really his last book?
no. just the next one to come out. chuck is far from done. haha
and hey, zoth. welcome to the cult. im was my fav, survivor second. loved diary and lullaby. you still have huanted to go through, but youre pretty close to finishing them all: chuck's only been publishing books for twelve years and he'll continue to have many, the man can write a fucking book. just wait til you try chris baer and craig clevenger. you are about to be blown away. and if you love prose, i mean fucking LOVE prose, and particularly like being fucked with, you'll love steve erickson. cormac mccarthy is another badass writer (i recommend the road and blood meridian--both are epics and both are quite able to fuck you up).
-kabol
Sounds interesting. I can't wait to read it.
It should be interesting for Chuck to write a novel in a teenager's point of view.
I bet it will still be fucked up though! In a good way, of course.
omg i hope its better than snuff. Snuff was too light too fast and had no depth at all.. sorry chuck .. im still a beliver but you are better than that.
It could be amazingly disturbing, as often.
I can't wait ! I can't wait !
But I've got to...
I hope the translation will be well done this time.
(Chuck, your work suffered from the translation in France, don't you know ?)
I enjoyed Snuff, but something in it just wasn't there for me... This sounds so incredibly promising. It's about time for a new political satire. Can't wait!
Great. Sounds as if he'd stolen my idea hah..I was the kid shipped to the states in an american exchange program. I lived with an american suburban christian family-for 1 year. Actually a bit less, since they deported me after 8 months for "suspicious behavior". aNd yes, I always thought it'd be a great material for a movie or a book...so, two thumbs up. according to my experience, it might actually be chuck's most disturbing book...can't waait to read it.
The only thing you can expect from the new book, I'm guessing, is that all your expectations will be ABSOLUTELY WRONG.
It always turns out that it never turns out to be what you think. EVER.
exactly what i thought of
Thanks for the update, good stuff. Sounds like were in for another good one.
I wonder if there will be a street team for Pygmy like there was for Diary and Choke. If there's been one since, I've missed out on it. Anyone know if Doubleday or whoever will be doing a street team?
I have faith.
Sounds cool
Are we kidding each other? This was a Simpson’s plot! Duh, this author is anything but that! Get real, this guy is just some young hack, and I don’t that Chinese guy, also from the Simpson’s!
This book has to suck the big one! At least the Simpson’s was funnnnnnyyyyy!
I'm REALLY excited for this book. The plot sounds twisted in just the right ways. I can hardly wait.
An almost untold story during World War 2 described an established lonely foreigner living in a British industry village for many years before and during the war.
He would grow fresh mushrooms to make money and provide food for the local community outside their weekly rations. The mushrooms were home grown and because of the facilitative conditions, would often be plentiful. He wasn't particularly involved with the area other than he often collected old junk and cleared out any damage from the surrounding buildings, homes or factories that had been hit by war planes, a somewhat common occurence in the area.
The attacks were potent enought to install a curfew and all the lights in the town were to be extinguished after dusk. This was so as to not give away a residential commercial, factory positions to enemy fly overs.
One day in October, close to the end of the war, special services showed up at the man's house and took him away in the early hours of the morning. The man in question was never heard from again. His house was ransaked and his roof demolished.
It was noted by the surrounding residents that he had mushroom spores attached to the slates on his roof. It later became apparent that the man in question had used phospherous from the rubble of old factories to lace the growing spores of a batch of mushrooms he grew on the roof of his home. The mushroom were luminous at night and were used to signal flyovers - people are here, bombs away.
While many of the flyovers were thought to have considered the glowing haze a marker for collateral damage targets, none of the houses near the marker were ever damaged.
Knock 'em dead Mr. Palahniuk
When is pygmy supposed to come out? On amazon.com they claim to be selling it already. Is it a scam?
Nevermind it's a preorder. My bad
An almost untold story during World War 2 described an established lonely foreigner living in a British industry village for many years before and during the war.
He would grow fresh mushrooms to make money and provide food for the local community outside their weekly rations. The mushrooms were home grown and because of the facilitative conditions, would often be plentiful. He wasn't particularly involved with the area other than he often collected old junk and cleared out any damage from the surrounding buildings, homes or factories that had been hit by war planes, a somewhat common occurence in the area.
The attacks were potent enought to install a curfew and all the lights in the town were to be extinguished after dusk. This was so as to not give away a residential commercial, factory positions to enemy fly overs.
One day in October, close to the end of the war, special services showed up at the man's house and took him away in the early hours of the morning. The man in question was never heard from again. His house was ransaked and his roof demolished.
It was noted by the surrounding residents that he had mushroom spores attached to the slates on his roof. It later became apparent that the man in question had used phospherous from the rubble of old factories to lace the growing spores of a batch of mushrooms he grew on the roof of his home. The mushroom were luminous at night and were used to signal flyovers - people are here, bombs away.
While many of the flyovers were thought to have considered the glowing haze a marker for collateral damage targets, none of the houses near the marker were ever damaged.
Knock 'em dead Mr. Palahniuk
also, marking a house like that would seem to only work once.
That is true, all of Chuck Palahniuk's characters tend to sound like... Chuck Palahniuk, but he sounds pretty damn cool so I guess it's OK.
The house obviously wasn't the target, it was a marker for bomber flight paths for the neighbouring area. Why would it only work once if it was a concealed landmark?
Just enjoy the story...or don't, but at least read it intelligently.
It sounds cool, so it's OK ... (sigh)
I'm actually very excited for this book. Alot of the other books are hard to relate to, considering the age difference, and this one can hit a little closer to home (although I'm not as young as 13). He'll be toning done the adult world, but I'm sure his same angst style will be there. Also, the plot does sound quite interesting. I wonder what will happen in the end; if the boy is successful or not.
I think i kind of like this one it sounds good.
Snuff was good but this just might beat that bad boy out.
grew up in the midwest - so lame - can't wait to read his take on it
Sounds like another winner from the man who got me back into reading. Anticipation is killing me! I too remember that episode from the Simpsons but I'm sure this will be completely different, as is everything to come out of Chuck's sick demented mind.
cant wait it all ready has me on the edge of my seat. sound like pure anarchy.
good luck with haunted, that was the second book i read by him. my all time favorite is survivor. haunted has a twisted ending but will grab you. very twisted. loved it
I CAN'T wait much longer
seems like Snuff came out quick after Rant but that's just me thinking and wanting too much
I am suprised that so much of the plot is being revealed so early in the developement. this seems unlike some of the past books.
I can go for change though. : ]
Can't wait.
hey. what mean you when say: am suprised that so much of the plot is being revealed so early in the developement..
the book is done, edited, and the not-for-sale galleries are already bound. the official first edition releases in three months. no worries, it's not in early development; it is in finishing development. pygmy will be out before you know it
sounds like a win. i'm pumped to read it!
OH MY GOD!
I just read the 1st chapter of Pygmy and I ended up laughing so hard I fell to the floor! (could there be a lawsuit in this???)
This is my first reading encounter with Mr.Palahniuk and I imagine not my last. What a mind! Glad I got the Random House signed copy! By the time I die, it will probably be worth the $40 it cost. (Actually it's worth it already)
BAS
(not Amish in Lancaster, Pa.)
I just finished Pygmy. Besides Lullaby, Pygmy has to be next on my list of top favorites.
WONDERFUL JOB CP!!!
Thank you for sharing yet another one of your stories with us. It is appreciated more than you will ever know.
whoa! i'd rather just play ya in chess!