"Pygmy" Gets Its First Review From Publisher's Weekly: SPOILERS!
Props to Rayo C. for spotting this first. Let's hope we see more of these soon.
Pygmy Chuck Palahniuk. Doubleday, $24.95 (240p) ISBN 978-0-385-52634-0
Palahniuk’s 10th novel (after Snuff) is a potent if cartoonish cultural satire that succeeds despite its stridently confounding prose. A gang of adolescent terrorists trained by an unspecified totalitarian state (the boys and girls are guided by quotations attributed to Marx, Hitler, Augusto Pinochet, Idi Amin, etc.) infiltrate America as foreign exchange students. Their mission: to bring the nation to its knees through Operation Havoc, an act of mass destruction disguised as a science project. Narrated by skinny 13-year-old Pgymy, the propulsive plot deconstructs American fixtures, among them church (“religion propaganda distribution outlet”), spelling bees (“forced battle to list English alphabet letters”) and TV news reporters (“Horde scavenger feast at overflowing anus of world history”), before moving on to a Columbine-like shooting spree by a closeted kid who has fallen in love with the teenage terrorist who raped him in a shopping mall bathroom. Decoding Palahniuk’s characteristically scathing observations is a challenge, as Pygmy’s narrative voice is unbound by rules of grammar or structure (a typical sentence: “Host father mount altar so stance beside bin empty of water”), but perseverance is its own perverse reward in this singular, comic accomplishment. (May)
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Comments
Wow. I usually read non-fiction however after that review I am very intrigued at the "perverse reward in this singular, comic accomplishment."
Is it just me, or does Chuck seem to increasingly throw away grammar, or rather any kind of "form", with each novel he writes?
Their Mission. Operation Havoc. I dunno about this one!
I am counting down the days!
Can. Not. Wait.
well, okay, maybe a little...
WHEN IS THE TOUR?!?!?
I also cannot wait for this one !! I am always in a state of anxious wait for the next Palahniuk book, except when I'm reading a new one.
BUT I HAVE ONE COMPLAINT TO THE CREATORS OF THIS SITE !!!
Why do you put reviews with spoilers in them and not warn the reader?
Specifically referring to "the Columbine-style attack...etc".
NOT GOOD !!! We have not read the book yet !!!
If you are going to put reviews on here, that's fine, but if they have spoilers in them, please let us know ahead of time !!
Those of us who are hardcore Chuck fans like to find out the details for ourselves.
Thanks!! Other than that, great site !!
Rob
to much words got bored.
the premise sounds excellent cant wait.
The only pattern to be found within Chuck's string of novels is their slow and steady atrophy. I DO like Fight Club, Survivor and Choke—Invisible Monsters was okay—but since Diary the death of his written prose hath begun. My god people! Really? You read Snuff and liked it? You read Pygmy and liked it? I guarantee ole Chuckie would never have published a word if he wrote such trite a decade ago . . . And I do, repeat, or at least DID, like Chuck . . . but, the only metaphor I can think of is the frog in a pan of water, heat it up slowly and he'll stay there until he dies. This is what Chuck is doing, watering down his writing to pump out Stephenie Meyer type books for time-tabled multiple book contracts. You've all been fooled while Chuck's pockets swell. He's morphing into a hackneyed sellout of the likes you rarely see . . . and he WAS a great writer.
Okay. Diatribe over.
Hey, welcome back Suglia!
Chuck Palahniuk's Books Are Fabulous.
ALL of Them.
The Writing Style Of Pygmy Is Different But It Makes The Readers Think.
His Work Should Not Be Bashed Over His Website.
His Novels Are Funny, Cynical, And Imaginative.
I Like Pygmy.
All Of His Books Are Wonderful.
ALL of Them.
The Writing Style Of Pygmy Is Different But It Makes The Readers Think.
His Work Should Not Be Bashed Over His Website.
His Novels Are Funny, Cynical, And Imaginative.
I Like Pygmy.
All Of His Books Are Wonderful.
ahhh
ok?
ALL of Them.
The Writing Style Of Pygmy Is Different But It Makes The Readers Think.
His Work Should Not Be Bashed Over His Website.
His Novels Are Funny, Cynical, And Imaginative.
I Like Pygmy.
All Of His Books Are Wonderful.
Fifty says that was Tuffy.
jacklalanne will break you!
@upalachango
If you read Stranger Than Fiction, he purposely writes sentences in an incorrect format. As he states,
In Rant(another novel by Palahniuk), Rant Casey's mom puts paper clips, thumb tacks and other potentially molar splitting objects into the food. She does this because Rant and his Father Chet Casey would devour a meal she slaved over for hours, within minutes. Hence, with those new found objects in lasagna or say a plate of fudge. You'd have to carefully chew through your food, savor the flavors and really feel through your food so you don't bite down on a tack or paper clip.
In Pygmy, he thoroughly utilizes the "burnt tongue" technique of slowing the reader down.
In the use of "Burnt Tongue" and somehow twining the technique into a detail of a story, you have abstract sentences to carefully study and comprehend. So the next time you chew through a book. Chew slowly, so you don't bite down on a thumb tack of missed detail.