Pygmy (2009)

Pygmy is one of those books you don't enjoy but on balance, when it's all over, are glad you read. It feels like a worthy literary experience rather than an intellectually or emotionally satisfying one. The weirdly constructed first person English in which the story is told is initially difficult to decipher, but then strangely hypnotic. It emerges as literally the language of propaganda; not just that into which the eponymous narrator had been indoctrinated in his unnamed, cartoon-totalitarian homeland, but that of the crass, hypocritical middle America in which he finds himself.

The cleverest thing about Pygmy is this use of language; the way it draws you into the mindset of the thoroughly brainwashed, hormonally charged teenage terrorist and then lets you watch from within as he both subverts and is subverted by his new, equally irrational and inhumane environment. It's unfortunate that the plot isn't equal to this narrative voice. In his quest to skewer the pop-psychology cliches of modern American life, Palahniuk piles them on so thick and fast that they blur into meaninglessness. Then he tops it off with an unsatisfying ending that feels as unlikely and contrived as all the cliches that went before. Maybe he was trying to make a point about the pervasiveness of banality, but it just feels like he lost his nerve.

I do think that this is a good read for writers. The technical achievements - and failings - are instructive. Palahniuk reminds us that there are many ways to tell a story. Like it or not, there's a lot to learn from the way he's told this one. ( )

Quit quickly. Difficult to hear clearly (when fast).

The subject headings for this book are foreign exchange students-fiction, and terrorism-fiction. Pygmy is the nickname given a very small Communist-bloc exchange student to the US by his host family. The story is told as a series of his dispatches to the home office; each recounts either an important event in Operation Havoc; or an important point in Pygmy’s development.

I had completely forgotten about this book until I found it while packing up all my books yesterday. A couple years ago I was put on to Palahniuk's books and enjoyed [b:Fight Club|5759|Fight Club|Chuck Palahniuk|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1331237193s/5759.jpg|68729], [b:Snuff|1840511|Snuff|Chuck Palahniuk|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320410088s/1840511.jpg|2034926] and [b:Choke|29059|Choke|Chuck Palahniuk|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320455346s/29059.jpg|3185242]. Then I heard he had a new book out and thought I'd give it a try.

What a waste of money. The writing style was horrible, I just couldn't get into it at all. I gave up after a few chapters and will not ever pick it up again. It turned me off Palahniuk to the point that I've never read another of his books. ( )

Fun enough, and its language inspired me to re-read [b:A Clockwork Orange|227463|A Clockwork Orange|Anthony Burgess|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1250654465s/227463.jpg|23596]. Enjoyable as an audiobook. Although sort of stupid, it's fun, and more hopeful than much of Palahniuk's oeuvre. As always, Palahniuk undoes the power of his work by not trusting the story's world to stand without assistance, and by devolving into the kind of overboard, unrealistic violence, smut, and unreality that mars so much of his work. I'm not talking about the rape in the men's room, but the climactic (sic) moment when an explosion throws really stupid debris. With just a little more restraint, Palahniuk could transcend. At present, he still merely amuses, with stupid that's more embarrassing than entertaining.
( )