Pygmy, by Chuck Palahniuk

Chuck Palahniuk is best known as the author of Fight Club, the novel that was made into a blockbuster movie and cult film starring Brad Pitt and Edward Norton.  Chuck Palahniuk writing style is minimalistic and his themes are dark and foreboding.

In Fight Club, Palahniuk takes on the Financial Complex ( the tangled matrix of banks, credit card companies, insurance companies, stock market investors whose job it is to f*ck over the “Little Guy”) .  The central character that actor Edward Norton portrays is never given a name because he represents “The Everyman” that is a mindless pawn caught in the “system” and a bitch to “the man”.

The theme in Pygmy is no less funny and disturbing.  The central character is Pygmy, so-called because of his short stature.  Pygmy is one of a group of terrorists from a totalitarian state who have been trained and indoctrinated since age four to hate everything American and seek America’s downfall. The terrorists come to America as a group of thirteen year-old “exchange students”  to Mid-Western homes.

The story is written from the perspective of Pygmy; including butchered use of the English language.  Pygmy has no sense of humor and takes everything at its literal meaning.  This makes for some hilarious stuff.  It really gives an outsiders look at American culture and how outlandish some of our traditions are.  As a 13 year-old middle school student in an American school, Pygmy is forced to take a Swing Choir class and he cannot fathom the absurdity of this mindless waste of time and energy. ( One of the funniest sections of the book).

Author Chuck Palahuniuk

Along the way, Pygmy develops an attachment for the people who he has been trained to destroy.  This is a fantastic novel, but not for the faint of heart (like all of Palahniuk’s works).  The novel reveals some of the hypocrisies of the Christian establishments and nearly everything American is fair game for Palahniuk’s wit.