Pygmy

admin — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 22:07:00 +0000

Chuck Palahniuk has a following online; it’s even called The Cult. The fandom is well deserved. When a book evokes such emotion in the reader that you might just faint from graphic truth (such as in his novel Haunted), you have got to love it! Upon opening his latest novel, Pygmy, I felt as if I were taking a dip into the sexiest sea of twisted delights. I often had to stop reading mid-page to burst into a flurry of laughter brought on by his text. This man makes me feel alive, and I need more! The book left me questioning what is wrong with human nature, and what are we products of, exactly?

The story takes you through the inner tinkering of Pygmy, a pubescent terrorist foreign exchange student implant living in suburban America. The sexual explicitness throughout the story was humorously uncomfortable, yet strangely stimulating. Palahniuk’s satirical prowess is yet again screaming victory in the land of fictitious works.

Pygmy reflects on the various activities of everyday American life as truly absurd actions in a perverse and awkward society. He parades us through big-box stores, the town’s “religion propaganda distribution outlet,” and ponders scholastic shortcomings, all while conniving his way into various illegal actions to work up to his and his fellow terrorists’ “Operation Havoc.”

Cacophonic explosions within Pygmy’s head lead to many devilish deeds. However, a sugary sweet reinvention occurs, suggesting that even programmed human beings can reconfigure themselves. This serves as a surefire reminder that the mind is a powerful weapon that just might also provide peace, possibly. Pygmy often draws on quotes that were drilled into himself and his cohorts from an early age that seem to fuel them in every situation. Most often these quotes were of fascist, communist, and all around extreme iconic thinkers. These shocking tidbits of actual recollections of figureheads past greatly impact the novel’s outcome. Most of the quotes Palahniuk includes are stunning in their impact, and made me want to fight a little, such as Benito Mussolini's assertion that, “War is to man what maternity is to a woman.”

You have to stop and rearrange your thought process every time you pick up the book. This style is a departure from his previous novels—more of a structured, militant mind process of events recounted by the main character. Many times after putting the story down, I would find myself thinking similarly to the character. Each process or action noted, each bizarre human encounter was now a new experience.

My only disappointment with this offering from Palahniuk is that I wasn’t disturbed as greatly as I have been whilst reading some of his other novels. Don’t get me wrong, more than likely I’ll read Pygmy again. It’s a country of it’s own, a ride into a mindset that is foreign and convoluted. Cheers to a man who seems to be unafraid to push his limits in challenging the public and making people think differently after reading. This is entertainment.

Written by: A. Mariel Westermeyer, July 28th 2009

Family Tree

admin — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 14:17:00 +0000

By Barbara Delinsky

Doubleday

He dotes on his wife while she adores her husband. Both Hugh and Dana Clarke are eagerly awaiting the birth of their first child, but when Lizzie is born, both parents are shocked to see she has Afro-American features, including skin color and hair. The Clarke family came over on the Mayflower and the patriarch is a rich, published author who lives in a wealthy neighborhood where residents are old money.

When they come to the hospital to see their grandchild, Hugh’s father becomes furious, claiming his daughter-in-law had an affair with a black man or, if not, she has black blood in her ancestry. Other relatives and friends comment on Lizzie’s features and Hugh asks for a paternity test in the hope that it will shut people up. Dana is heartbroken that her husband made such a request and a schism in their loving marriage opens. Hugh needs to know what relatives in Dana’s family are black, and the only person it could be is her unknown father. Yet when they confront him, he provides positive proof that there is no African blood in his family. Dana doesn’t care because she thinks how Lizzie looks is insignificant, but Hugh pursues the subject and ends up shocked at what he learns.

Family Tree is a heartwarming family drama.

Written by: Harriet Klausner, February 11th 2007