Terrorist sympathy

Some books are about language; Chuck Palahniuk's recent Pygmy is about second language (or third or fourth or...). It has a reputation for being difficult, thanks to the stilted English of its foreign narrator referred to as "Pygmy," an "exchange student" from somewhere in some Middle American town who's actually a terrorist with a culture-obliterating objective. To those who aren't able to get through it: try harder. Pygmy is the novelization of the joy resulting from the unwitting wordplay of non-native tongues. (And I say that in good-natured admiration, not derision -- anyone who's butchering a second language is doing better than I am. I don't even own a cleaver.) All the bluntness and literalism of Pygmy's English is also present in his interpretation of American culture, which means that the book is full of gems like this rant against school choir:

"All must sing nonsense or no allowed college, no advanced physics and training. Force compelled to sing how yearning for location on top arched spectrum of light wavelengths created by precipitate. Exact song expressed Judy Garland, woeful martyr, slaughtered pawn of capitalist entertainment machine combined pharmaceutical complex.”

Because I think discussion is a more worthy medium than recommendation, I don't tend to endorse things as my sole response, but I'm telling you now: if ESL-humor is something you enjoy, read this fucking book. I enjoyed every word of it. I got a little teary, even, when it was done, not because of the content (even though the end is kind of a bummer in its upbeat way) but because I'm going to miss Pygmy's world view. Among his offerings, I will miss:

• His rumbling about pop music ("insane garbage lyrics...musical corn syrup")
• His backhanded salutations to his elders ("Venerate ancestor, much respected soon to be rotting corpse")
• His open disdain for organized religion (he refers to a priest as "crafty stooge of superstition," and "licking viper of evil")
• His morbidly detached flashes of insight ("Perhaps true profound affection defined by no entering vagina without consent")
• His cultural criticism ("Punish for sodomy by place operative me imprisoned full lifetime accompanied numerous sodomites. Such the absurdity American legal justice")
• And his funny way of referring to the most banal elements of American life ("evil puppet maid of parking meters," "Pig of Guinea").

I'll also miss Palahniuk's skewering of things like spelling bees and stealing office supplies and permanently zonked, oversexed parents, again all taken to delightfully absurd lengths (the son in Pygmy's host family bought his dad a subscription to a porn site for Christmas because "at least this ways we know they’re home...and not out looking for trouble”). It's a cynical book, but it never seems quite as mean as other stuff I've read by Palahniuk or by others who go bam-slam with vulgarity and satire in an attempt to critique American culture. The targets may be easy, but the lighthearted tone makes it all feel a lot less obvious.

There's also, I think, such a human message ultimately about people being people, no matter how aggressively they're programmed, no matter how terroristic their objectives. (Not to mention the hypocrisy of attacking a culture you find heinous by acting heinous, as terrorists often do.) At its most profound, the book is a dance between beauty and offense and I realized that early on. It was after an anal rape that I fell in love:

"Electric-bolt eyes of bully bleeding water. Blue star of fighting anus leak blood into thin stripes down white legs. Everywhere patriotic. Here so great American nation."

Pygmy's (male bully) rape victim goes on to fall in love with him, and once he expresses this, Pygmy explains to him that he's suffering from Stockholm syndrome, and that he's bonded with his aggressor because he's unable to accept his powerlessness and helplessness (this is, of course, explained in much choppier language). I could relate to that victim: with descriptions so vividly ironic and darkly hilarious filling Pygmy, it's hard to resist equating violence with love.

Comments

[Shae]

I loved Pygmy. I thought it was hilarious and just all around spiffy. If you get a chance, try the audiobook, because it is done really well.

[Margaret]

I was tentative about Pygmy because I didn't enjoy Snuff very much, but I do love Palahniuk. This review gave me that needed prompt to procure it for myself, or at least borrow it from someone. Thanks, Rich!

[Blanquinou]

Have you read "Everything Is Illuminated"? Top-notch in the ESL-humor department. I spent several days on the subway being that person cackling all alone (whether I had the book in front of me or not).

[Josh D]

God, I loved reading Pygmy.

[alicia]

I love ESL humor and I am so so about Chuck.

Instead - try Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer.

And of course, try Trainspotting. Not ESL, but it is nothing short of brilliant.

A Clockwork Orange isn't ESL either per se but of a similar vein.

Glad to see a book review on here Rich!

[sunny]

I just think that Palahniuk is trying to be shocking without any substance anymore.

[Kristi]

Had to stretch the intellectual muscles after your recent Proust questionnaires? I don't blame you.

[DQ]

My partner and I have just both finished Pygmy, he loved it for the story, I have taught ESL students so parts were very familiar. However, we did both feel that he had run his original story through Babblefish into some Asian langauge and back again.

Finding out there is an Audio book version gives me ideas for Christmas Gifts now.

[Amanda]

The book was interesting, but the ending was so unlike anything else he's ever written that I didn't care for it. This made me realize that all of his books are, at their core, very similar, and now I'm kinda...over it.

I've read them all, except for Snuff, which just seemed completely ridiculous.

[ralphie]

Yes, sunny. Yes yes yes. I wish more people could see that.

[jeremy]

Same boring themes as his other books. I'm mad! The world is stupid! Gah!

[amber of theambershow.net]

If it's too hard to read, someone should try the audio book. Paul Michael Garcia's narration is brilliant without being overdone.

[Narbir]

I almost stopped reading but I am really happy i finished the book. It's sooooooooooooooooooooooo much better than "snuff" and he almost lost me with that one...it was stupid. But Pygmy is Chuck back in true form, although the ending was a bit of a let down....for a Chuck book. I have been re-reading everything Chuck since I finished this and all his books are so much better a second time around....especially Lullaby and Haunted. I'm sure some time in the future I will re-read Pygmy as well.

[Matt]

I second the recommendation of Everything is Illuminated for it's ESL humor.

[kristen]

This book was absolutely hilarious!!

You were right, however, to mention how difficult the language is- but give 'Pygmy' a chance! reading the desxcriptions of american life through the eyes of this little terrorist was the best!

BTW, my heart dropped at his description of his parents' reaction to seeing him marching with the other operatives...if I were not a cold-hearted bitch I would have almost cried at this moment.

Alas, I am too much the cold-hearted bitch

Kris

[Miss Kitty]

Wow. I can't wait to read this. Thanks for the heads-up.

[Tender B]

The spelling bee scene is one of the funniest things I've ever read.

[Health News]

Thank you for introducing me the wonderful information.And .....Totally boring.!

[christmas tree shop]

This post absolutely made my day. Your optimism and integrity are inspiring. If I was hiring for any job, I'd hire you!

[china christmas garland]

This was the scariest story to me!!! I would run out of the room rather than hear it re-told, that caused trouble when it was my classroom I was running out of. I was afraid I'd dream about it, a fear I had about pretty much everything as a child...
Well told.
Happy Halloween!

[Leman]

in a collection cealld Stranger Than Fiction. I find his writing difficult to stomach all the way around for its brutality. I find him more shock jock than talented writer. Maybe that's his talent being shocking but it doesn't blow my proverbial skirt up.