The first really striking thing about Chuck Palahniuk’s 2009 novel Pygmy is that it isn’t really written in English so much as in a sort of pidgin language that is spoken, or rather written by a young teenager whose first language is never specified, a young man who is one of a small group of junior high school-aged, highly indoctrinated and well-trained espionage agents from a never named third world country. The kids have a well-rehearsed plan to take first place in the science fair in order to win a trip to Washington, DC where the narrator, who comes to be called Pygmy in his complex and multi-layered life as the “adopted son” of the Cedar family in an un-named Mid-Western United States suburb will discharge a biological weapon. * (All of these places get un-named by appearing with a block of solid black ink over a single proper noun.)
I need to make clear that the language is a very big issue. I believe that some, perhaps many readers will find it just too frustrating to try to follow narrator Pygmy’s use of rather a lot of English words, but with a lack of understanding of the rules of grammar to paint pictures which at times reflect great shrewdness and a world view that most first world citizens** will find both disturbing and quite challenging at times. That the “global South”* has legitimate complaints about the way they are treated by the global North is something that many Americans simply don’t know about. I believe that there are some readers out there who could see past the language, past the rather stereotypical third world extremists (who are working to kill a huge number of Americans in what they intend as a huge international terrorism event) and after 241 pages come away with an appreciation for what is ultimately a coming of age story that seems to go out of its way to shock and offend the reader. I honestly have no idea whom exactly this book would appeal to– though I know that there are folks who will enjoy it.
Pygmy– Cautiously Recommended to those prepared to deal with the language and world view issues noted above.
*Please let that serve as my 2010 entry in the contest for the Longest Run-on, Compound, Complex Sentence category at the Tortured Phrase Awards.
**If you are not well familiar with the terms first world, second world, third world and fourth world or the concept of the global North and the global South, a concise and most useful explanation is provided by Edward Hasbrouck in his book The Practical Nomad (my Review)
It may seem silly to compare them across time, but with the language things I can’t quite help it. How would compare the language here to that in “A Clockwork Orange?” Without reading the book my first reaction on learning about this is to roll my eyes at what appears to be pretentiousness on Palahniuk’s part. Does the language work or is it a gimmick?
It’s been so very long since I read Clockwork Orange and I’m not really remembering the book at all– I remember the movie clearly and in the movie I don’t remember the language being an issue. I would not call the language a gimmick in that the language is central to Palahniuk’s depiction of the character. IMHO, it is essentially a narrative device– which failed.