The idea to read this book came from a promise I made to myself to read '4' Palahnuik books before deciding if I wish to buy, read and collect his anthology. Originally a co-worker promised me that I would enjoy his books...I am still undecided.
Without giving too much away, the book tells the story of Agent 67, a spy from an undisclosed totalitarian state, sent to unleash a 'terrorist' plot in America.We learn that from the age of 4, Agent 67 (named Pygmy by his sponsor family) has been training to carry out "Operation Havoc", an act of terrorism on American soil (Fight Club's Project Mayhem anyone?) Agent 67 is not alone, he has come to America with several other agents under the guise of foreign exchange students, however, not many get mention in the book after chapter one where we learn these agents are all sent into different American host families. Our story revolves mainly around the 4 members of the Cedar family, where Agent 67 has lovingly been placed. Enter here Pygmy's description of his host family (perhaps the only part I liked about the book)"Cow father",a God fearing porn addict employed in a biological weapons facility. The matriarch, lovingly titled "chicken mother" a skin and bones drug addict who is obsessed with her large collection of vibrators. Their classic American son, "Pig Dog Brother", a bullied high school student obsessed with breasts, and lastly there is "Cat Sister" who in the end is instrumental is integrating Pygmy into what he was originally sent to destroy.
We get the usual taste of Palahnuik's all too common attack on the church, ("religion propaganda distribution outlet") with more time-wasting spent on his potentially clever observations of school life in America, ("American education facility devoted humiliation and destroy all self-respect"). We get a spelling bee competition, a science fair, and even a school-shooting - oh my! All this, and the odd quote from Hitler, Mussolini, and other undesirable tyrants from time to time. This is suppose to be satire...oh I get it now.
As a reader semi-familiar with the Palahnuik recipe you can already imagine how much potential there was with a plot and a character like Pygmy. I was expecting Palahnuik to do so much more with the voice of Pygmy; a perfect candidate and vessel for our author to utilize in his trademark satirical rantings.
Sadly, so much is lost right from the gates, as the reader has to get used to the epistolary novel style, which for those that don't know is a novel written as a series of documents.(Google it). This would work in very short bursts, but for 200+ pages it becomes a small hell. For example; Pygmy is suppose to be a genius, yet his mastery of the English language is absurd, and makes Palahnuik's attempt at being humorous that much more intolerable to read.
I recommend this book to no one. No one I know, who is alive, should need to suffer as I did. At points I grew so angry that I was foolish enough to have purchased the book, that I actually wanted to physically destroy it. I am not joking.
This book is 241 pages long and it took me four days to read. It is easily readable in one day, however I could not torture myself for too long a period at once, and had to space it out.
On my sliding scale I give this book a solid 1/10. There was nothing about Palanuik's attempt to be clever that I truly enjoyed here. He wasted an ideal character, in an ideal Palahnuik-wonderland with an inundation of terrible boob jokes and uber-cliche observations of American culture. While the epistolary template might work for some, it just did not work here and ends up feeling like an experiment...one gone horribly wrong. Chuck P. only gets as high as a 1/10 because he wrote a book (worth 0.5) and becasue he had the balls to actually attempt this gigantic flop of a project (worth another 0.5)...that must deserve something...right?
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