Pygmy

This is the first Palahniuk book I've read. I've had many friends suggest his books so when I was browsing the local bookstore, this cover caught my eye and I decided to pick it up. The plot sounded interesting enough. A midwestern family takes in a middle school aged kid as an exchange student. You never find out where the boy is from, not that it matters in the grand scheme of things, but you do know he is from a totalitarian state and is coming with a group of about 12 other "agents" to deploy what they call Operation Havoc. The book is written from Pygmy's (which is what his family calls him) perspective and how he views the typical American lifestyle. This is how the book keeps you laughing. The way Pygmy describes dodgeball, walmart, American education, and Church...histerical.
Some warnings: the book is a bit pervy. Included is a sodomy scene, about a million ways to nickname breasts, as well as Pygmy's accidental errections. But this is what makes the book so funny...I guess maybe I'm the pervert.
Also, the book is written in the way that Pygmy talks in English, in other words, VERY broken English. I thought this would be a difficult read but it actually is quite easy and uniquely refreshing...(unlike A Clockwork Orange, which I still have not managed to get through).

I won't give the ending away but I am pleasantly surprised by it. I thought Palahniuk would have gone a totally different route but I'm glad he went the way he did. America isn't all that bad...is it?

5 Stars - put this book on the top of your priority list!