Pygmy (novel)
Pygmy is an epistolary novel by Chuck Palahniuk. It was released on May 5, 2009. Plot. The plot revolves around a 13-year-old boy named Agent Number 67 from an unnamed, totalitarian state described as a "mash-up of North Korea, Cuba, Communist-era China, and Nazi-era Germany", as an exchange student to live with an American family from an unnamed Midwestern location as a sleeper agent to execute a terrorist attack on the United States codenamed "Operation Havoc". Nicknamed "Pygmy" by his American family for his diminutive size, he is introduced into the rituals of  modern American life such as enrolling in public school and going to church. He sodomizes a bully, who had been victimizing his host brother, in the bathroom of a Wal-Mart. The scene is described in graphic detail. This is only the first of many acts committed by the operative in order to adjust to American life while preparing with his fellow operatives, who are also masquerading as exchange students, to execute "Operation Havoc". Style. "Pygmy" is an epistolary novel. Each chapter is a dispatch from the main character, Pygmy, writing as Agent Number 67, presumably to his home country 's government. The book uses incorrect grammar, mostly comical "Engrish", written in a detached, scientific tone. "Pygmy" lambasts American culture and society through its comically biased first person narrative, often with humorous effects. As with many other Palahniuk novels, there are numerous small themes woven throughout the novel. Palahniuk has called these recurring themes the "chorus" in "Pygmy"; he talks about the fighting moves that Agent Number 67 can use to kill a man in one punch or kick, the frequent recitations of elements of the periodic table, and numerous quotes from historical dictators, politicians, generals, and philosophers. Pygmy (novel