Pygmy Book Review

Pygmy is a book by Chuck Palanhiuk and is about an exchange student coming to America from his totalitarian homeland and he is documenting his stay in the United States. He is of small stature and is immediately referred to as Pygmy by the family he stays with.He views Western society and America with utter contempt and we soon learn that he is not there for a sight-seeing trip! He is planning something spectacular and we don't find out what it is until the end!


As is normal for Chuck Palanhiuk, Pygmy is a comedy like Snuff and Choke which I have reviewed .It is written in a series of dispatches 1-36 which are basically Pygmy writing back to his superiors and telling them of his experiences. He stays with a typical American family and in his reports he calls them Host Cow Father, Chicken Neck Mother, Pig Dog Son and Cat Sister! It wouldn't be a Chuck Palanhiuk book without some outrageous moments and Pygmy is no exception. Rape, neuro-toxins,vibrators and a decapitation are all involved so if you dislike reading about any of these topics, then I would advise you not to read this novel. If these topics are to your taste, then you should definitely read this. The book reminded me of an episode of The Simpsons called 'Crepes of Wrath' where an Albanian boy does a foreign exchange with Bart. I'm sure you have seen it! They all think that the boy is harmless but he is really a spy. It is the same kind of thing as Pygmy as the Americans view Pygmy as backward and simple, but he really is clever and he is planning something terrible...

Throughout the book, Pygmy quotes famous dictators and views them as role models. Palanhiuk uses the quotes in funny ways as they relate to what is happening in the story. Pygmy is a very entertaining book to read and I would definitely recommend it. The only problem I had with the book is that it is written in pigeon English as it is meant to be a foreigner writing. I found it had to read and I had to re-read lines every so often. Some of the humour is derived from the pigeon English so it is necessary for the story but can be tough going. Other than that, it was very good and very funny. Chuck Palahniuk has done it again with another hilarious book with laugh out loud moments. If you liked his previous books, then get this one now!!!

Pygmy 8/10.

Choke Movie Review 13

Well after reading the book and reviewing it here then there is nothing else for it but to tell you what I thought of the movie! What am I talking about? Choke of course!!!!!!! It is the movie of the book with the same name that was written by Chuck Palahniuk.Its all about..............well you can click here for what I wrote about the book as it is about the same thing! If you are too lazy it is about a guy who scams money by pretending to be choking.Really though click here first then come back! OK I will stop asking you! I had high hopes for this movie as I enjoyed the book so much.I wondered how it would work out though!

Sam Rockwell (pictured on the left)plays the Victor Mancini part here and I did not really know of him before this.I think he was perfect for the part and had the whole attitude of Victor right so that was good.Denny is played by Brad William Henke and he was ok.Try saying his name a few times after a few beers and see how you get on!!! Then Kelly Macdonald plays Paige Marshall and Anjelica Huston plays Victor's mother.Clark Gregg who wrote the screenplay is also in it as Lord High Charlie.The guy who takes colonial times very seriously!! So if you ever write a movie make sure to put yourself into it!

As you know I read the book but Amanda has not so we watched the movie together.I was looking forward to it but Amanda was coming in fresh as she has not read any Chuck Palahniuk's books.Sacrilege I know! Nearly every scene is taken from the book so they did keep very faithful to it.To me that was a good thing.It tells the story of when Victor was young in flashback and there was where the problems started.As they were trying to squeeze everything in, details get left out and it was not made clear what was going on in the flashbacks.Then Anjelica Huston looked the exact same in present day with just the exception of grey hair instead of black.She did not even look sick at all when the whole point is she is weak and near death.

In the picture on the left are Chuck Palahniuk and the screenwriter Clark Gregg.He is smiling as he got a part and Chuck Palahniuk has a cameo also.There are funny moments in the movie just like the book but for whatever reason they had a way lesser impact.From really funny moments in the book here they are just a chuckle and I do think it is because they skimmed over certain areas.Usually I am complaining movies are too long! The Curious Case of Benjamin Button a big example.Here it is too short as everything moves along swiftly.The movie is 90 Min's long and maybe another 20 could have been added to make things clearer.I found myself explaining the missing parts to Amanda but I would only know this from reading the book.If I had not read it then everything would be a bit fuzzy.You would find yourself saying but why did he do that and what's that meant to mean.

All in all it was an okay movie with funny parts.It is a hard book to convert so you have to give a bit of leeway.Some scenes were exactly how I would have pictured them so that was good.The best thing about the movie was Sam Rockwell as he was really great.He had the part down perfectly.The rest then is just okay but Choke is definitely worth watching.I would recommend this to you as it is a good comedy but not a classic.Amanda thought it was an OK movie!

Choke (6/10)

Choke Book Review 5

Choke is a book by Chuck Palahniuk (pictured below) and is now a recently released movie.Chuck Palahniuk is the author of Fight Club and other novels and I am a big fan of his work.Choke tells the story of Victor Mancini who has a scam going where he pretends to choke on food in restaurants.He does this so he can be saved by other patrons and then they will feel so responsible for saving his life that they will send him money.The idea being that everyone loves being a hero so they will view him as their success story and help him along in life with money.

Victor does this scam because his mother who has Alzheimer's disease is in a home and he needs money to pay her bills.His day job is at a theme park based in colonial times where he works with his best friend Denny and a motley group of losers and misfits.He also goes to sex addiction groups looking for action as he is sure to get it there!!!!! Victor is unsure about his past and parentage and yearns to learn more from his mother but she goes in and out of reality.He finds he can talk to her longer if he pretends to be someone else but it hurts him when she talks badly about Victor to this supposedly different person.

This may all seem like very heavy reading but I can assure you that it is not.Palahniuk really makes the whole book hilarious as it's full of outrageous moments such as sex in airplane toilets and and a Victorsex addict conducting a fantasy rape!!!!! Choke is told from a first person perspective and we follow Victor's hilarious escapades from being with sex addicts to taking credit for all the wrongs that were done to Alzheimer's disease patients.I worked in an old age home for a while so I know that patients with Alzheimer's disease will think that you are someone else all the time.I can see why Victor would just get so sick of it that he just says yes I am that person when they ask.Then when they accuse him of being someone who molested them years ago he just says yes for the hell of it! Soon the whole home is accusing him of something or other!!!!!

Just when you think you have the whole book figured out there is a twist near the end and it is very good.Choke deals with sex in an explicit way so if you are easily offended don't read this book! If you are like me and don't mind , then you will love this book just as I did.I found myself laughing out loud along the way at the off-the-wall and totally outrageous incidents.It reminded me of American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis for all the descriptions and details that it goes into and I recently read and reviewed that book here.In this case its the sex and all the quirks and addictions of the sex addicts.A comment from a paper on the cover of the book calls it Fight Club for sex addicts and this is true!!!

All of Chuck Palahniuk's books are optioned and being made into movies and it's easy to see why as they are all so brilliant.At just under 300 pages Choke is the perfect length as it never gets boring or outstays it's welcome and had me laughing throughout.This is a book that I will definitely read again and again as it's so funny and over the top.I would definitely recommend you getting this book and reading it.If you are easily shocked though, stay away!

Choke by Chuck Palahniuk (10/10)