Of Playthings and Puppets

Pygmy (8.7/10)

So. As is likely with many others, I’ve wanted to read a Chuck Palahniuk novel since Fight Club debuted in theaters, but, being the first edition junkie I’ve become, I’ve never actually come across one to purchase (though I’ll likely take a few trips to the library in months to come). Finally, after performing my weekly scan of the Sony Reader bestseller list, and having seen the book and its bright–and memorable–cover, I decided to run to my local Borders and pick up a copy while I awaited the final book for my Alex Garland marathon from eBay.

Honestly, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect, although, based on what I saw in Fight Club–I didn’t get to run to theaters to see Choke like I wanted to–I knew it would be something to screw with your head. Well, yes and no. Pygmy follows the exploits of an undercover agent, Pygmy, “planning an unspecified act of massive terrorism.” Pygmy, a young boy, speaks in clipped English that, at times, will make you laugh rather authentically. For instance, to an elderly worker at Wal-Mart) “Venerate ancestor, much respected dying soon rotting corpse… where sell here Slovak SA Vz.58 assault rifle?” The entire novel is written as such, and though it is original and envelops the reader, it does a bit tiring and can cause slight confusion at times.

What the novel does do right is the story, which, although it has its f*cked up moments that any reader would expect, is actually fairly sweet. It takes somewhat unexpected turns, details the middle-America–at least the middle-America stereotyped since Columbine–in exquisitely crafted scenarios, moreso than I have ever seen or read before.

I’ve never read a novel by him before, but, after reading this one, I’ll definitely be back for more.

If you liked this book, you may also be interested in:
The Beach by Alex Garland
The Noticer by Andy Andrews
The Stand by Stephen King

The Tesseract (8.4/10)

From Wikipedia: In geometry, the tesseract, also called an 8-cell or regular octachoron, is the four-dimensional analog of the cube. The tesseract is to the cube as the cube is to the square. Just as the surface of the cube consists of 6 square faces, the hypersurface of the tesseract consists of 8 cubical cells.

What does this have to do with Alex Garland’s second novel? Little to nothing, at least at first. One of the main characters, or perhaps the narrator, discusses this curious hypercube, describing it as a “Take six cubes and arrange them into the shape of a crucifix. Take two more cubes and stick them on either side of the crucifix, at the point where the cross is made. Now you have a tesseract…. a hypercube…. In the same way that a one-dimensional boy could not visualize a two-dimensional square, a two-dimensional boy could not visualize a three-dimensional cube, you cannot visualize a hypercube. A hypercube is a thing you are not equipped to understand. You can understand only the tesseract. This means something…. We can see the thing unraveled, but not the thing itself.” Apparently, this serves to describe the structure of the story, albeit in a convoluted and unnecessary manner.

As with The Beach, Garland’s strength here is characterization. All of the characters jump off the pages and truly excite the reader. Unfortunately, Garland loses this at times due to the structure of the book itself and it can take time to adapt to the new storyline, which then changes almost as quickly in a short-story type manner wherein they all somehow connect to each other. Also, as in his former novel, lots of f*cked up things happen. It seems to be a recurring theme for the writer, actually.

While the story isn’t nearly as exciting as The Beach, Garland’s second work holds up and apparently did well enough to merit a film adaptation, though it appears to bare little resemblance to the book. I believe, though, that I will remember it the most for its interesting structure, one that feeds into the tesseract theory. Incredible.

If you like this book, you may also be interested in:
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
Vox by Nicholson Baker
World War Z by Max Brooks

The Beach (9.3)

The first of my Alex Garland trio, The Beach was also Garland’s first novel and later adapted to the screen by Danny Boyle starring Leonardo Dicaprio. For those of you who have seen the movie–one of my favorites (I have the poster hanging up in my old apartment still)–you know what to expect: man travels through Asia and stumbles across a map to a beach backpackers have yet to spoil and which seem like utter paradise until…. Yes, until. That is the bulk of the story, this “until.” Yet, what you see in the movie is only a slim parcel of what occurs in the book.

Think of the film adaptation as a (refraining from using anything TOO brilliant) pale image of a Picasso painting on a computer screen. Then think of the original painting as equivalent to the book. You’d get the general idea. The Beach holds so much more in terms of absolute suspense than the movie could ever hol and, needless to say, the ending is not quite as peachy as the film’s portrayal. In fact, hardly any of the main players come away unscathed as that version would have you believe… poor Richard. Man.

At that, I would highly recommend this book, the strongest of Garland’s, to anyone. Keep in mind, though, that this is no children’s book. F*cked up things happen. Lots of them. It’s also not as erotic or easy-going as the film. It’s edgy and real. Well, in the sense that it’s all fictional, but you catch my drift, yeah?

If you like this book, you may also be interested in:
28 Days Later (screenplay) by Alex Garland
Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larson