Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Short stories
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Pygmy
Chuck Palahniuk
Doubleday, $24.95/hardcover
Before being humorous and enjoyable, Chuck
Palahniuk's 10th novel, Pygmy, is work. The entire text comes as
dispatches in blundered English from a 13-year-old foreign-exchange
student, who also happens to be a key figure in a terrorist cell ready
to unleash "Operation Havoc" upon an unassuming National Science Fair
crowd. The preposterous plot setup proves comedically brilliant and
worthwhile, highlighted by raw, perverse internal monologues: "Could be
fists of operative me execute Punching Panda ... then execute Pumping
Rabbit Maneuver distribute own seed among various appropriate vessel.
Exit shrine. Seek midday nourishment. Visit memorial acclaimed war hero
Colonel Sanders." Palahniuk leads his propagandized protagonist Pygmy
through everything from a spelling bee to church and a school dance.
With patience, it's a sex-crazed riot. — Matthew
SchniperPurchase the book: Pygmy
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Love and Obstacles
Aleksandar Hemon
Riverhead Books, $25.95/hardcover
The brutality of war and semi-precious
memories from before it comprise this collection tied to Aleksandar
Hemon's native Sarajevo. Hemon possesses a firm, moody voice; his words
are clear and simple yet so startlingly precise, it's hard to believe
he didn't learn English until adulthood. Furthermore, Hemon threads his
stories together with objects that reappear — a spider brooch, a
poem — offering a sense of wholeness to otherwise hopeless
scenarios. Hemon is not for the faint of heart; the unrelenting
violence and coarse language are shocking. His novel, The Lazarus
Project, now in paperback, better showcases his signature cadence
and control of words. In both, the main characters are the same
Hemon-crafted, anguished anti-hero. Each book's first-person narrative
endears us to him, despite his ultimately heartbreaking decisions.
— Edie AdelsteinPurchase the book: Love and Obstacles
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Santa Olivia
Jacqueline Carey
Grand Central Publishing, $13.99/paperbackRelease: May 29
The Kushiel's Legacy historical fantasy
series by Jacqueline Carey relates the journey of courtesan and spy
Phèdre nó Delaunay. While fans will recognize Carey's
voice in Santa Olivia, they'll be brand-new to a storyline that
comes nowhere near Phèdre's erotic Night Court. Born and
raised within Outpost No. 12, a military-occupied buffer zone between
Texas and Mexico, Loup Garron is the daughter of a "wolf-man"
genetically engineered by the government. She must learn to control an
inherited superhuman nature, as she struggles to comprehend the
circumstances that caused the people of her community to become and
stay forgotten. Adults (Carey doesn't completely leave sex out of
Santa Olivia) who enjoyed James Patterson's Maximum Ride
series will swallow this novel whole — and wait impatiently for a
sequel. — Kirsten AkensPurchase the book: Santa Olivia
