On Sale: May 3, 2009
The Manchurian Candidate meets South Park —Chuck Palahniuk’s finest novel since the generation-defining Fight Club.
Chuck Palahniuk’s singular novels have always defied convention. With a Palahniuk novel you never know what quite to expect. Yet his nimble, iconic storytelling talent does not simply rely on his prodigious – and perverse – imagination. At the core of Palahniuk’s novels you’ll discover universal tenets of human emotion: love, vanity, jealousy, despair, loneliness. These truths, embodied by wholly unique characters (and yes, cringe- or vomit-inducing incendiary plot twists certainly help) have made him a world-renowned, bestselling author. With PYGMY (Doubleday; 5/5/09; $24.95) Palahniuk skewers the apple-pie notions of faith, family and the American way alongside a tale of redemption and love.
“Begins here first account of operative me, agent number 67 on arrival Midwestern American airport greater ____ area. Flight ____. Date ____. Priority mission top success to complete. Code name: Operation Havoc.”
Thus speaks Pygmy, one of a handful of young adults from a totalitarian state sent to the United States, disguised as exchange students, to live with typical American families and blend in, all the while planning an unspecified act of massive terrorism. Palahniuk depicts Midwestern life through the eyes of this thoroughly indoctrinated little killer, who hates us with a passion, in this cunning double-edged satire of an American xenophobia that might, in fact, be completely justified.
Contact: Todd Doughty
212-782-9796
tdoughty@randomhouse.com
For more information please visit: www.chuckpalahniuk.net and doubleday.com
PYGMY * Chuck Palahniuk * Doubleday * On-sale date: May 5, 2009 * ISBN: 978-0-385-52634-0 * $24.95
2009 PYGMY tour:
BOSTON – Tuesday, May 5 –
NEW YORK – Wednesday, May 6
BALTIMORE – Thursday, May 7
PHILADELPHIA – Friday, May 8
WASHINGTON, DC – Saturday, May 9
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Chuck Palahniuk’s nine previous novels are the bestselling Fight Club, which was made into a film by director David Fincher; Survivor; Invisible Monsters; Choke, which was made into a film by director Clark Gregg; Lullaby; Diary; Haunted; Rant; and Snuff. He is also the author of Fugitives and Refugees, a nonfiction profile of Portland, Oregon, published as part of the Crown Journeys series, and the nonfiction collection Stranger Than Fiction. He lives in the Pacific Northwest.