So, you volunteer to be the host family for a fragile thirteen-year-old foreign exchange student; easy enough, right? Wrong; problem is Pygmy’s a terrorist from a country that has arranged for several of its young operatives to stay in America. Surprise, surprise! Their mission, you ask? In lamest terms, it’s to inflict “Operation Havoc” on the dishonest and dim-witted dogs of Imperialism (Americans). With chillingly brutal flashbacks of the agent’s childhood training to laugh-out-loud jabs at modern America, PYGMY does its job of skewing American hypocrisy and ultimately embracing the best in deeply flawed people.

Palahniuk takes well-aimed shots at both the violent zeal and terrifying hive-mindedness of tyrannical regimes and beliefs AND at the boorishly smug, self-indulgent bible culture of the USA. Nothing on either side is spared. The ending wasn’t as satisfying as the rest of the novel, but maybe that’s just because I didn't want it to end.