Customer Reviews

King of the Pygmies

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I remember how I felt two years ago when my dad left. I felt sort of off balance and very crazy. I gained like ten pounds, going from a small to a big girl, and that was embarrassing. I couldn't sleep and I didn't even know why. I couldn't stop eating, especially sweets. I got zits. I felt like I was losing it. I know a littel about that. It's so scary. You don't control yourself anymore. That's why, when I read this book, I felt Penrod's pain inside me. I understood his nervousness and his fear that he might never be normal. Unlike me, he probably won't be. But he was a nice calming person for me to read. He was nice because you never felt like his life was over. His strong spirit carried him in a beautiful away. His love of his girlfriend carried him. His mother and father and brother carried him. It was a great book for me. It was a wonderful, mysterious, and kind of sad&funny look at how someone who experiences mental illness falls apart and what they do to pull back together. For me, I got counceling. It helped a lot. But you're alone with yourself more than with a psychologist, so you have to get better on your own. Well, the main character can't get better, but he can believe in himself again. And he does. That's the gift he finds for himself. I loved this book and recommend it for everyone. I loved the brother, who was cute, and even Hewitt the drunk who seems to want to make sure that Penrod knows he's always in some small control of his life. I cried, I laughed, and I became a little bit new again.

First, it took me, for whatever reason, some time to get this book. That was annoying. Once I got it, I started reading that night and knew, within a few chapters, that I was touching something much larger than a book. This is a masterpiece. This is beautiful story that far exceeds the concept of story and wanders into something elemental and societal. King of the Pygmies focuses on Penrod Swayne, a boy with a problem. He is hearing voices that he thinks are the thoughts of his parents and friends and retarded brother. His perception is further muddled by an uncle, Hewitt, who was once the town's police chief but is now the town drunk.
Is Penrod magical or is he ill. This is the primary question. Is Penrod experiencing the first throws of onset schizophrenia, or is he a king of his kind in a downtrodden town where miracles rarely occur?
This is a story about a loss of dreams, about retooling those lost dreams, about people in hard circumstances, about the humor in life, and about love, great, unyielding love between a boy and his parents, a boy and his brother, and boy and his girlfriend (this is handled very well).
The story ends in a way that the reader will not expect. When I think it over, which I've done plenty since finishing it, I've come to the conclusion that the book comes down on the side of the individual. What is right for the person? What keeps a person whole? What is sanity at all? And amidst these questions, you hear the first person evolution of a boy from health to something far more indeterminate, of a boy into manhood, and a once-thriving Maryland town in the grips of a long sleep.
I confess, I've read all of Jonathon Fuqua's books since hearing him speak in Charlotte a few years back. But this book is larger than a novel. Believe me, it is a wonderful story, but so much more. This is a book that demands discussion of its readers. Its concepts and questions challenge readers in a time when so much of what our students read does not. I recommend it wholeheartedly to everyone, young and old. It will open up pathways of conversation that you might never have expected. It is a riveting, masterwork.

I read this book in two sittings and felt as if I was in the midst of Penrod's life and the growth he experiences from his newfound abilities. Fuqua manages to paint pictures so vividly with words that you see and smell the characters as you go - even the unpleasant ones. His last novel delivered a blow right to the emotional gut...this one is more level in it's approach to the events in the main character's life. Penrod manages to grow from a thoughtful boy to an assured and forward thinking young man - and it is wholly believable even in light of what is happening to him. I found myself right there with him as he gets caught up and inevitably let down by a family member. Fuqua's writing can fray hope as well as instill it. He manages to let you in on the wishes and dreams of all the main characters and see how Penn's decisions affect them. In the midst of all of this he weaves a quirky love story that is there as long as both parties are around for it. A classic story told in a unique voice.

I just wanted to say that it's strange that Mr. Fuqua has biopolar disorder. It's strange that he's not embarrassed to say it. I don't think hes weird or anything, but maybe others might. That's sad because I saw him at my school and he's so funny and tells a story about trying to sale a styrofoam boat to Bermuda. He doesn't seem to have biopolar illness if that's being kind of insane. I found out he did in the back of the paperback version of King of the Pygmies, but it's not in the hard version. I read both. I really loved this story and recommend it. Also, you should read the back about Mr. Fuqua having bipolar problems. It's sort of sad if you met him.

One of my all time favorite books. When regular teen Penn starts hearing voices in his head he realizes that he has the power to help people because he can hear their thoughts. Penn's depressed elderly neighbor seems to confirm that he has a new power after her thoughts are recieved by him and he helps her. Penn's similarly afflicted uncle Hewitt helps him to get through this terrible time and ultimately helps Penn and his family make some very important decisions.
The only downfall of this book is that Penn also has a retarted older brother. This kind of detracts from the real issues and takes away from all of the other issues that Penn is dealing with (girls, school, life, friends, etc.)
This is a unique and not-written-about-enough look into the world of the mentally ill and a must read for teens who are going through troubled times.

This is a good book. This is a good book from the beginning to the end. This is the kind of book that every person, young adult to adult, should read, because it is about being human, understanding another person's delimas, and walking in someone else's shoes.
Penn Swayne is a normal kid in an East Coast town that lacks even a hint of magic, when he starts to hear voices. They sound like the people around him, some funny, others crushingly sad. Mostly they leave him at a loss for what to do and fearful of being diagnosed, loosely, as insane. Thankfully his truly insane Uncle Hewitt tells him not to worry. He's not insane, he's special, a king of sorts for what he can do.
King of the Pygmies is about reality vs. magic, about illness vs. gifts, and control vs. no control. It's funny, sad, and pretty gut wrenching. This book should be read. I've never read anything better about a subject I know too well.
Now, one last word. I read the previous reviewer's remarks about the author being liberal for speaking out against the administration. Therefore, this librarian, which is what they said they are, would ban the book from his or her readers. This really makes me nervous. Is this what we've come to? He/she call the book's content good but say that the writer, for speaking his mind in some article in a magazine no one reads, unacceptable. Well I find that unacceptable, and everyone else should, too. Books should be judged for others by content, not by personal agendas.
This is a special book, written exceptionally well, dealing with a difficult subject, the onset of a mental illness that will change Penrod Swayne's life. In this time and day, how many teens and even adults are experiencing similar issues? If you're a student, a teacher, or work in an office, it's entertaining and informing. It is what a book should be.

Revealing look at experiences and beliefs when diagnosed with this illness. I had a chance to see why reality seems one way for some. One reality for the character but what everyone else views as reality or truth is different. And how the character was able fight through to the truth. A good book for adolescents and teenagers on this journey.

When teen Penn begins to hear voices, they turn out to be the thoughts of those around him; not schizophrenia as his parents think. His mother thinks he needs treatment but his wise uncle Hewitt knows better; for he too has the ability to hear other people's thoughts - and only he can teach his nephew how to survive a gift which seems like a disability. King Of The Pygmies is a lovely story of affliction and positive change evolves.

Good book and story with a lot of action and mystery. Pretty funny too!!

Fifteen-year-old Penfold (Penn) has lived in the working-class town of Havre-de-Grace, Maryland, his whole life. What's more, his family has lived in the town as long as anyone can remember. Penn might not be the best student or the smartest kid in his class, but he knows one thing --- tough old Havre-de-Grace is about the last place where miracles might happen.

Soon enough, though, plenty of unexpected things are happening to Penn. For one thing, Daisy, the smartest girl in his class, actually seems interested in Penn, despite his loser friends and his mentally challenged older brother. Penn is over the moon about Daisy, so much so that he doesn't mind making a fool of himself with his clueless questions about her Chinese heritage (she's actually Filipino).

He's less thrilled about the other unexplained development, though --- in fact, he's pretty scared. Out of the blue, Penn is hearing voices, voices no one else seems to hear. Is he going crazy? Or is something else going on?

Penn's parents take him to a less-than-helpful psychiatrist who diagnoses him with schizophrenia. He wants to give Penn medication, but Penn is not so sure. Penn's uncle Hewitt, the town's former police chief who's been troubled (and mostly drunk) since his wife's death, tells Penn that there's more to the voices than what the doctor says.

It turns out, according to uncle Hewitt, that the voices in Penn's head aren't just random; instead, they're the actual thoughts of people around him. Penn hears his mother worrying about his father's weight. He hears his brother's frustrations. He hears his neighbor's despair after her husband's death. According to Uncle Hewitt, Penn has a great gift, a gift that makes him part of a chosen few --- the Pygmies. Is Penn really sick, or can he use his gift to help others?

On the surface of things, many readers may take issue with Jonathon Scott Fuqua's depiction of schizophrenia, which at times seems to trivialize or even discount the severity of much mental illness. Fuqua's approach may also remind some of the movie The Fisher King, which took much the same fantastical approach to mental illness. In a lengthy author's note at the book's end, though, Fuqua explains his reasoning: he wants to depict an individual who, like many often overlooked people, is able to function at a high level while still coping with schizophrenia.

Although Fuqua does do an admirable job of humanizing this condition, he does so at the expense of the psychiatric profession and, some might say, at the expense of other individuals who might really need professional help. Nevertheless, KING OF THE PYGMIES is worth reading and discussing, as it is one of too-few teen novels that deal compassionately (if not entirely realistically) with mental illness.

--- Reviewed by Norah Piehl