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betweenbookends's review
4.0
There's no easy way to review this book. It's one of the most outlandish, original and outrageously inventive stories I've read. A southern gothic tall-tale romp, if you will. The novel opens with our protagonist, Romie Futch, a middle-aged taxidermist, down on his luck, divorced, whiling away his time in a drunken stupor, mindlessly surfing the internet, oblivious to the mounting debt and unpaid mortgages looming large over his head.
Now that's not someone who sounds particularly interesting, and yet he is one of the most endearing, genuine characters you'll ever come across. During one of those midnight internet escapades, Romie stumbles on an ad to participate in a research project. As a last-ditch attempt for some quick cash to make ends meet, Romie signs up as a research subject for a brain enhancement project at the Centre for Cybernetic Neuroscience. At the centre, various humanities and art disciplines, literature, etc. are downloaded into Romie's brain. he and his fellow guinea pigs start conversing in complicated SAT words, lecturing on post-modern subjectivity, art and renaissance. This shift in narrative voice is just incredibly well done and hilarious. With his new and improved brain, Romie tries to re-conquer his life and ex-wife.
While he busies himself in creating innovative taxidermized dioramas, with his new and improved brain, a genetically modified feral hog wreaks havoc in the nearby areas. Romie becomes obsessed with this supernatural creature and decides to go on this wild mutant hog hunt that draws him perilously close to a murky underbelly of biotech operatives, mutant animals and FDA agents. The Centre for Cybernetic Neuroscience doesn't seem to be all that it claimed shielding a much larger scandal. While Romie fights against all odds to get the root of the scandal and eliminate Hogzilla, the noose draws tighter and tighter, building up to a fitting end!
The reason I knocked a star off was that it dragged a bit at parts. A few of the plot points felt unnecessary and deviated from the main storyline. A tighter edit would've made it even better. Still, an incredible romp of a read, perfect absurdist fiction, quite unlike anything else.
Now that's not someone who sounds particularly interesting, and yet he is one of the most endearing, genuine characters you'll ever come across. During one of those midnight internet escapades, Romie stumbles on an ad to participate in a research project. As a last-ditch attempt for some quick cash to make ends meet, Romie signs up as a research subject for a brain enhancement project at the Centre for Cybernetic Neuroscience. At the centre, various humanities and art disciplines, literature, etc. are downloaded into Romie's brain. he and his fellow guinea pigs start conversing in complicated SAT words, lecturing on post-modern subjectivity, art and renaissance. This shift in narrative voice is just incredibly well done and hilarious. With his new and improved brain, Romie tries to re-conquer his life and ex-wife.
While he busies himself in creating innovative taxidermized dioramas, with his new and improved brain, a genetically modified feral hog wreaks havoc in the nearby areas. Romie becomes obsessed with this supernatural creature and decides to go on this wild mutant hog hunt that draws him perilously close to a murky underbelly of biotech operatives, mutant animals and FDA agents. The Centre for Cybernetic Neuroscience doesn't seem to be all that it claimed shielding a much larger scandal. While Romie fights against all odds to get the root of the scandal and eliminate Hogzilla, the noose draws tighter and tighter, building up to a fitting end!
The reason I knocked a star off was that it dragged a bit at parts. A few of the plot points felt unnecessary and deviated from the main storyline. A tighter edit would've made it even better. Still, an incredible romp of a read, perfect absurdist fiction, quite unlike anything else.
jsmithborne's review
5.0
So so good! My big discovery from the Southern Festival of Books this year. I loved the first, science-fictiony half, where Romie is participating in the research project, and I loved the second, far-less-easy-to-categorize half, where Romie goes on his quest for the mutant boar, builds taxidermied animatronic dioramas, and deals with the consequences of being new and improved. Elliott was articulate and dryly funny at SoFest, and I'll be looking for all of her books now!
alexandrahope91's review
5.0
Honestly, this was one of the best books I’ve read this year. Absurd and clever. Gothic and moving. Hysterical and stunning. And to think I almost didn’t pick it up because of the horrifying cover...
I don’t even know what else to say because I don’t want to divulge anything. Go in blind. Soak up the brilliance. Go forth, my friends, and bag this beast of a masterpiece.
I don’t even know what else to say because I don’t want to divulge anything. Go in blind. Soak up the brilliance. Go forth, my friends, and bag this beast of a masterpiece.
timbo001's review
4.0
A Southern Gothic/ Sci-Fi retelling of Frankenstein and The Island of Dr Moreau as told by a down-and-out taxidermist.
norrin2's review
1.0
I have a bad habit of not finishing a lot of books I start reading. I'm not proud of quitting but it just seems like life is too short and too full of good books to spend a lot of time reading bad ones. So I resolved to change that, to finish what I start. Unfortunately I made this resolution right before I read this book, and I have decided that quitting is not necessarily a bad thing. I mean, my God, are there no editors out there? this book went on and on and on describing the protag's headaches and drug binges until my head hurt. It seems like two books in one, neither one very compelling -- the Hogzilla story and the scary agency doing doing brain implant experiments. All I can say is if the next book I start isn't any better than this I'm chucking it aside with a clear conscience.
shana629's review
2.0
*2.5 stars*
I wish this were more Flowers for Algernon and less Moby Dick. Just not my kind of book.
I wish this were more Flowers for Algernon and less Moby Dick. Just not my kind of book.
funaek's review
3.0
This was a unique and weird book that was brilliant at times with an alcoholic loser who manages to become the endearing "hero" of the story chasing after a strange creature, Hogzilla. But, despite an ambitious start, it got kind of tiring and long near the end and left a few loose ends that I would've liked to have seen explored further. I'll be keeping an eye out for Elliott's future works though.
matthewcpeck's review
5.0
Julia Elliott's sprawling sci-fi/black comedy opus takes all of the themes from "The Wilds", pairs them with a schlubby male protagonist, and creates a glorious chimera not unlike the winged pig that dominates the second half of the story. Readers who are partial to neat 'n' tidy plots and/or averse to icky descriptions may want to pass this one by. Indeed, the ending is the only *slightly* disappointing ingredient in the mix, because it feels like Elliott didn't know how to stop the narrative. But until then, this book has it all: a bittersweet examination of a failing marriage, paranoid mind-control, taxidermy, satirizing of hipsters hicks alike, and an elderly woman who looks like Robert Smith. Most striking of all is Elliott's focus on humanity's effect on ecosystems, and her talent for turning every single sentence into a carnival ride. I hope she gifts us with new work soon.