cbarbs_1881's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
betweenbookends's review against another edition
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 against another edition
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 against another edition
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 against another edition
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 against another edition
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 against another edition
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.