A review by betweenbookends
The New and Improved Romie Futch by Julia Elliott
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.