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The New and Improved Romie Futch
Meet the South’s newest antihero: Romie Futch. Down on his luck and pining for his ex-wife, the fortysomething taxidermist spends his evenings drunkenly surfing the Internet, then passing out on his couch. In a last-ditch attempt to pay his mortgage, he becomes a research subject at the Center for Cybernetic Neuroscience, where “scientists” download humanities disciplines into his brain. Suddenly, Romie and his fellow guinea pigs are speaking in hifalutin SAT words and hashing out the intricacies of postmodern subjectivity. With his new and improved brain, Romie hopes to reclaim his marriage, revolutionize his life, and revive his artistic aspirations. While tracking down specimens for elaborate animatronic taxidermy dioramas, he learns of “Hogzilla,” a thousand-pound feral hog with supernatural traits that has been terrorizing the locals. As his Ahab-caliber obsession with bagging the beast brings him closer and closer to this lab-spawned monster, Romie gets pulled into an absurd and murky underworld of biotech operatives, FDA agents, and environmental activists.
Part surreal satire, part Southern Gothic tall tale, The New and Improved Romie Futch is a disturbing yet hilarious romp through a strange New South where technology can change the structure of the human brain and genetically modified feral animals ravage the blighted landscape. In Romie Futch, Julia Elliott has created an unwitting and ill-equipped protagonist who nevertheless will win your heart.
Part surreal satire, part Southern Gothic tall tale, The New and Improved Romie Futch is a disturbing yet hilarious romp through a strange New South where technology can change the structure of the human brain and genetically modified feral animals ravage the blighted landscape. In Romie Futch, Julia Elliott has created an unwitting and ill-equipped protagonist who nevertheless will win your heart.
416 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2015
About the author
Julia Elliott
9 books122 followersJulia Elliott’s fiction has appeared in Tin House, the Georgia Review, Conjunctions, Fence, Best American Fantasy, and other publications. She has won a Pushcart Prize and a Rona Jaffe Writer’s Award. Her debut story collection, The Wilds, was chosen by Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Buzzfeed, and Book Riot as one of the Best Books of 2014 and was a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice. She is currently working on a novel about hamadryas baboons, a species she has studied as an amateur primatologist. She teaches English and Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, where she lives with her daughter and husband. She and her spouse, John Dennis, are founding members of the music collective Grey Egg.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 147 reviews
June 16, 2017
Posted at Heradas Review
A glorious postmodern tale of a mid-south middle-aged burnout divorcee taxidermist who hits rock bottom and answers a classified ad to become a guinea pig for some experimental neurological enhancements. It's incredibly good writing, while being effortlessly engaging, humorous, poignant and actually kind of endearing too.
Julia Elliot's prose evolves as the novel builds, expertly juxtaposing the realities and habits of uneducated southern life with the transformative power, and self reflection that accompanies an acquisition of knowledge. She crafts characters that drip with such potent realism, I swear these are actual people - some of whom I absolutely know from the mid-size mid-south town I currently reside in.
It's a smidge of Flowers for Algernon, a little bit of Moby-Dick, and possibly even some Max Barry thrown in, and the whole thing is romantic and realistic while simultaneously bringing the fantastic to life.
P.S. Have a dictionary handy, and you may want to brush up on your Baudrillard, postmodernist theory, and various mythologies.
A glorious postmodern tale of a mid-south middle-aged burnout divorcee taxidermist who hits rock bottom and answers a classified ad to become a guinea pig for some experimental neurological enhancements. It's incredibly good writing, while being effortlessly engaging, humorous, poignant and actually kind of endearing too.
Julia Elliot's prose evolves as the novel builds, expertly juxtaposing the realities and habits of uneducated southern life with the transformative power, and self reflection that accompanies an acquisition of knowledge. She crafts characters that drip with such potent realism, I swear these are actual people - some of whom I absolutely know from the mid-size mid-south town I currently reside in.
It's a smidge of Flowers for Algernon, a little bit of Moby-Dick, and possibly even some Max Barry thrown in, and the whole thing is romantic and realistic while simultaneously bringing the fantastic to life.
P.S. Have a dictionary handy, and you may want to brush up on your Baudrillard, postmodernist theory, and various mythologies.
April 15, 2015
This was a really interesting read. They aren't joking when they call this a "Southern Gothic tall tale"! The premise was hilarious and the writing was fantastic. Great show from Julia Elliott's first novel...she definitely has a fresh voice, and her writing is wonderfully descriptive.
I probably would never have picked up this book if it weren't for Indiespensable sending it with their latest box (thanks, Indiespensable!), and at first I wasn't really sure about it. This is definitely not my usual fare (I'm not sure if this is anyone's "usual" fare!). But the plot and the characters really grew on me and I'm really glad I stuck it out.
I won't rehash the plot here - the summary actually does a pretty good job of it - but I will say that the (sometimes unlikely-seeming) juxtaposition of the major plot elements actually combine to create a really rich, interesting novel. At first I was afraid that some of the plot devices might seem forced, but Julia Elliott blends them together so deftly that it really sucks you in.
I probably would never have picked up this book if it weren't for Indiespensable sending it with their latest box (thanks, Indiespensable!), and at first I wasn't really sure about it. This is definitely not my usual fare (I'm not sure if this is anyone's "usual" fare!). But the plot and the characters really grew on me and I'm really glad I stuck it out.
I won't rehash the plot here - the summary actually does a pretty good job of it - but I will say that the (sometimes unlikely-seeming) juxtaposition of the major plot elements actually combine to create a really rich, interesting novel. At first I was afraid that some of the plot devices might seem forced, but Julia Elliott blends them together so deftly that it really sucks you in.
April 16, 2015
I loved this book from start to finish. Very smart and witty. I hope the writer has a long career ahead of her!
February 3, 2018
A love story where the albino gators slink and the winged boar plans and then builds a runway to reach you in the tree.
May 12, 2015
Have you ever had the strange daydream fantasy: What if the men of Duck Dynasty suddenly had two brain cells to rub together? What if they suddenly became filled with the immense, combined word-horde of all of Western Civilization?
The New and Improved Romie Futch is just such a sci-fi fantasy. Romie is a down and out taxidermist, someone who is the symbolic chorus of a country music song--at least until he gets wet-cyber brain/computer interfaces that download the glory of an eternity of Arts and Humanities education into his ill-equipped noggin.
The great questions that we all banter about in an Intro to Literature course are all played with here briefly for show, but never answered. The disturbing question that Julia Elliott tosses out here is: If we had all of the most powerful knowledge at our disposal, would it really change our life? The answer she gives us here in this novel is: No, not much. Maybe we'd all make a few more logical decisions, and be able to quote random sections of poetry at will. But overall, we'd still be in exactly the same physical, social, monetary, and community positions. Nothing would change, except for a few bright advances in your ability to create good taxidermy. We'd still be filled with rage, lust, anger, revenge, testosterone, and fear.
Such an answer should be playful, but it's also a bit depressing in a metaphysical sense. An eternity of education just means we're better feral pig-slayers? Better taxidermy artists? For most readers this will be a fun romp in the swamp, but I wonder what those readers who feel themselves versed in the Humanities will feel about the argument that education changes virtually nothing about your life . . . just sets you apart from your community because almost everyone mistrusts poetic verse entirely.
Such an argument makes me want to abandon all hope and enter the wilderness like Jarvis, Elliott's misanthrope extraordinaire.
The New and Improved Romie Futch is just such a sci-fi fantasy. Romie is a down and out taxidermist, someone who is the symbolic chorus of a country music song--at least until he gets wet-cyber brain/computer interfaces that download the glory of an eternity of Arts and Humanities education into his ill-equipped noggin.
The great questions that we all banter about in an Intro to Literature course are all played with here briefly for show, but never answered. The disturbing question that Julia Elliott tosses out here is: If we had all of the most powerful knowledge at our disposal, would it really change our life? The answer she gives us here in this novel is: No, not much. Maybe we'd all make a few more logical decisions, and be able to quote random sections of poetry at will. But overall, we'd still be in exactly the same physical, social, monetary, and community positions. Nothing would change, except for a few bright advances in your ability to create good taxidermy. We'd still be filled with rage, lust, anger, revenge, testosterone, and fear.
Such an answer should be playful, but it's also a bit depressing in a metaphysical sense. An eternity of education just means we're better feral pig-slayers? Better taxidermy artists? For most readers this will be a fun romp in the swamp, but I wonder what those readers who feel themselves versed in the Humanities will feel about the argument that education changes virtually nothing about your life . . . just sets you apart from your community because almost everyone mistrusts poetic verse entirely.
Such an argument makes me want to abandon all hope and enter the wilderness like Jarvis, Elliott's misanthrope extraordinaire.
April 28, 2016
I feel like I need to let this one sit and percolate for a while...
Edit: On reflection this has become a five star read for me. I'm sitting here and trying to decide what to read next thinking, "I miss Romie Futch!".
If that isn't five stars I don't know what is.
Edit: On reflection this has become a five star read for me. I'm sitting here and trying to decide what to read next thinking, "I miss Romie Futch!".
If that isn't five stars I don't know what is.
April 18, 2015
by Gregg Chadwick
Julia Elliott's new novel, "The New and Improved Romie Futch", takes us on a Southern adventure that seems inspired by the absurdly picaresque world of John Kennedy Toole's "A Confederacy of Dunces", the cyber/ historic cosmography of David Mitchell's "Cloud Atlas", the dangerous science of Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein", the obsessive hunt of Herman Melville's "Moby Dick", and the eerily foreboding scape of Don De Lillo's "White Noise", blended with the environmental warning of Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring", all played to a soundtrack by the pioneering electronica musician Delia Derbyshire.
Romie Futch lives in an alternative yet still contemporary South Carolina, where hipsters seem to have swarmed South from Brooklyn and East from Portland to mingle and clash with characters that still haven't moved far from their High School glory days. Romie Futch is one of these down at the heels locals. Romie's ex-wife haunts his dreams and waking memories while creditors are poised to seize his house. Romie has become an expert at avoiding his less than booming taxidermy business with a daily regimen of internet distractions and it must be 5 o'clock somewhere beverage choices. Challenged in pecuniary matters, Romie decides to answer an ad searching for well paid research subjects for the mysterious Center for Cybernetic Neuroscience in Atlanta, Georgia.
Elliott's novel shifts locales here in a Tardis like fashion as Romie finds himself in an eerie world of lab coats and human experiments. Memories, always untrustworthy, erupt at inopportune times as Romie and his fellow test subjects gather nightly at dinner to spar with their new neuroscience-enhanced cognitive abilities and burgeoning artistic powers. The neurally enhanced taxidermist, vows to return to his hometown and finally pursue his long dormant dream of becoming an artist. Life and the lingering effects of the neural experiments on him and his fellow guinea pigs intervene as well as the shadowy form of a seemingly mythical thousand-pound feral hog that has been terrorizing Romie's home county.
Julia Elliott's language is rich and well played - at times darkly humorous, but also poignantly life affirming. Elliott's story is deftly crafted like Delia Derbyshire's haunting theme song for Doctor Who, originally composed by Ron Grainer, but transformed by Derbyshire into a futuristic swirl of spliced snippets of sound. Julia Elliott's "The New and Improved Romie Futch" is a literary swirl of Southern Gothic and dystopian Science Fiction that helps us laugh at our own foibles even as we try to create a better future. Highly recommended.
Julia Elliott's new novel, "The New and Improved Romie Futch", takes us on a Southern adventure that seems inspired by the absurdly picaresque world of John Kennedy Toole's "A Confederacy of Dunces", the cyber/ historic cosmography of David Mitchell's "Cloud Atlas", the dangerous science of Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein", the obsessive hunt of Herman Melville's "Moby Dick", and the eerily foreboding scape of Don De Lillo's "White Noise", blended with the environmental warning of Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring", all played to a soundtrack by the pioneering electronica musician Delia Derbyshire.
Romie Futch lives in an alternative yet still contemporary South Carolina, where hipsters seem to have swarmed South from Brooklyn and East from Portland to mingle and clash with characters that still haven't moved far from their High School glory days. Romie Futch is one of these down at the heels locals. Romie's ex-wife haunts his dreams and waking memories while creditors are poised to seize his house. Romie has become an expert at avoiding his less than booming taxidermy business with a daily regimen of internet distractions and it must be 5 o'clock somewhere beverage choices. Challenged in pecuniary matters, Romie decides to answer an ad searching for well paid research subjects for the mysterious Center for Cybernetic Neuroscience in Atlanta, Georgia.
Elliott's novel shifts locales here in a Tardis like fashion as Romie finds himself in an eerie world of lab coats and human experiments. Memories, always untrustworthy, erupt at inopportune times as Romie and his fellow test subjects gather nightly at dinner to spar with their new neuroscience-enhanced cognitive abilities and burgeoning artistic powers. The neurally enhanced taxidermist, vows to return to his hometown and finally pursue his long dormant dream of becoming an artist. Life and the lingering effects of the neural experiments on him and his fellow guinea pigs intervene as well as the shadowy form of a seemingly mythical thousand-pound feral hog that has been terrorizing Romie's home county.
Julia Elliott's language is rich and well played - at times darkly humorous, but also poignantly life affirming. Elliott's story is deftly crafted like Delia Derbyshire's haunting theme song for Doctor Who, originally composed by Ron Grainer, but transformed by Derbyshire into a futuristic swirl of spliced snippets of sound. Julia Elliott's "The New and Improved Romie Futch" is a literary swirl of Southern Gothic and dystopian Science Fiction that helps us laugh at our own foibles even as we try to create a better future. Highly recommended.
July 18, 2024
Grab your thesaurus, cause you're going to need it. Not because the author is simply displaying her MFA chops, at least, because the main character actually has a legitimate reason for spouting such vocabulary depth and eloquence, as well as throwing about some heavy philosophy and lit crit. It's all good, as you will discover. And quite fun. This mashup of Flowers for Algernon meets X Files meets Field and Stream turns out to be a delightful romp that makes so many cultural references to growing up in the late Twentieth Century that younger readers might also have to do some Google searches. It covers well the lives of drug-addled losers, suddenly inflamed artificially into the upper reaches of academic-level intelligence. And there is Art, hunting, and taxidermy, and more. I am almost giddy in praise, as the writing is good and the story interesting, if not totally fantastical, with a dash of naughtiness and real sentiment, that allows the author to critique as well many aspects of modern life, especially southern. Don't want to spoil too much. It doesn't hurt that Elliott teaches at the University of South Carolina (Go Cocks!), utilizes many places and attitudes of the Palmetto state and its character types, and makes fun of (or takes a bead on) everything from greedy intellectually-challenged former high school athletes to secretive hipster operatives, the art world and modern love, and so much more that you will just have to pick up the book yourself. And I hope that you do.
November 19, 2015
I really loved The Wilds. This almost has my name written all over it. Elliot does a good job with Futch's voice, and he's a taxidermist! Her pop (and not so pop) culture references are totally up my alley. Harry Partch? Sun Ra? Delia Derbyshire? (Funny she felt the need to explain who Derbyshire was, and not the other two.) The reference to circular breathing is stretching it though.
But I'm finding this a hard slog. I know Futch is supposed to be an interminable windbag, but I have little patience for interminable windbags these days. And I don't need to read about all the Millers being drunk here. Sorry.
But I'm finding this a hard slog. I know Futch is supposed to be an interminable windbag, but I have little patience for interminable windbags these days. And I don't need to read about all the Millers being drunk here. Sorry.
June 4, 2015
From its description, The New and Improved Romie Futch seems impossibly ambitious, seeking to weave together futuristic brain downloads, a commentary on the South, and a wild hog chase (??). Somehow Elliott pulls this off, and so much more. The book is laugh out loud funny, wildly fun, and tender in all the right ways. Romie flails endlessly, but even as he becomes more "intelligent" from his brain downloads, he doesn't have an answer to the one question that matters most: how does he win his ex-wife back? For all his pathetic lack of drive (falling back on beer and internet porn), he is trying to answer a universal question. Maybe this is why he feels the need to hunt down Hogzilla, and why he opts for the brain downloads in the first place. And maybe this is why I ended up loving him. He is an anti-hero, a knight armed with a greasy ponytail, but he's still fighting for what he thinks is his true love. Beyond just writing an incredible character, Elliot is a master of language: she is risky and brilliant and eccentric in the best way. One more step towards absurdity would have ruined the entire book and made it self-indulgent. But instead, every sentence is engaging and as wild as the plot, "The boar, a two-hundred-pounder with greasy black hackles and half-foot tusks, paused to lick his wound. I lifted my rifle, felt the fusion of my arms with weaponry, envisioned the bullet as an emanation of my own being, a flame bursting from my heart chakra, sizzling down the barrel and flying through the singing air." The book is balanced by its tender moments, usually involving Romie's thoughts on Helen and the future, which he aches for as "a shimmering, distant thing." Read this book because how could you not be curious about how Elliot pulls the plot off... Or if that's not a good enough reason, read it because it will make you snort with laughter and fall in love with language all over again.
October 13, 2016
Sabrina's review on her YouTube channel, unmanaged mischief, made this sound perfect for me. Per usual, her review was spot on and I loved this book. It's smart, and funny, and touching, and absurd while still being very real and human.
The writing is excellent: at points it made me feel like one of Paul Beatty's characters who would describe everything as jazz. I will also say that Julia Elliott does a fantastic job of capturing South Carolina (according to the back flap she teaches at USC, so it makes sense). I spent a few years in northern SC and loved the little details, like how everything has either Magnolia, Swamp Fox, Francis Marion, or South in the title. The northern and western parts of the state really are weird and unique (and so unlike Charleston), so it was great to see them done justice.
While there are sci-fi elements in this, they are absolutely not the focus and shouldn't hold anyone back from checking this out. The obvious comparison to Flowers for Algernon serves as a good example in this regard: the sci-fi intelligence enhancing pharmaceuticals in that story are no more a focus than the sci-fi intelligence enhancing technology in Romie Futch.
The writing is excellent: at points it made me feel like one of Paul Beatty's characters who would describe everything as jazz. I will also say that Julia Elliott does a fantastic job of capturing South Carolina (according to the back flap she teaches at USC, so it makes sense). I spent a few years in northern SC and loved the little details, like how everything has either Magnolia, Swamp Fox, Francis Marion, or South in the title. The northern and western parts of the state really are weird and unique (and so unlike Charleston), so it was great to see them done justice.
While there are sci-fi elements in this, they are absolutely not the focus and shouldn't hold anyone back from checking this out. The obvious comparison to Flowers for Algernon serves as a good example in this regard: the sci-fi intelligence enhancing pharmaceuticals in that story are no more a focus than the sci-fi intelligence enhancing technology in Romie Futch.
May 1, 2016
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.
December 8, 2018
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.
April 22, 2015
I thought this book was extremely well-written and I enjoyed the characters and story.
December 3, 2016
I feel too mean giving it 1 star, but thank God that's over.
December 31, 2019
Adjectives: Wordy, topical, didactic, a view of the world seen through the eye of someone purveying the wears of a cursed junk shop, but without the specter of old world mana and instead, the sprawl of strip mall urbanism and the utter ugliness of the public sphere. There’s lots of good lines with images to match but sometimes ad hock descriptions not only detour kinetic movement, (too many twists and turns for a “scenic” route) but are themselves a trapped eye furtively gaping at a tinsely verisimilitude. OR, sometimes too many details hinder empathy, it becomes incongruous. Is this a contemporary phenomenon? As much as it was for Baudelaire and Manet. Even so. But an acceptable thesis of the Reader might say, intellectualism helps to dis the world, not build it up, and in a sad sense, rightly so (?)
As to story, a magic editing shredder could have uppercutted the word count, and I had qualms with some of the structure. (Mnemonics are like literary planaria) When a writer takes on Monsanto that itself seems heroic, but the bandied “Southern Gothic” detracts as well. It’s good to think about these things, but the elements of action/adventure subordinate this aim, style is this sense is reductive. Maybe, maybe not.
Maybe as reader I wanted the intellectualism of Roman to matter more. Maybe as a reader, reading Freddy James Postmodernism-Late Capitalism didn’t change my world view too much either. So says Ironic Man.
As to story, a magic editing shredder could have uppercutted the word count, and I had qualms with some of the structure. (Mnemonics are like literary planaria) When a writer takes on Monsanto that itself seems heroic, but the bandied “Southern Gothic” detracts as well. It’s good to think about these things, but the elements of action/adventure subordinate this aim, style is this sense is reductive. Maybe, maybe not.
Maybe as reader I wanted the intellectualism of Roman to matter more. Maybe as a reader, reading Freddy James Postmodernism-Late Capitalism didn’t change my world view too much either. So says Ironic Man.
March 21, 2016
Well hell. I finished The New and Improved Romie Futch two weeks ago and wanted to write a quality true review, but I haven't had time.
Unlike a lot of Southern fiction, The New and Improved Romie Futch is a page-turner, partly owing to the elements of mystery incorporated into the story but largely because of how good a writer Julia Elliott is. The book is searingly hilarious, frequently poignant, and it portrays modern Southern rural & exurban life and society with deadly accuracy. I'm seriously considering adding it to my personal library and wouldn't hesitate to do so if it were available in hardcover.
Being a Southerner myself, I am a fan of Southern fiction. Some of my favorite authors are the classic Southern writers (Faulkner, O'Connor, Hannah, Welty, McCarthy, Mason, Penn Warren, etc., you know who they are), and I've seen in other reviews that Julia Elliott has been compared to a great many of them. Those comparisons are apt. As young as she is, she's very talented. Her characterization and character development are good, she paints good scenery, she writes playful and accurate dialogue, and she is an excellent observer and reporter of human nature and behavior. Two artists I have not seen her compared to, however, and whose literary heir she very clearly is given her near obsession with the humor of bodily functions and her fascination with the intrusion of technology into the human body, are, respectively, Francois Rabelais and David Cronenberg.
I'm really excited about this new young author and can't wait to see what she writes next. While I'm waiting, I'm going to check out her first offering, short story collection The Wilds. . .
Unlike a lot of Southern fiction, The New and Improved Romie Futch is a page-turner, partly owing to the elements of mystery incorporated into the story but largely because of how good a writer Julia Elliott is. The book is searingly hilarious, frequently poignant, and it portrays modern Southern rural & exurban life and society with deadly accuracy. I'm seriously considering adding it to my personal library and wouldn't hesitate to do so if it were available in hardcover.
Being a Southerner myself, I am a fan of Southern fiction. Some of my favorite authors are the classic Southern writers (Faulkner, O'Connor, Hannah, Welty, McCarthy, Mason, Penn Warren, etc., you know who they are), and I've seen in other reviews that Julia Elliott has been compared to a great many of them. Those comparisons are apt. As young as she is, she's very talented. Her characterization and character development are good, she paints good scenery, she writes playful and accurate dialogue, and she is an excellent observer and reporter of human nature and behavior. Two artists I have not seen her compared to, however, and whose literary heir she very clearly is given her near obsession with the humor of bodily functions and her fascination with the intrusion of technology into the human body, are, respectively, Francois Rabelais and David Cronenberg.
I'm really excited about this new young author and can't wait to see what she writes next. While I'm waiting, I'm going to check out her first offering, short story collection The Wilds. . .
May 16, 2016
I would never have picked up this book, or thought to read the synopsis or it from the book cover or the title, but I saw a great review of it that I couldn't ignore.
Romie Futch is a middle-aged divorcee whose lost his way in life: heartache, alcohol, debt, lack of drive etc. the usual. He reads an advert stating that he'll get paid to become a science experiment, to have his intelligence enhanced.
I expected the section where he was gaining knowledge to last a bit longer, the majority of this book is his struggles with his ex-wife, his fight with the company who lodged intelligence and other things into his brain and his battle with hogzilla. This book is weird, but an easy, compelling read. And, you strangely end up like Romie, even though he is everything in a human I would normally dislike.
Romie Futch is a middle-aged divorcee whose lost his way in life: heartache, alcohol, debt, lack of drive etc. the usual. He reads an advert stating that he'll get paid to become a science experiment, to have his intelligence enhanced.
I expected the section where he was gaining knowledge to last a bit longer, the majority of this book is his struggles with his ex-wife, his fight with the company who lodged intelligence and other things into his brain and his battle with hogzilla. This book is weird, but an easy, compelling read. And, you strangely end up like Romie, even though he is everything in a human I would normally dislike.
May 21, 2015
I actually liked this one better than "The Wilds," which is saying something. It's wild, imaginative, and has a great balance between revealing and keeping things hidden. It's engaging as hell and I steamed right through it.
April 24, 2015
So engaging that I didn't want it to end.
October 14, 2015
Man Can Justify Anything, Just Concentrate
Death is not eternity
Slowly dying in a state of consciousness is
as in reading this absolute wreck of a book
The angst riddled protagonist is bound to the realization
That he is an oxygen breathing, walking, talking cliche
Perpetually finding himself in a ridiculous state of being
Deflection, misdirection are the arc of this non-story
The tale is meant to be hyper-surreal, it's fake unsurreal
There is nothing deep about neurological science, it is a junk discipline
Tips to the author:
Originality is still in vogue
Attentiveness to writing the present sentence, which follows the previous sentence, begs leave hold of your formula
Nobody mourns the mourner.
Chris Roberts
Death is not eternity
Slowly dying in a state of consciousness is
as in reading this absolute wreck of a book
The angst riddled protagonist is bound to the realization
That he is an oxygen breathing, walking, talking cliche
Perpetually finding himself in a ridiculous state of being
Deflection, misdirection are the arc of this non-story
The tale is meant to be hyper-surreal, it's fake unsurreal
There is nothing deep about neurological science, it is a junk discipline
Tips to the author:
Originality is still in vogue
Attentiveness to writing the present sentence, which follows the previous sentence, begs leave hold of your formula
Nobody mourns the mourner.
Chris Roberts
April 9, 2019
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.
August 4, 2017
Yeah, I think I'm pretty firmly a Julia Elliott fangirl. This book had me continuously laughing out loud with its Southern gothic absurdity, sardonic academese, gore and horror, King Crimson references, recreational use of pharmaceuticals, taxidermic dioramas, bioengineering, animatronics...jeez, Lord Tusky! The Panopticon! Just the fen of Elliott's lurid prose... In ways, it had elements of Moby Dick, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, but it was all its own. I loved how it began, how it slipped into madness, all its endings. I had no real grasp of where it would go and didn't give a good goddamn. Fun, crude, hilarious.
November 4, 2022
Romie Futch has a train wreck of a life. He's an aging redneck pining over his ex-wife, hanging out with his old high school buddies (also aging wrecks) abusing various substances, and working at his taxidermy business when sober enough. He does the brain upgrade thing and is then a brain-upgraded train wreck, doing animatronic dark-humor taxidermy art when sober enough.
The book progresses from mild sf cyber-engineering to over-the-top absurdity. It's done well, though several of the subplot resolutions were not satisfying to me. The vendetta against Hogzilla, the genetically or cybernetically enhanced wild boar, is somewhere between amusing and horrifying. It is not dissimilar to the feral boar vendetta in Neal Stephenson's Termination Shock, which was written several years after this book. I wonder If Stephenson read it.
The book progresses from mild sf cyber-engineering to over-the-top absurdity. It's done well, though several of the subplot resolutions were not satisfying to me. The vendetta against Hogzilla, the genetically or cybernetically enhanced wild boar, is somewhere between amusing and horrifying. It is not dissimilar to the feral boar vendetta in Neal Stephenson's Termination Shock, which was written several years after this book. I wonder If Stephenson read it.
November 22, 2019
I’m being generous with the rating. It’s just my opinion, but I got very bored of the book. I just wanted to finish the last 40% in one second, but I trudged though it (although I did do a fair amount of speed reading). I appreciated some of the humor in the book, but that’s all that really kept me reading (and the fact that I wanted to see what happened at the end, which was less exciting than I wanted it to be). That’s all I really have to say, and I’m glad it’s over. Again, this is just my opinion.
January 7, 2018
This genre-defying novel was a delightful read on so many levels for me. I am originally from South Carolina and Elliot does a brilliant job of capturing the essence of rural SC in a hilarious manner. Romie Futch is a great character who starts out as a down and out redneck but develops into a way more interesting character after his brain is enhanced through a shady research project.
There are so many great things about this book. As I mentioned, it really is funny. I listened to the audiobook version of this novel and I was literally LOLing at parts. The narrator did a good job of bringing out the humor but it wouldn’t be possible without the anecdotes and societal observations made in the writing. The story is a cool blend of a science fiction and literary narrative. There is the secretive research organization using biological technology to enhance humans brains as well as a mutant razorback hog prowling through the backwoods of the south. Also, there is an incredible amount of emotion and humanity displayed in the story. Most important though is the writing. I can imagine Elliot had her dictionary and thesaurus handy while writing this book. The way she uses poetic language, as well as literary devices such as alliteration and satire, demonstrate that she enjoys wordplay.
I would definitely suggest this novel to those who have read and enjoyed other literary sci-fi novels that have come out this year such as Borne by Jeff Vandermeer or Sip by Brain Allen Carr. I decided to pick this up after reading a couple of stories from her similarily interesting collection The Wilds. I am happy to be a new fan of Elliot’s and I look forward to reading more of her work.
There are so many great things about this book. As I mentioned, it really is funny. I listened to the audiobook version of this novel and I was literally LOLing at parts. The narrator did a good job of bringing out the humor but it wouldn’t be possible without the anecdotes and societal observations made in the writing. The story is a cool blend of a science fiction and literary narrative. There is the secretive research organization using biological technology to enhance humans brains as well as a mutant razorback hog prowling through the backwoods of the south. Also, there is an incredible amount of emotion and humanity displayed in the story. Most important though is the writing. I can imagine Elliot had her dictionary and thesaurus handy while writing this book. The way she uses poetic language, as well as literary devices such as alliteration and satire, demonstrate that she enjoys wordplay.
I would definitely suggest this novel to those who have read and enjoyed other literary sci-fi novels that have come out this year such as Borne by Jeff Vandermeer or Sip by Brain Allen Carr. I decided to pick this up after reading a couple of stories from her similarily interesting collection The Wilds. I am happy to be a new fan of Elliot’s and I look forward to reading more of her work.
July 21, 2017
This book totally wasn't my jam but I enjoyed the hell out of it anyway. I'm not big on Southern Gothic and I've never read Moby Dick and I'm not even a huge fan of most modern SF that deals with cybernetic brain implants (lookin at you, Nexus by Ramez Naam). But damn do I love a book that makes me like it despite my initial hesitations.
Some scattered thoughts:
I totally thought this was going to end horribly for Romie. I kept thinking his hallucinations and the voices and the blackouts might actually be due to drugs and alcohol even though Elliott kept proving me wrong. At the end of Part Two I thought he was going to die. All throughout Part Three I thought he was going to die or fuck up. I'm kinda glad it was a happy ending, but I'm not sure I'm totally satisfied by it. I've probably been watching too much Bojack Horseman.
I almost feel the science fiction parts of the book were unnecessary. The real story here was his quest for Hogzilla (and his attempts to repair the trajectory of his life) and the SF was not as important. It didn't bother me in the moment, but in retrospect it's like I read two different stories that got stitched together.
I loved the silliness and the verbosity of Romie and his buds post-op. Lots of humor plus some beautifully written sentences. Awesome.
Some scattered thoughts:
I totally thought this was going to end horribly for Romie. I kept thinking his hallucinations and the voices and the blackouts might actually be due to drugs and alcohol even though Elliott kept proving me wrong. At the end of Part Two I thought he was going to die. All throughout Part Three I thought he was going to die or fuck up. I'm kinda glad it was a happy ending, but I'm not sure I'm totally satisfied by it. I've probably been watching too much Bojack Horseman.
I almost feel the science fiction parts of the book were unnecessary. The real story here was his quest for Hogzilla (and his attempts to repair the trajectory of his life) and the SF was not as important. It didn't bother me in the moment, but in retrospect it's like I read two different stories that got stitched together.
I loved the silliness and the verbosity of Romie and his buds post-op. Lots of humor plus some beautifully written sentences. Awesome.
October 19, 2016
I most enjoyed this modern Matrix; rather than the red or blue pill worlds, it's located in an intelligent enhancement clinic at the Center for Cybernetic Neuroscience. It is here Romie Futch hides from the world and revamps from Dr. Morrow’s pedagogical downloads into his “inner Shakespeare,” his head eventually “on fire with enlightenment.” With thousands of years of “Art” and the whole spectrum of philosophy, dating back to the Athens’ street-corner philosopher, Socrates, crammed into the twenty-two-inch circumference of his head, Julia Elliot brings us into the new and vastly improving life of Romie Futch. You may even begin to love him and his magical, post-natural taxidermies—I certainly did: the bride and groom squirrels dressed in “Victorian doll clothes” with their spooky electronic cello wedding march; the “Phoenix diorama featuring a three-legged blue jay rising from a pile of ashes.” Not to mention his exquisite obsession over the mutated, winged and earth-wrenching feral hog. This is a classic comedy of a sad man’s plight back into the light, and the bizarre ecstasy he finds there. A must read for anyone who loves an original plot and experimental narration.
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June 23, 2016Jeff says,
Romie’s your typical 40 something, under achieving taxidermist whose wife has just left him and whose house is about to be foreclosed, so he signs on to become a research subject where he receives downloads into his brain which enhance his intelligence. After leaving the lab, he becomes obsessed with crating animal dioramas, getting his wife back and tracking down a genetically altered pig known as Hogzilla.
This is a highly inventive, funny and fast paced novel which is basically about a normal guy just trying to get his life back on track. It just that the obstacles he faces, such as getting downloads pumped into his brain and facing a 1000 pound mutant pig, are a little different than the norm.
Romie’s your typical 40 something, under achieving taxidermist whose wife has just left him and whose house is about to be foreclosed, so he signs on to become a research subject where he receives downloads into his brain which enhance his intelligence. After leaving the lab, he becomes obsessed with crating animal dioramas, getting his wife back and tracking down a genetically altered pig known as Hogzilla.
This is a highly inventive, funny and fast paced novel which is basically about a normal guy just trying to get his life back on track. It just that the obstacles he faces, such as getting downloads pumped into his brain and facing a 1000 pound mutant pig, are a little different than the norm.
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