Preview
  • The New and Improved Romie Futch

  • A Novel
  • By: Julia Elliott
  • Narrated by: T. Ryder Smith
  • Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (36 ratings)

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The New and Improved Romie Futch

By: Julia Elliott
Narrated by: T. Ryder Smith
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Publisher's summary

From the author of The Wilds, which Publishers Weekly called "a brilliant combination of emotion and grime, wit and horror," comes a debut novel that is part dystopian satire, part Southern Gothic tall tale: a disturbing yet hilarious romp through a surreal New South where newfangled medical technologies change the structure of the human brain, and genetically modified feral animals ravage the blighted landscape.

Down on his luck and still pining for his ex-wife, South Carolina taxidermist Romie Futch spends his evenings drunkenly surfing the Internet before passing out on his couch. In a last-ditch attempt to pay his mortgage, he replies to an ad and becomes a research subject in an experiment conducted by the Center for Cybernetic Neuroscience in Atlanta, Georgia. After "scientists" download hifalutin humanities disciplines into their brains, Romie and his fellow guinea pigs start debating the works of Foucault and hashing out the intricacies of postmodern subjectivity.

The enhanced taxidermist, who once aspired to be an artist, returns to his hometown ready to revolutionize his work and revive his failed marriage. As Romie tracks down specimens for his elaborate animatronic taxidermy dioramas, he develops an Ahab-caliber obsession with bagging "Hogzilla", a thousand-pound feral hog that has been terrorizing Hampton County. Cruising hog-hunting websites, he learns that this lab-spawned monster possesses peculiar traits. Pulled into an absurd and murky underworld of biotech operatives, FDA agents, and environmental activists, Romie becomes entangled in the enigma of Hogzilla's origins. Exploring the interplay between nature and culture, biology and technology, reality and art, The New and Improved Romie Futch probes the mysteries of memory and consciousness, offering a darkly comic yet heartfelt take on the contemporary human predicament.

©2015 Julia Elliott (P)2015 Recorded Books
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What listeners say about The New and Improved Romie Futch

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    4 out of 5 stars

perfect narration

The narration is perfect - literally nothing to improve on. The writing is brilliant, funny, and absurd. I thoroughly enjoyed this the first time I listened to it about a year ago. My bookclub selected this and it's just as good the second time around

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EXCELLENT! Stick with it!!

This is the best book I've read or listened to... kind of a lighter, southern, modern-day "Ready Player One."

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    4 out of 5 stars
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Masculinity under the microscope

This was a funny, intelligent, science fictional look at the plight of the rural dude in a modern, progressive culture.

Romie Futch is his own worst enemy, despite the ex wife, evil corporation, sleazy frienemy and genetically-engineered pig monster contending for that role. Even after he signs up for a mysterious medical experiment that gives him super intelligence, he can't manage to get out of his own way in his pursuit of happiness and success.

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