Tomas: Book Review
I stumbled across Tomas through an offer to review James Palumbo’s upcoming book Tancredi. Having had an opportunity to read the first chapter of Tancredi, getting hooked, and looking for a fix in the meantime, I read Tomas. In attempting to describe Tomas from a general standpoint, it’s hard to come up with a concise fit within the boundaries of literary genres or to even come up with another writer whom exemplifies a similar style. In making the grave sin of comparing Tomas to other titles I’ve read and other media I’ve been exposed to, I’d sum it up as the amalgamation of Chuck Palahniuk ’s disturbing surrealism, the morality of Boondock Saints, the literary and scientific license of Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse 5, the ebb and flow of Franz Kafka’s The Trial, and the far out futurism of Phillip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. In other words it’s frighteningly bizarre and absolutely riveting.
Palumbo captures a harsh criticism of modern society and its rather immoral and unhealthy obsessions in a time set in some not so distant future. The proliferation of reality TV has culminated in the global Shit TV network. Material wealth requires obscene and ridiculous physical manifestations. Enter Tomas… the reformed former star of Shit TV and a rebel without a very coherent cause.
Tomas’s efforts to enact gruesome moral reforms result in a protracted legal trial and ultimately to his untimely execution on live television. The events that transpire from that point become a complex struggle for good and evil on top of a struggle for national hegemony on a global scale. In a rapidly unfolding plot, the future of all humanity revolves around the efforts of a prostitute, a dying judge, a reporter, an alien with telekinetic powers, and the advice of the late emperor Napoleon.
Palumbo provides readers with their money’s worth as the plot twist and turns. Surprising he takes a cast of freakish and oddly placed characters and ties them together in a strangely-humored modern satire. The characters are hard not to admire despite their clearly articulated flaws making the essence of the book much more tangible while at the same time inspiring contradicting emotions.
Tomas captures a sense of darkness and despair through a disturbingly constructed vision of the future and Palumbo’s twisted sense of humor at times borders on grotesque. The book accomplishes a snarky worldview that fuels its success as a satire. It’s blood, guts, sex, and money in an insightfully dark social commentary that hits on some open nerves. One can only hope that the September 29, 2011 release of Tancredi will provide a similar warped perspective.
In addition Palumbo’s talented writing, Tomas also features a number of detailed illustrations which captures the feel of the novel. Check out the clip below for a glance at some of the artwork. Also featured is Stephen Fry’s oral review of the book.
Josh O’Conner is a Planner/Zoning Administrator in Asheville, North Carolina. You can find him on the web at triggerhippie.com, localplan.org, or twitter.com/joshoconner. Contact Josh via e-mail (josh -at-localplan.org). He was provided a copy of the book by the publisher for review.
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