Review: Romcom Road Trip
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 10, 2014
This book comes to you fang-free from horror writer Jeff Strand. No tentacles, no bodies, no bleeding (well, some) and nothing pops out of the bushes. (Caution: there is some minor upchucking, if you’re sensitive to that.) It’s a quirky and delightful romance and I’m not one to use ‘delightful’ in a meaningful sentence, but there it is. Don’t let the romance put you off. In many ways, Kumquat reminds me of TWO FOR THE ROAD, a 1967 meet cute/romance on the road comedy with Albert Finney and Audrey Hepburn, except Kumquats is not set in France and there are no flashes back and forth in time. (Or hot dogs.) If this were food--I’m talking about the book now, not the old movie—it would be one of those desserts that you say is just too, too rich but keep eating anyway. You’ll even want to lick the plate.It’s hard to rave without spoilers or giving away the best lines. And speaking of lines, each chapter starts with a quote from EXIT, RED a cult science fiction show that Strand made up and I suspect will now hang around his neck like a dead albatross until he actually writes the damn thing. Consider it his BOOK OF UNCOUNTED SORROWS and it would be so cool if Joss Whedon directs the TV version but hopefully not on FOX because the concept deserves more than six episodes and a premature cancellation.Speaking of TV, food commercials never make me hungry, but if I’m watching COLOMBO and he stops at a hot dog car in Central Park, I’ve gotta have one. This book did that to me--hot dogs, lobster rolls, Red Vines, chocolate chip cookies, but strangely NOT kumquats. Be prepared for the munchies.I chuckled and snort laughed constantly while reading this, so those who read in public be warned. Fans of Christopher Moore, Bill Fitzhugh, and offbeat novels should enjoy this plus readers who have a sense of humor or are thinking of developing one.