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Homunculus
In a remote Catholic mission station in war-torn Sierra-Leone, a renegade Irish alchemist, Father Jack, has succeeded in creating a small legion of grotesque bio-robots. Anxious to be rid of his creations before problems arise, he attempts to sell his homunculi. When he fails, chaos ensues in this dark, bizarre, and immensely readable novel. Hugh Paxton is a widely published, award-winning British journalist. He is also the author of seven works of nonfiction.
304 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
October 11, 2023
Just wow.
I randomly stumbled upon this book in a thrift shop, the cover and synopsis sounded like it’d at least be morbid so I picked it up. I can’t imagine not having picked up this book. I’m very happy I did.
“Homunculus” is a monster story. Surprisingly the Homunculi aren’t the worse monsters though, that title belongs to the people. Hugh Paxton does an undeniably fantastic job at writing human beings that you’d be happy to see hurt in the most gruesome ways, and at the same time you fall in love with these horrible people, because he’s just that good at making characters.
I could rave about the intricacies of politics that are woven throughout, but I’d really just like to talk about Rindert. He may be the only person in this story that takes on serious character growth. And by the end I was happy that he was happy.
An absolute must read. Such a morally disgusting look into war and monsters of the human form.
I randomly stumbled upon this book in a thrift shop, the cover and synopsis sounded like it’d at least be morbid so I picked it up. I can’t imagine not having picked up this book. I’m very happy I did.
“Homunculus” is a monster story. Surprisingly the Homunculi aren’t the worse monsters though, that title belongs to the people. Hugh Paxton does an undeniably fantastic job at writing human beings that you’d be happy to see hurt in the most gruesome ways, and at the same time you fall in love with these horrible people, because he’s just that good at making characters.
I could rave about the intricacies of politics that are woven throughout, but I’d really just like to talk about Rindert. He may be the only person in this story that takes on serious character growth. And by the end I was happy that he was happy.
An absolute must read. Such a morally disgusting look into war and monsters of the human form.
October 1, 2017
Imagine Catch-22, only ten times more violent -- maybe even a hundred times more violent. More blood, more vomit, more disease, and more human cruelty. And definitely more twisted.
Homunculus - literally, "little man" - throws itself into the discord that is modern-day Sierra Leone. Plagued with disease-ridden, teenaged warriors and the most relentless rains this side of the Great Deluge, there has rarely been a bleaker (yet realistic) representation of contemporary landscape. Innocents are mutilated for the sake of a few dollars. Brutally murdered under the scope of a toss-away emotion. The deranged orders of un enfant terrible become irrepressible.
And still, journalist/author Hugh Paxton has created perhaps one of the funniest works of fiction to come from such chaos and tragedy. Even the so-called Japanese "Doomsday Cult," Aum Shinrikyo (known as Aleph since the infamous sarin gas attack upon the Japanese subway in 1995), plays a pivotal role in the narrative - serving primarily as comic relief.
As for the monstrous man-made homunculi themselves? They serve as a plot device, allowing for the insanity of the besieged South African nation and demented human characters involved therein. Living piles of mechanized human corpse parts, laden with zombie-like consciousness and various strains of the Ebola virus, the homunculi was created to be the ultimate biological offensive weapon, and yet it is still humanity which presents the greatest threat to all living things.
Absolute, scathing satire - and really, really funny despite the macabre nature of the setting and story line.
Causing some irritation, though, is the slip-shod editing of the book itself. Homunculus is presented almost as an unfinished reader's proof of a novel, riddled with misplaced quotation marks, misspellings (or even inconsistent spellings, particularly with certain character names), and more than just the scattered grammatical snafu (for instance, "it's" for "its," and "too" for "to," and vice versa). Damaging to the book as a whole, but not to the point of absolute detriment... merely to distraction.
The author promises, as an end note, Homunculus II. Let's hope he's being facetious. Any further stretching of the idea would serve to weaken the original presentation, as is often the case with unnecessary sequels.
Any sequel to this particular societal indictment would be complete overkill.
Homunculus - literally, "little man" - throws itself into the discord that is modern-day Sierra Leone. Plagued with disease-ridden, teenaged warriors and the most relentless rains this side of the Great Deluge, there has rarely been a bleaker (yet realistic) representation of contemporary landscape. Innocents are mutilated for the sake of a few dollars. Brutally murdered under the scope of a toss-away emotion. The deranged orders of un enfant terrible become irrepressible.
And still, journalist/author Hugh Paxton has created perhaps one of the funniest works of fiction to come from such chaos and tragedy. Even the so-called Japanese "Doomsday Cult," Aum Shinrikyo (known as Aleph since the infamous sarin gas attack upon the Japanese subway in 1995), plays a pivotal role in the narrative - serving primarily as comic relief.
As for the monstrous man-made homunculi themselves? They serve as a plot device, allowing for the insanity of the besieged South African nation and demented human characters involved therein. Living piles of mechanized human corpse parts, laden with zombie-like consciousness and various strains of the Ebola virus, the homunculi was created to be the ultimate biological offensive weapon, and yet it is still humanity which presents the greatest threat to all living things.
Absolute, scathing satire - and really, really funny despite the macabre nature of the setting and story line.
Causing some irritation, though, is the slip-shod editing of the book itself. Homunculus is presented almost as an unfinished reader's proof of a novel, riddled with misplaced quotation marks, misspellings (or even inconsistent spellings, particularly with certain character names), and more than just the scattered grammatical snafu (for instance, "it's" for "its," and "too" for "to," and vice versa). Damaging to the book as a whole, but not to the point of absolute detriment... merely to distraction.
The author promises, as an end note, Homunculus II. Let's hope he's being facetious. Any further stretching of the idea would serve to weaken the original presentation, as is often the case with unnecessary sequels.
Any sequel to this particular societal indictment would be complete overkill.
July 6, 2016
This is one of the most fucked up, amazing things I have ever read. The cover is wildly terrible and inaccurate and worth ridicule.
I swiped a signed copy from my mother while visiting her in Namibia, Africa, and have never really put it down since. Homunculus is very much a book written by a person who has seen horrible things, and who has seen the absurdity in horrible things, and author Hugh Paxton indeed served as a war journalist within the exact landscape in which this abomination takes place.
Let's just put it all out there. An inept Scottish alchemist moves to Sierra Leone in search of the abundant body parts its internal struggles generate, and which he needs in order to perfect a mob of moonbeam-drunk automatons. Everything explodes. A bajillion people (and many characters in this book are living, breathing people who participated directly in what sounds like total bulshit, but is honestly pretty much 100% true ie General Butt Naked) are chopped, shot, beat up, exploded, you name it.
It is completely preposterous, and completely realistic.
This book is horrible, and it is an absolute, one-of-a-kind masterpiece.
I swiped a signed copy from my mother while visiting her in Namibia, Africa, and have never really put it down since. Homunculus is very much a book written by a person who has seen horrible things, and who has seen the absurdity in horrible things, and author Hugh Paxton indeed served as a war journalist within the exact landscape in which this abomination takes place.
Let's just put it all out there. An inept Scottish alchemist moves to Sierra Leone in search of the abundant body parts its internal struggles generate, and which he needs in order to perfect a mob of moonbeam-drunk automatons. Everything explodes. A bajillion people (and many characters in this book are living, breathing people who participated directly in what sounds like total bulshit, but is honestly pretty much 100% true ie General Butt Naked) are chopped, shot, beat up, exploded, you name it.
It is completely preposterous, and completely realistic.
This book is horrible, and it is an absolute, one-of-a-kind masterpiece.
June 27, 2022
A violent delight of a book! Absurdly dark, absurdly funny, absurdly absurd. Loved the explosive blend of geopolitical education and weird surrealism. Learning about current affairs has never been so fun and so embarrassingly funny. Dark humour at its best. As a bonus, Picked up a whole bunch of new eloquent twisted insults that I’m dying to use on some slow twat. Surprised that this book is not better known.
If you are a tad twisted - read this immediately if not sooner!! If your delicate sensibilities are easily offended, stick to something more vanilla and less real.
If you are a tad twisted - read this immediately if not sooner!! If your delicate sensibilities are easily offended, stick to something more vanilla and less real.
January 18, 2011
This was definitley not like anything else I've read but was very enjoyable. I've got it tagged as absurd but I think that most of it, other than the actual Hommunculi, is kind of real life "stranger than fiction", as sad as some of that is. It was quite an insane romp on a continent I've never been to but plan on visiting someday.
Thanks for the recommendation Seth.
Thanks for the recommendation Seth.
September 12, 2010
This book is disgusting and probably the most politically incorrect book that I have ever read. The characters are all despicable and yet they are also endearing each in their own destructive greedy ways.
I loved it.
I loved it.
July 25, 2011
What a fabulous find. Never would have known about this book had it not been recommended by a friend in Namibia. Read it if you are interested in Africa, have ever worked for the UN, or want to laugh out loud uncontrollably. Couldn't put it down.
April 17, 2011
The oddball title and great premise didn't quite live up to expectations. Disappointing overall. Meant to lend it to a colleague, but never did; it just wasn't good enough.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews