One Potato

by Tyler Mcmahon

Eddie Morales finds his lowly R&D life completely upended when his Boise-based biotech firm dispatches him to Puerto Malogrado, a tiny but tumultuous country in South America where the international media is accusing their experimental potatoes of causing a bizarre medical crisis.

Eddie unwillingly arrives in South America only to find his plans for a quick resolution thwarted when he gets caught between the two sides of an impending revolution, each hoping to capitalize on the potato scandal in order to seize power.

Eddie stumbles into a conspiracy that reveals just how far his company will go to advance its potato empire. He is forced to make a what--and who--will he sacrifice to preserve his own future in this brave new world of biotechnology?

Darkly funny and compassionately rendered, One Potato charts the crooked line between nature and technology and takes a deep look into a future shaped by disasters both natural and devastatingly man-made.

Genres: Humor, Fiction, Contemporary, Science Fiction

336 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 12, 2022

About the author

Tyler McMahon was born and raised in the Washington, DC area. He studied English at the University of Virginia and received an MFA in fiction writing from Boise State University.
He's the author of the novels How the Mistakes Were Made (2011), Kilometer 99 (2014), Dream of Another America (2018), and One Potato (2022)

Reviews

[Minken · Rating 4 out of 5]

This just so happens to be written by one of my favorite college professors! Brilliant

[Clair · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this for a committee. This book was enjoyable and fun.

The main character (Eddie) is likable, flawed, and ordinary. He is sent to fictional South American country to figure out what is going on with a family whose kids walk on their hands and feet. Eddie's works for a potato corporation and the corp wants to prove that the children's disability (?) or oddity (?) isn't blamed on their GMO potatoes. There is a perpetual civil war in this country and it causes problems for Eddie and his journalist traveling partner Raven.

Good plot, fun characters, a good mix of scifi and science.

[Anthony Kennedy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn’t finish this fast enough to just get it over with. I thought this book ended at least 5 times before it actually did. Only thing interesting about this book was the cover. Feels like a junior high student was required to write a book that included potatoes and added anything a junior high kid thought was cool in it. Look at the cover and move on.

[Nick Wright · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the commentary on how capitalism/profit ruins the culture, history, and enjoyment of our food etc. The story was interesting, but felt bloated with unnecessary details at times. The dialogue feels very repetitive and one dimensional in my opinion.

[Natalia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful novel that entertains as it rips away the conceits of global capitalism and the harm that corporate greed does in the US and also, importantly, in South America where governments become partners in crimes against their people. Excellent prose, fully human and complex characters, this novel is also well paced and plotted. While history is darker than in ONE POTATO, (Chile, Guatemala, Columbia), the satire here is damning and passionate. An important book!

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A scientist in the potato industry is assigned to travel outside of the US to investigate if an condition found in the children of a family is related to the potatoes his company created. The destination country is in the middle of a revolution, so that adds a bit of chaos to the mix. I would love to give some more information, but I feel like any other information I give outside of would ruin the book for you because part of the fun of this book is that there are tons of unexpected discoveries. It’s kind of like a mystery.

One of the things I liked the most was how the main characters evolved throughout the book. Nothing seemed forced, but that their evolution was genuine and from a place of learning & new experiences and perspectives. I feel like seeing character evolution when characters don’t have a super rich backstory can be tough sometimes, but what the author did well was being out the personality traits of the characters. We didn’t get a ton of backstory, but it wasn’t about that. It was about the personality.


I also really enjoyed the weird nods throughout like the name of the plane, address, things like that 🥔

I would like to thank NetGalley, Dreamscape Media, and Tyler McMahon for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Morgan Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

This was a fun listen! Eddie is sent to a small South American country to investigate a human anomaly that is supposedly caused by his company’s potatoes. An entire family of children are walking on their hands and feet, bear crawl style. This is not only alarming to the family but could tarnish the company’s name as well. Moralez’s only job is to get down there, find the root cause of this issue (and like it BETTER not be the potatoes), and leave. That is until the country’s revolution, and befriending a journalist muddy his goals. Eddie has to make a decision and pick a side—all in the name of taters.

One Potato is probably the most unique concept for a novel I’ve stumbled upon as of late. The plot points drew me in immediately because of this. I loved how deep the story got and how intertwined things were as information was revealed to the reader. I would’ve never predicted some of the revelations throughout. Raven was a fun character and I loved her development and commitment to the truth. Eddie’s dedication to the afflicted children was chivalrous, especially when the revolution got extremely dicey and dangerous. The potato makes its way through this book from beginning to end, and I loved viewing Eddie’s growth through the lens of a potato and how he now viewed mass food corporations. I went into this looking for a light-hearted goofy read and instead became invested in the revolution of this fictitious country. I felt some of the aspects were unnecessary but overall, I’d recommend this for a seriously unique read!

[Twainy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Potatoes, genetically engineered perfect fries, in a vending machine, seriously?? I’M IN!!

A great audiobook! Funny. Dark. Sarcastic. Genetically engineered potatoes? YESSS! I need to know where this could possibly be going!!

Three children who walk on all fours. WHY?! A trip to South America. A potato lawsuit. A mystery, A potato conspiracy, A revolution. A childhood rivalry. A potato empire! A blogger & an awkward R&D scientist. A sweet funny story about choices. Biotech and new food or the old school farmed variety.

A fun palate cleanser! Adding this to my book wishlist! Loved it! Silly good fun with heart.

Now for a random story that you should skip.

As a young child my hilarious Uncle Eddie surprised me with a giant brown baking potato wrapped with a yellow ribbon as we left his house on thanksgiving. I had never had homemade mashed potatoes. I had gushed & gushed about how delicious they were. He said I had won the potato award that year. I definitely felt a connection with this book. I read it strait through. The MC’s name is … wait for it … Eddie!! 😁

Thank you NetGalley & Dreamscape Media! I loved this story. Publication date - 4/12/2022.

[Debby · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a nonstop comedy of errors. I greatly enjoyed the ride. Read my full review here.

#NetGalley #DreamscapeMedia #OnePotato

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

An odd little book. Now i want french fries.

[Deborah Cook]

I can’t decide how I feel about this book. I wish it were less cheesy and a little more complex

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is... confounding. I picked it up because of the fantastic cover—you know how the saying goes. I think that anyone calling this book a “satire” should really get out more. A certain David Bajo proclaims on the book’s back cover: “Reminiscent of Vonnegut in his prime…” I want whatever the hell he was smoking when he read this.

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SPOILERS AHEAD
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Claims of this novel being a “cauterizing satire” are exaggerated, and I think it would have been so much more interesting if it leaned into the ridiculousness a bit more. The one single point of hyperbole in the entire novel happens in a greenhouse, where strange glow-in-the-dark potatoes lead our ignorant Eddie to believe, “Hey… maybe corporations only act in the interest of money, or have no idea what they’re doing at all?” This is funny, because such a fact is IMMEDIATELY obvious to anyone who knows anything about Monsanto—a very REAL corporation that does all described in One Potato, and worse, in real life (or who has watched Jurassic World: Dominion, for that matter.) Beyond this, here’s a speedrun of other things I didn’t really like:

- The “romance” aspect of this book was totally unnecessary. I actually think the novel would have been better if nothing of that sort happened between Raven and Eddie at all, considering the entire book takes place in less than a week. But I suppose Eddie had to have his “hero” moment where he talks to the media LIKE A BOSS and SAVES THE GIRL. sigh.
- On Eddie: for a doctor who seemingly earned the title (as opposed to WASP darling and lifelong rival Spencer Kearns) he acts an awful lot like a simpleton. He constantly lies by omission to Raven, notably about Spencer, and seemingly has NO IDEA that when he tells the leader of the Regime, the DICTATOR he is collaborating with, that Kearns is being a pain in his ass, that he would be imprisoned. Honestly, I thought he’d be killed! No, that would be too interesting…
- At the end of the day, nothing really happens in this book. Eddie fails to, or refuses to, pivot after quitting Tuberware, preferring the simpler life of researching for Raven and cooking potato-centric meals. I don’t have a problem with this, per se, but why not keep them in Puerto Malogrado? Or have something go wrong with the coyote situation aside from “they find us, and we get off scott-free!” and “we get robbed, and we get off scott-free!” The worst thing that happens to the main characters of this book is imprisonment, a bit of internet ridicule, and job loss (but he didn’t want that stinkin’ job at that point anyway! Because making him really have to think about the decision would be too interesting…)

You may begin to see a pattern here.

That isn’t to say that the book is irredeemable. I quite like the characterization of the Morales family, of Oscar and Doña Ana, and especially the regime’s “Extended Metaphor Czar” and the leader of FURP… basically anyone who is not part of the main cast. Plus, the descriptions of food in this book do match the subject matter extraordinarily well. I have never craved fictional food as much. I also (tentatively) appreciate McMahon’s use of a fictional South American country for the setting. It’s better than shoving the revolution story into a real country that doesn’t deserve it… I suppose. The weird B-plot with Jill, Eddie’s (former) coworker, was hilarious. Sleep with her, leave the next day to South America, and less than a week later she’s engaged to another one of the drones and hanging out with the head honcho all the time? It’s great and serves as a nice kick in the teeth for Ed.

The moral of this commentary-in-book’s-clothing appears to be: “Don't trust corporations to act morally, and don't try to optimize the heart and soul out of cooking.” The only problem is, the naïveté of McMahon's main characters will drive anyone who already holds these beliefs away—fast.

[Eric Shaffer · Rating 5 out of 5]

So two points: 1) Tyler McMahon is a friend and colleague in the islands. I like and admire the man and his work. 2) I read fiction, apparently, differently from most; I read for the sentences. If the sentences are good, I will read on and on.

Tyler writes good sentences. The words are entertaining and illuminating, and every one does what any sentence should: coax me to read the next. And I do, gladly.

I don't much care about plot, but this novel has one and contains adequate twists and turns and surprises, so I'm happy, and you will be, too.

The characters are interesting, and their actions both confirm and deny expectations, which is expected in every work of fiction. Tyler's characters, even the most minor, have a charm or identifying characteristic (Yup, I said that!) that keeps me going and amused.

Most of all, I like the parts of Tyler's novel that most of my party-line fiction-inscribing instructors and the literary agents of the world tell us do not belong in novels: meditations about life, actual information about actual bits of existence, odd and twisty conversations between characters, and diversions into interesting but not mainline plot action. These features are what make a good novel great, however, and when such are lacking, the boring ones more boring.

This novel is deserving of a good read (see what I did there?), and every time, you get in a snit and say to yourself, "Well, I didn't expect that," remind your most excellent self that both the flaunting AND the flouting of expectations is the point of novels. Repeat after me: Novel means new. Novel means new. Novel means new. Novel means new.

That is what makes a good novel. See how easy that is?

[Lily · Rating 5 out of 5]

One Potato is somehow both tongue-in-cheek and wholeheartedly sincere. I do not want to give too much away because you really need to experience this book for yourself. At a glance, it starts off like a slightly absurd satire of the processed foods industry, whose protagonist never wanted to be part of the story in the first place (don't we all?). Before I knew it, I was deeply invested in characters whose dimensionality I had initially underestimated, a plot and subplots that twisted like the roads on Andes Mountains, and well-paced action sequences that got me page-turning until the early morning. Every detail in McMahon's tale, while sometimes quite subtle and initially seems odd, becomes clearly intentional in the end, whether it leads up to a larger metaphor or simply adds some well-placed flavor - even the cheesy bits. And yes, you'll definitely want some fresh, home-cooked papas fritas by the end.

[Cyle Tramel · Rating 5 out of 5]

From start to finish, One Potato had me captivated. The plot had so much to offer, both in terms of the overall delivery as well as the underlying messages that will make you question much of what we take for granted in today food industry. More importantly, the character Arc of our main character is phenomenal and well developed.
Overall a great book.

[Joshua Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

I very much enjoyed this book. I found the characters and their growth admirable, the romance comedically heterosexual (not in a pejorative way), and the narrative very engaging! Plus, this book was very funny and also very genuinely, endearingly interested in agriculture.

[Jessie P · Rating 2 out of 5]

Most of this book was better than two stars, and it would have landed at a solid 3 if it had ended on page 229 where it is obviously supposed to. Instead it ends on page 319 - a solid 90 pages after the entire relevant plot is over.

[Marc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better than expected from the synopsis. The main character really does love potatoes.

[Athena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love a good pretentious scientist to house husband narrative :P

[Sue]

Recommended by Turner.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think my expectations were just off on this one. I was hoping for something more like Carl Hiaasen writing.

[Irina Goldberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very creative and entertaining. I really enjoyed it. Thank you Keylight Books for an advanced readers copy of this book.