Roastbeef's Promise

I'm a sucker for a travelogue, and the funnier, the better. So it was only natural that I loved David Jerome's first novel, Roastbeef's Promise, from start to finish. He reminded me of two of my favorite authors--Tony Horwitz and Bill Bryson, except that these two write works of nonfiction. But I'm sure that there is a fine line between fact and fiction in Roastbeef's Promise. Jerome did make a similar trip in his younger days, although I assume without the ashes. Jim "Roastbeef" Hume is barely scratching his way through college and his dad is dying of an aggressive case of Alzheimer's. On his deathbed, "this lifelong Republican now believed he was Franklin D. Roosevelt." When all memory was lost, the disease made him an "FDR savant." Mr. Hume made his son promise that he would scatter his ashes in all 48 contiguous states. He also gave specific directions for some states. "Don't sprinkle too much of me in Vermont. In four elections, I never carried that damn state." So after the funeral, Roasbeet takes off in his Hyundai, with very limited funds and 3/5s of his dad's ashes (not all of his siblings agreed with his mission, so the ashes were divided). What begins as a smooth trip quickly becomes a bumpy road. Throughout his 15-month journey, he travels by car, bus, train, plane, moped, and on foot. He sleeps everywhere from the "Hyundai Hotel" to the side of the road. He runs out of money on a number of occasions and seeks temporary employment. But what makes Roastbeef's Promise so successful is his colorful cast of characters and his ability to see comedy and irony in all situations. He meets a crop-duster (who helps scatter his dad's ashes over New Hampshire), a lesbian softball coach, the owner of a Mt. Rushmore tourist trap, a van of frat brothers, and a pregnant couple driving to Las Vegas to be married--just to name a few. And as he progresses in his journey, he becomes more creative in scattering the ashes. Instead of just throwing them out the window of vehicles, he paints some on the end-line of the Indy 500, attaches them to a fireworks display, and scatters them on wet cement (in which he carves his dad's initials). Some of the "drops" are really hysterical, and he even manages to pick up some more ashes along the way. Jerome's zany humor comes through on each page. "I now believe the only thing worse than the loss of a loved one is being one of the surviving relatives who has to eat all the sympathy tuna casseroles and three-bean salads." As for Key West, "It didn't take me long to realize that Key West is a kooky town, full of gays, misfits, seasonal workers, drunks, trust fund kids, tourists, vagrants, and drifters, with several of those categories overlapping on a nightly basis." Roastbeef's Promise is good enough that I plan on purchasing a number of copies to give out for gifts. And I will definitely be in line to purchase the up-coming sequel, Roastbeef Sprinkles.

The premise in unusual yet carried out so well that it is sometimes hysterically funny. Jim "Roastbeef" Hume's father is suffering from a severe case of Alzheimer's Disease, a lifelong hater of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, he now believes that he is Roosevelt and making executive decisions. In his last hours, he asks that his body be cremated and his ashes scattered throughout the 48 contiguous states of the United States. Jim is a mediocre college student with no money, so even though his father was demented when he made the request, to Jim a promise is a promise, so he embarks on the journey, which starts in the Washington D. C. area. Jim travels by car, bus, moped, bicycle, truck, train, and on foot. He bums rides, jobs and almost everything else when he can't find enough work to continue the journey. In a very funny book, the best part by far was when he was describing his "Uncle Spud." "Spud" was a member of his father's army unit in World War II and he received a Purple Heart for his wound in "hand-to-hand combat" with a German woman armed with a potato peeler. Spud is an unmarried Professor of agriculture at Cal Poly and the description of this colorful character had me laughing so hard I had tears in my eyes. This is the most unusual road story that I have ever read, Jim struggles with adversity, everything from getting his car stolen to being thrown in jail to having the container of his father's ashes overturned and stolen. Yet he perseveres, meeting some of the oddest people ever to appear in a story, so quirky that they were plausible. It is one of the best pieces of humorous fiction that I have ever read.

Have you ever started a book, was captivated by the first page and then found it got better with each one you turned? Well this work by David Jerome falls into that category. The reader must remember while reading this book that it is a novel which, according to the author, is loosely based on his own experiences while visiting all of the lower 48 states. Briefly, the premise of the "novel" is that a young man, nick-named Roastbeef, makes a promise to his father who is in end stage Alzheimer's to have him (his father) cremated and to sprinkle a few of his ashes in each and ever state. Now our young hero, whose collage career at that point is less that stellar, follows his father's wishes and set out upon a journey which turns out to be quite remarkable. With very limited funds, a certain naivety, but determined attitude, along with a rather quirky outlook on life, Roastbeef hits the road. Little planning is involved here and the travel is by the seat of his pants and on a shoestring budget. In short, Roastbeef, our first person hero, is pretty much clueless. I will say that I had to admire his tenacity and devotion to his father's wishes. Now I am a big, big fan of road trip books and set at the feet of the Godfathers of road trip books such as William Least Heat Moon (Blue Highways) and John Steinbeck (Travels with Charlie). I simply cannot pass a book up in this genre. Mind you, I am not by any means placing or comparing this author with these two giants, but I will say for pure reading pleasure, Jerome certainly delivers. This book is indeed fiction but the reader must constantly remind themselves of this fact. This is due to the fact that the author has an uncanny ability to describe the individuals our hero meets in his travels and has a wonderful ability to catch the essence of the places featured in this story. I have been fortunate enough to have visited and passed through most of the areas and many of the towns and burgs the author references and I can assure you he has them nailed perfectly. We are taken to places the average traveler never sees, but never-the-less exists; trust me! He has also conveyed a very insightful profile of each and every individual mentioned in the book. I did not find one character that I could not identify with a counterpart or person from my own life and travels. As to the events, situations and messes Roastbeef finds himself, with the exception of two scenarios, e.g. the adventure with Uncle Spud in Mexico and the moped portion of the trip (I have ridden my share of mopeds and have traveled the route mention in the story several times, but certainly not via mope, it could be done I suppose, but....), I found all be to quite believable and logical, if viewed from a certain angle. Even the two events mention above; well I suppose they could be done and could have happened. The author certainly makes the believeable; you, the reader, simply should not be overly analytic and practical her

I don't know what drew me to this book but I am SOOOOO glad I bought it. Okay, no need to go over the plot as all the other reviews have done a good job of that. However, this really is a road trip like no other. It is laugh-out-loud funny and a real page turner. The pace is fast so there is no time to stop, and I ended up reading it in less that a weekend, which is good going for me. I loved the way 'Roast Beef' showed us another side of America and the friends he made along the way will keep you thinking for a long time after you have finished the book. The whole tale is really heartwarming and just goes to show that the human spirit is alive and kicking and that some kids will go to any length to honor their late parent's wishes. I recommend this book wholeheartedly, in a world where there is all this doom and gloom, 'Roast Beef' is a ray of sunshine!

LOVE this book!!!!! After my husband died in 2004 we started thinking of unique ways to deal with his ashes. So imagine how giddy I was when the book ended up on my desk. Not only is it a fun, tender tale of a son who ended up scattering the ashes of dozens of people. Back in the 90's when Northern Exposure was on TV I remember a wonderful episode where the towns people made a big catapult to launch a friend way out into a rural lake where he could be buried in a green way. Again this book is a TEN star winner!!