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"An extravagantly comic, strangely moving novel. I loved it"—Brock Clarke, author of The Happiest People in the World
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Feeling trapped in a stagnant marriage, working a dead-end job, and desperately coveting the last good parking spot, Tim Turner decides to do what any middle-aged man not in his right mind would do; reinvent himself online as a 21-year-old Marine. What could possibly go wrong? At the same time, Davis Beardsley—a professor of zoology with an unhealthy obsession for imaginary creatures—helplessly watches his chances for tenure circle the drain when a new department head takes a less-than-favorable view of his teaching methods. Throw in a Romanian adoptee hell-bent on destruction and a trio of incontinent lapdogs, and you have the makings of a laugh-out-loud hit, one delivered with deadpan wit and keen insight.
Winner of the 2019 Maine Literary Award for Fiction
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"Margaret Broucek's The Futility Experts makes hilarious art out of disaster. The characters herein might be failures, but they are inspired failures, and Broucek treats them so humanely that the reader can't help but root for them." —Brock Clarke, author of The Happiest People in the World and An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England
"The Futility Experts is my pick this year for fans of A Confederacy of Dunces. I loved this book and hope others will, too." —The Book Maven, Lit Hub
"Broucek's prose is stunning. Terrific turns of phrase, technicolor images."—Ron Currie, Jr., author of The One-Eyed Man and Everything Matters!
"The Futility Experts starts with a bang and only gets more explosive from there, laughs and satisfying plot twists.... I flipped pages till the night was dawn, ...an auspicious debut for this talented new voice."—Bill Roorbach, author of Life Among Giants and The Remedy for Love
"What Kris Kristofferson said when he discovered John Prine is what comic writers are going to say about Margaret Broucek. She’s so good that we’ll have to break her thumbs."—David Carkeet, author of The Full Catastrophe
"What Kris Kristofferson said when he discovered John Prine is what comic writers are going to say about Margaret Broucek. She’s so good that we’ll have to break her thumbs."—David Carkeet, author of The Full Catastrophe
"Broucek is brilliant at making a short phrase ring until it captures a whole personality." Portland Press Herald.
"Good to know absurd was what you were going for, dear."—Author's mom.
"Good to know absurd was what you were going for, dear."—Author's mom.