Romance, Riches, and Restrooms: A Cautionary Tale of Ambitious Dreams and Irritable Bowels

Tim Phelan
iUniverse (2006)
ISBN 0595385443
Reviewed by Lisa Bullert for Reader Views (3/07)

How far is too far? How much information is too much information? Tim Phelan has certainly broken the “barrier” as far as pushing the envelope -- actually, as far as “pushing,” period. Phelan took on the taboo social topic of his irritable bowels and “ran” with it!

“Romance, Riches, and Restrooms” takes the reader on a journey through the author’s life full of social and business turmoil. Tim Phelan is an intelligent, educated, civilized young man who apparently chooses not to allow political correctness or social boundaries interfere with sharing his ongoing expedition in finding the solution to calm his irritated bowels. From “building a dam’ to a girlfriend’s kind concern of his psychological state, to “avalanche blasting,” Phelan never gives up. He continues on, knowing that somewhere out there lays an answer, a “solution” to his physical problem that affects his life from every aspect.

As we join Tim on his journey through his life, we learn about what not to do if you have irritable bowels or another treatable condition as well as how a problem can become so large in our heads that it engulfs our entire life and begins to change us, turning us into slaves to our problems instead of people who are able to enjoy day-to-day life.

Tim Phelan’s use of words is very colorful, the ability to let you see what is happening (whether you want to or not) is superb. The audience this book is for is definitely limited. If you like satire and were looking for a “bathroom” book, this may be for you; if you are suffering from irritable bowl syndrome and are looking for ways to get out of going to the doctor, this book is not for you. However, if you are a comrade-in-arms of this disease and would like a humorous twist on it, if you need some comic “relief” about the situations you may face daily; this is definitely the book to read.

In this book, “Romance, Riches, and Restrooms” I found myself wondering if I was that gullible. How is it that I could feel such repulsion of the subject as to have kept turning the pages even cheering for this young man in all of his problems? However, there I was page after page, thinking I have to put this down. How revolting, nauseating, pick your own adjective and place it here. You get the point. Yet, I continued to read. I am not sure if I was hoping he would find an answer to his problem or the meaning of life, or the moral of the story, or maybe I was just a “glutton” for punishment. Whatever the reason, I stayed true to the end. The end seemed a long way away and when it came, it seemed like I had been on the journey of a lifetime.

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