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Vacation
It's time for blueblood Bernard Johnson to leave his boring life behind and go on The Vacation, a yearlong corporate-sponsored odyssey. But instead of seeing the world, Bernard is captured by terrorists, becomes a key figure in secret drug wars, and, worse, doesn't once miss his secure American Dream.
159 pages, Paperback
First published April 10, 2007
8 people are currently reading
788 people want to read
About the author
Jeremy C. Shipp
63 books888 followersJeremy C. Shipp is the Bram Stoker and Shirley Jackson Award-nominated author of The Atrocities, Bedfellow, and Cursed. Their shorter tales have appeared in over 60 publications, including Cemetery Dance, Dark Moon Digest and Apex Magazine. Jeremy lives in Southern California in a moderately haunted Farmhouse. Their online home is jeremycshipp.com.
“Jeremy C. Shipp’s boldness, daring, originality, and sheer smarts make them one of the most vital younger writers who have colonized horror literature in the past decade. Shipp’s modernist clarity, plus their willingness to risk damn near everything, put them up at the head of the pack with the very best.” ―Peter Straub
“Shipp’s clear, insistent voice pulls you down into the rabbit hole and doesn’t let go.” ―Jack Ketchum
“I’m convinced Jeremy Shipp is a little bit crazy, in the best possible way. This is one of those books that alters your brain in a way similar to Philip K. Dick.” —Jeff VanderMeer
“Jeremy C. Shipp’s boldness, daring, originality, and sheer smarts make them one of the most vital younger writers who have colonized horror literature in the past decade. Shipp’s modernist clarity, plus their willingness to risk damn near everything, put them up at the head of the pack with the very best.” ―Peter Straub
“Shipp’s clear, insistent voice pulls you down into the rabbit hole and doesn’t let go.” ―Jack Ketchum
“I’m convinced Jeremy Shipp is a little bit crazy, in the best possible way. This is one of those books that alters your brain in a way similar to Philip K. Dick.” —Jeff VanderMeer
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 60 reviews
October 18, 2011
Unconventional novel and an unconventional vacation. Jeremy writes with an mind bending process he seems to not want to leave you at rest until you're dumbfounded by the story. We all need a vacation but where and who you spend it with is the big question. I am still bit puzzled as this wacky story does not leave you with a clear picture. I suppose watching fight club years ago did not either. The protagonist is slightly insane then again maybe even the author (I gathered that info from his twitter feed). This is my second novel I have read of his. I prefer Cursed by Jeremy this was a bit too bizarre for me maybe not you!
Surreal fightclubesque!
http://more2read.com/?review=vacation-by-jeremy-c-shipp
Surreal fightclubesque!
"Even now, as i'm writing this, as i'm attempting to block out the images, they’re popping and bursting inside me. I see the faces. I see the eyes.“What is this?" I say.
This is everything Mary Shelley’s monster did that she was too afraid to write down. This is Hemingway’s shattered romanticism.This is Mr. Hyde’s nightmare.“This is the world,” she says.There’s something worse than being tortured in hell. It’s being in hell, and left alone to Watch. And I thought I knew guilt"
http://more2read.com/?review=vacation-by-jeremy-c-shipp
January 28, 2008
Jeremy Shipp has a unique and entertaining writing style. The 164 page VACATION demands the reader’s attention and should perhaps not be read just before bedtime or while operating heavy machinery. In fact, a second reading may be required to fully enjoy/appreciate the story. But it is definitely worth the effort. Shipp’s surreal and eery vision of the future (or maybe an alternate universe) seems to drift seamlessly between dream and reality. The tale of the battle between the haves and have-nots and the duping of an entire populace through Potemkin villages scattered about the globe challenges the reader, but, is not incomprehensible as some reviewers seem to think. And, it appears that even the readers who are confused by the book still thoroughly enjoy it. Vacation is often thought-provoking, frequently disturbing, and continuously enjoyable.
October 10, 2008
An incredible first novel from Jeremy Shipp. Aspects are reminiscent of Chuck Palahniuk and Philip K. Dick, but Vacation stands on its own as everything that's right with modern sci fi and bizarro. A quick read, Shipp cuts to the heart of the story and his characters, accomplishing more with choppy sentences and embedded commentary than volumes three times the length. An absolute must read for fans of avant-garde literature.
Read
July 1, 2020To be honest I'm not sure I've ever remotely known what this book is about, terrorism, drug-running, secret gardens, and sex reassignment surgery, for sure, and the education system, probably, totalitarian societies, no doubt. Beyond that, can't say. But who cares, it's really good, and completely absorbing, and as fucked-up as Jeremy C. Shipp must be, the dude can flat out write.
October 24, 2008
Vacation Penalty
People love vacations, need vacations, jump at the chance to take vacations. The blossoming thoughts of laughter and fun and mystical locales unseen sparkle with possibility in the mind’s eye. The rush to get there, wherever there may be, casts a thrilling tenor to the days and weeks leading up to that moment of departure. It is this event, Bernard (Bernie) Johnson thinks about a brief time, a moment really, subsequent to his conjuring a quick rundown of his accomplishments and placements in the academia hierarchy, to summarize it thusly, “Writers may think their words are important, but I’m the one who decides what those words mean. Whose words are worthy.” A summation which in itself does not sound such a bad lot. It is the tag line that raises the red flag, “I’m a literati god. Then why aren’t I as happy as an endorphin pumped clam?” immediately followed by him swallowing a Pax pill.
Seems old Bernie is an unsatisfied customer, an unhappy camper, a thirty-five year old sufferer of the malaise of modern man. Mid life, unfulfilled expectations, caught in the snare of impending end game defeat, it is no wonder that Bernie finds the incessant need to obsess, lament, and pop Pax pills in rapid succession, in short, do everything within his power to end his dismally perceived downward spiraling arc. Settling on a vacation, the generous corporate sponsored yearlong vacation, appears the most lucid idea he’s had in some time. Even his twenty-one year old girlfriend, Hillary, agrees, “If there’s anything you want to do with…anybody, you should be able to do it. I won’t be mad.” Which to Bernie sounds rightly as not so much permission to him, but to herself. It is this series of events which bring him to a room of triple mirrors, literally and metaphorically, where he slips into his tourist gear, metamorphosing instantly into a adventuring persona to become the, “justified voyeur,” emerging finally fully outfitted into the light, where he is greeted by a rather shapely female backside, only to find on alarmingly quick examination, that this particular pleasing attribute belongs to none other than a former “male” student of his in transsexual form.
Thus concludes the chapter one setup. A series of fairly conventional middle age malaise elements with a few surprises, one of them a bonafide shocker, tossed into the mix. So at this point, the tale seems to have played out for us before even gaining speed enough to blast into chapter two. A rush to judgment in this case is of no benefit. With chapter two, the tale takes a hard left, turning from conventional disgruntled academic professional on redemptive vacation quest, to Escape From Terror Island. It is at once clear that the shock potential of this tale has just begun. Perhaps it is an ode to pop culture. Perhaps it is an elegiac riff on the culture of the spectacle. Or better still, perhaps it is merely Shipp’s attempt to show us that whatever our self imposed torments, self flagellations, self directed smackdowns spurred by self perceived failures, there remains one clarifying conclusion to consider: it could be worse. Unwilling anti hero, Bernie Johnson, comes to appreciate this perspective as his vacation from the dark side commences. No tour guides, no on site experts, no ameliorative of any kind. Just a skidding step off a precarious edge which sends him tumbling into an abyss of horrors unimaginable in content or scope.
This tale with adopted tag, Literary/Science Fiction, missed the boat on that count. It may indeed fit the Science Fiction motif in a sense, maybe even if one were to liberally apply it, the Literary tag to a small degree. But the tag decidedly absent which I believe sums up this tale most comprehensively is Bizarro. For one tired of the same ol’ same ol’, the predictable plotlines, the genre distinctions that fall flat, the tired unfunny comedies, the reigning flavor of the week memoir, look no more. With adventures that charge the senses and blast open the cerebral networks with unexpected thrills, Shipp’s tale of Bizarro proportions, Vacations, may be just the ticket to soothe those tired eyes and beleaguered genre sensibilities.
People love vacations, need vacations, jump at the chance to take vacations. The blossoming thoughts of laughter and fun and mystical locales unseen sparkle with possibility in the mind’s eye. The rush to get there, wherever there may be, casts a thrilling tenor to the days and weeks leading up to that moment of departure. It is this event, Bernard (Bernie) Johnson thinks about a brief time, a moment really, subsequent to his conjuring a quick rundown of his accomplishments and placements in the academia hierarchy, to summarize it thusly, “Writers may think their words are important, but I’m the one who decides what those words mean. Whose words are worthy.” A summation which in itself does not sound such a bad lot. It is the tag line that raises the red flag, “I’m a literati god. Then why aren’t I as happy as an endorphin pumped clam?” immediately followed by him swallowing a Pax pill.
Seems old Bernie is an unsatisfied customer, an unhappy camper, a thirty-five year old sufferer of the malaise of modern man. Mid life, unfulfilled expectations, caught in the snare of impending end game defeat, it is no wonder that Bernie finds the incessant need to obsess, lament, and pop Pax pills in rapid succession, in short, do everything within his power to end his dismally perceived downward spiraling arc. Settling on a vacation, the generous corporate sponsored yearlong vacation, appears the most lucid idea he’s had in some time. Even his twenty-one year old girlfriend, Hillary, agrees, “If there’s anything you want to do with…anybody, you should be able to do it. I won’t be mad.” Which to Bernie sounds rightly as not so much permission to him, but to herself. It is this series of events which bring him to a room of triple mirrors, literally and metaphorically, where he slips into his tourist gear, metamorphosing instantly into a adventuring persona to become the, “justified voyeur,” emerging finally fully outfitted into the light, where he is greeted by a rather shapely female backside, only to find on alarmingly quick examination, that this particular pleasing attribute belongs to none other than a former “male” student of his in transsexual form.
Thus concludes the chapter one setup. A series of fairly conventional middle age malaise elements with a few surprises, one of them a bonafide shocker, tossed into the mix. So at this point, the tale seems to have played out for us before even gaining speed enough to blast into chapter two. A rush to judgment in this case is of no benefit. With chapter two, the tale takes a hard left, turning from conventional disgruntled academic professional on redemptive vacation quest, to Escape From Terror Island. It is at once clear that the shock potential of this tale has just begun. Perhaps it is an ode to pop culture. Perhaps it is an elegiac riff on the culture of the spectacle. Or better still, perhaps it is merely Shipp’s attempt to show us that whatever our self imposed torments, self flagellations, self directed smackdowns spurred by self perceived failures, there remains one clarifying conclusion to consider: it could be worse. Unwilling anti hero, Bernie Johnson, comes to appreciate this perspective as his vacation from the dark side commences. No tour guides, no on site experts, no ameliorative of any kind. Just a skidding step off a precarious edge which sends him tumbling into an abyss of horrors unimaginable in content or scope.
This tale with adopted tag, Literary/Science Fiction, missed the boat on that count. It may indeed fit the Science Fiction motif in a sense, maybe even if one were to liberally apply it, the Literary tag to a small degree. But the tag decidedly absent which I believe sums up this tale most comprehensively is Bizarro. For one tired of the same ol’ same ol’, the predictable plotlines, the genre distinctions that fall flat, the tired unfunny comedies, the reigning flavor of the week memoir, look no more. With adventures that charge the senses and blast open the cerebral networks with unexpected thrills, Shipp’s tale of Bizarro proportions, Vacations, may be just the ticket to soothe those tired eyes and beleaguered genre sensibilities.
January 4, 2008
(My full review of this book is much longer than GoodReads' word-count limitations. Find the entire essay at the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com].)
I'm sure some of you must think of it as an insult when I occasionally refer to a book here as "weird;" but believe it or not, so-called "weird fiction" or "weird lit" is in fact a legitimate genre, originally coined by the Romantic writers of the 1800s to describe the absolute strangest of the moody, atmospheric novels they were all pumping out at the time. Let's not forget, after all, that the term "romantic" has changed quite considerably in our society since those days; although now primarily used to describe a gooey love story, in the Victorian Age it meant any story with a gloomy, dramatic, emotional feel, a direct rebellion by that generation against the rational Enlightenment of their parents' and grandparents' times. A direct line can be drawn, weird-lit fans claim, from such projects on the fringe of Romanticism (including such works as Nathaniel Hawthorne's House of the Seven Gables, which I'll be reviewing here next week) straight to such modern genre masters as Stephen King, Clive Barker, Mark Danielewski and DB Weiss, often through such 20th-century transitionary writers as HP Lovecraft (the first weird author to add a distinctly otherworldly element to the genre) and William Burroughs (the first to add academic respectability).
One such contemporary weird writer, for example, is Californian Jeremy Shipp, a highly respected genre author who has nonetheless spent most of his career so far toiling in the unglamorous world of fanzines and the like; ah, but now Vacation is out, his very first traditional full-length prose novel, which in a perfect world will finally start helping him get the larger respect he deserves. Because frankly, Shipp is about as great a weird author as weird literature gets, even while acknowledging that there are certain weaknesses to the genre in general as well; that anyone who is a fan of strange stories and off-kilter characters is bound to love this novel, and in fact love it more passionately than the current weird authors they only think they love. This isn't going to stop many of you from intensely disliking it, don't get me wrong -- that's the dice roll you always take with genre work, as I'm seemingly always saying here, is that by its very nature you are simply going to have a split audience going right into page one -- but for those who click with stories about the hidden strange details of the cosmos that are very quietly buried among us all the time, you are sure to love this book with the burning intensity that you currently reserve for your Buffy DVDs.
Set in a world very similar to ours but not quite the same, the central premise behind Vacation is a fascinating one that reflects our times...
I'm sure some of you must think of it as an insult when I occasionally refer to a book here as "weird;" but believe it or not, so-called "weird fiction" or "weird lit" is in fact a legitimate genre, originally coined by the Romantic writers of the 1800s to describe the absolute strangest of the moody, atmospheric novels they were all pumping out at the time. Let's not forget, after all, that the term "romantic" has changed quite considerably in our society since those days; although now primarily used to describe a gooey love story, in the Victorian Age it meant any story with a gloomy, dramatic, emotional feel, a direct rebellion by that generation against the rational Enlightenment of their parents' and grandparents' times. A direct line can be drawn, weird-lit fans claim, from such projects on the fringe of Romanticism (including such works as Nathaniel Hawthorne's House of the Seven Gables, which I'll be reviewing here next week) straight to such modern genre masters as Stephen King, Clive Barker, Mark Danielewski and DB Weiss, often through such 20th-century transitionary writers as HP Lovecraft (the first weird author to add a distinctly otherworldly element to the genre) and William Burroughs (the first to add academic respectability).
One such contemporary weird writer, for example, is Californian Jeremy Shipp, a highly respected genre author who has nonetheless spent most of his career so far toiling in the unglamorous world of fanzines and the like; ah, but now Vacation is out, his very first traditional full-length prose novel, which in a perfect world will finally start helping him get the larger respect he deserves. Because frankly, Shipp is about as great a weird author as weird literature gets, even while acknowledging that there are certain weaknesses to the genre in general as well; that anyone who is a fan of strange stories and off-kilter characters is bound to love this novel, and in fact love it more passionately than the current weird authors they only think they love. This isn't going to stop many of you from intensely disliking it, don't get me wrong -- that's the dice roll you always take with genre work, as I'm seemingly always saying here, is that by its very nature you are simply going to have a split audience going right into page one -- but for those who click with stories about the hidden strange details of the cosmos that are very quietly buried among us all the time, you are sure to love this book with the burning intensity that you currently reserve for your Buffy DVDs.
Set in a world very similar to ours but not quite the same, the central premise behind Vacation is a fascinating one that reflects our times...
November 20, 2007
ONE CAN ONLY PRAY to the Pax-dishing government conspiracy theorists that Jeremy C. Shipp's inaugural dip in deep end of the novel pool is not his last. And if the prayers do go unanswered, those still in the living world just lost the one thing that might make life worth living. Vacation is a surreal jaunt skittering across the calm surface of social norms (on an ocean that certainly doesn't exist) hellbent on splashing waves of ever-disturbing rings disrupting the way one thinks: As if you could still think for yourself. And it deserves a fast read. Except that one might miss out on a rather grand experience that begs to be savored like an aged box wine. Read it like your life depended upon it. Then read it again; you'll be both happy and uncomfortable that you did.
From the cover snippet:
"It's time for blueblood Bernard Johnson to leave his boring life behind and go on The Vacation, a yearlong corporate-sponsored odyssey. But instead of seeing the world, Bernard is captured by terrorists, becomes a key figure in secret drug wars, and, worse, doesn't once miss his secure American Dream."
Yes, that is Vacation all summed up in a neat little literary bouquet garni dunked in a larger world of haggis. It is a valid description, but only like the word "water" can singularly describe the planet Earth. There is a lot going on under the verbal covers that make up the 158 pages of Vacation. And, while 158 pages may seem short, the world Shipp reveals nestled in those pages is a vast society of organized crime set on one of two sides: Either keep everyone from the truth or blast the truth around the world like a revolutionary gunshot. (The truth is something you'll have to read the book to learn)
Do yourself a favor. Take a blank sheet of paper and your favorite pen. Draw ten blank lines randomly on that piece of paper like a fill-in-the-blank test from grade school but without any questions. Now fill in those blanks with the most glorious adjectives that one might use to light up sentences meant to describe Vacation. Having read this book or not, no matter how creative you might be in choosing these words, you will have done Shipp and Vacation an injustice. The only way out of that hole is to buy the book and read it in your sleep. And hope the dream machine isn't broken.
From the cover snippet:
"It's time for blueblood Bernard Johnson to leave his boring life behind and go on The Vacation, a yearlong corporate-sponsored odyssey. But instead of seeing the world, Bernard is captured by terrorists, becomes a key figure in secret drug wars, and, worse, doesn't once miss his secure American Dream."
Yes, that is Vacation all summed up in a neat little literary bouquet garni dunked in a larger world of haggis. It is a valid description, but only like the word "water" can singularly describe the planet Earth. There is a lot going on under the verbal covers that make up the 158 pages of Vacation. And, while 158 pages may seem short, the world Shipp reveals nestled in those pages is a vast society of organized crime set on one of two sides: Either keep everyone from the truth or blast the truth around the world like a revolutionary gunshot. (The truth is something you'll have to read the book to learn)
Do yourself a favor. Take a blank sheet of paper and your favorite pen. Draw ten blank lines randomly on that piece of paper like a fill-in-the-blank test from grade school but without any questions. Now fill in those blanks with the most glorious adjectives that one might use to light up sentences meant to describe Vacation. Having read this book or not, no matter how creative you might be in choosing these words, you will have done Shipp and Vacation an injustice. The only way out of that hole is to buy the book and read it in your sleep. And hope the dream machine isn't broken.
September 3, 2008
Obnoxious Hollywood logline: The Prisoner meets Fight Club. Pretentious expat lit major analysis: a surreal sequel to Hamlet. Vacation is surreal, hyperreal, political and apolitical, dark, capable and humorous. Vacation looks at escapism and denial in society and how hard it is for postmodern man to do the right thing. I highly recommend this book. Protagonist Bernard Johnson is morose, hyperintellectual and indecisive with a tendency to add import to moments and distance himself from reality by making literary references and examining the analogues of his situation. Going from his journey from escapism to the core of reality, from delusion to the moment is highly rewarding with a sense of spirituality and soul that has been discouraged in postmodern and literary fiction. A great read, chilling, surreal and majestic.
January 19, 2010
Except for a little jumble/confusion in the middle, I loved every bit of this book. 4 1/2 stars and I look forward to reading everything else from the author.
Do not let the small page count fool you. This is one of those meaty books that you almost have to slowly read and actually reread many sections. Shipp has managed to squish a whole hell of alot of commentary into this book. So many truths, especially appropriate for any who enjoy dark-humor, though I think I felt more sadness than anything else by the end.
Do not let the small page count fool you. This is one of those meaty books that you almost have to slowly read and actually reread many sections. Shipp has managed to squish a whole hell of alot of commentary into this book. So many truths, especially appropriate for any who enjoy dark-humor, though I think I felt more sadness than anything else by the end.
November 24, 2007
Awesome story
Awesome writing
Awesome author
Jeremy Shipp is currently taking the world (as we know it) by storm...!!!
Or is that, Jeremy (as we know him) is currently storming into the world ????
Either way, this writer is no storm in a tea cup.... although I have heard some sneaky rumours that he reads tea leaves for coconut monkeys.......
Go figure..!!!
Awesome writing
Awesome author
Jeremy Shipp is currently taking the world (as we know it) by storm...!!!
Or is that, Jeremy (as we know him) is currently storming into the world ????
Either way, this writer is no storm in a tea cup.... although I have heard some sneaky rumours that he reads tea leaves for coconut monkeys.......
Go figure..!!!
March 24, 2008
Jeremy Shipp takes the reader on a psychological head-trip
through the eyes of Bernard Johnson. A thirty-five year old
intelligent man with a wild, incredible imagination. Bernard
is tormented with his dreams, fantasies, and nightmares.
The reader is taken through the door of a magic carpet ride
of adventure, but the ride doesn't end there. The ride
continues from the magic carpet of fantasy, through the
doors of the haunted house of fear. Each reader will be
taken through the same journey, but if they dare to go a
second round, they may experience a completely different
feeling than the first ride. Vacation is a thought-provoking,
surrealistic first time novel, created into a dark fiction
masterpiece. This adventure story through the mind of
Johnson is disturbing, provocative, and challenging. Shipp
covers every segment of human emotion to perfection, leaving
the curious reader in total darkness. Reading Vacation is
like watching one of Alfred Hitchcock's finest brain-teasing
movies, where the reader is left confused. This unpredicting
story of one man's journey is a powerful, bizarre, roller
coaster ride into the human psyche. Vacation demands the
reader to begin this journey once again, and for each reader
that takes a second ride, Shipp's mission is accomplished.
His sole intention is to make sure the reader hasn't missed
anything. The reader is left with questions, not answers,
and is forced to solve this puzzle of mystery. Is Bernard
Johnson battling with depression? Does depression take over?
The author draws a fine line between fantasy and reality
through the wandering mind of Bernard Johnson, as he
struggles out of his comfort zone. I recommend this novel
to all readers who enjoy dark fiction, combined with
challenge, and suspense. However, one must be as daring
as Jodi Foster was in "Silence Of The Lambs." Bear in mind
that she was warned, "Don't let Hannibal get into your
head!" May I remind you that he was a clever psychiatrist,
and she was forced to take that daring risk, while
riding that roller coaster of madness through the
psychological journey of Vacation, reminding readers
that the greatest risk in life is not taking one.
Geraldine Ahearn, I.O.M.
Author of 6 Books
Author Geri Ahearn, INC.
through the eyes of Bernard Johnson. A thirty-five year old
intelligent man with a wild, incredible imagination. Bernard
is tormented with his dreams, fantasies, and nightmares.
The reader is taken through the door of a magic carpet ride
of adventure, but the ride doesn't end there. The ride
continues from the magic carpet of fantasy, through the
doors of the haunted house of fear. Each reader will be
taken through the same journey, but if they dare to go a
second round, they may experience a completely different
feeling than the first ride. Vacation is a thought-provoking,
surrealistic first time novel, created into a dark fiction
masterpiece. This adventure story through the mind of
Johnson is disturbing, provocative, and challenging. Shipp
covers every segment of human emotion to perfection, leaving
the curious reader in total darkness. Reading Vacation is
like watching one of Alfred Hitchcock's finest brain-teasing
movies, where the reader is left confused. This unpredicting
story of one man's journey is a powerful, bizarre, roller
coaster ride into the human psyche. Vacation demands the
reader to begin this journey once again, and for each reader
that takes a second ride, Shipp's mission is accomplished.
His sole intention is to make sure the reader hasn't missed
anything. The reader is left with questions, not answers,
and is forced to solve this puzzle of mystery. Is Bernard
Johnson battling with depression? Does depression take over?
The author draws a fine line between fantasy and reality
through the wandering mind of Bernard Johnson, as he
struggles out of his comfort zone. I recommend this novel
to all readers who enjoy dark fiction, combined with
challenge, and suspense. However, one must be as daring
as Jodi Foster was in "Silence Of The Lambs." Bear in mind
that she was warned, "Don't let Hannibal get into your
head!" May I remind you that he was a clever psychiatrist,
and she was forced to take that daring risk, while
riding that roller coaster of madness through the
psychological journey of Vacation, reminding readers
that the greatest risk in life is not taking one.
Geraldine Ahearn, I.O.M.
Author of 6 Books
Author Geri Ahearn, INC.
January 4, 2010
Vacation is one of those books that demands you read it again. It tosses you into a world that is very different from our own yet exactly the same. You marvel at the weirdness, a term I use with admiration, of the novel yet realize the dilemma of the protagonist and the world he lives in is one we already struggle with. I have dabbled in reading a little Bizarro fiction in the past but this is the first novel associated with the moniker that I felt actually had something to say and was not trying to be weird for weirdness' sake. Vacation ranks with the best of Phillip K. Dick in establishing a feeling of alternate dimensions and a sense of unreality. And like Dick, Shipp has a foot set firmly in socio-political satire. I will definitely be visiting this author's weird worlds again. Four and a half stars.
February 6, 2008
I'm not sure exactly what I expected when I started Vacation, but suffice to say that it managed to both meet and confound all of those expectations.
For many, a novel of ideas is an excuse to be preachy and a novel that uses surreal images and dream-like prose is all flash and no substance.
Nothing could be further from the truth in Shipp's book.
Oh, there are ideas aplenty here: thought-provoking,history-laden, Big Time ideas about the nature of self and the nature of the universe. And surreality abounds, sometimes clever, sometimes heart-breaking. The combination is truly stunning, and great fun to read.
For many, a novel of ideas is an excuse to be preachy and a novel that uses surreal images and dream-like prose is all flash and no substance.
Nothing could be further from the truth in Shipp's book.
Oh, there are ideas aplenty here: thought-provoking,history-laden, Big Time ideas about the nature of self and the nature of the universe. And surreality abounds, sometimes clever, sometimes heart-breaking. The combination is truly stunning, and great fun to read.
July 31, 2008
"Vacation" by Jeremy C. Shipp little book takes a lot of brain power to read. I cannot tell how many times I had to go back a few pages to figure out something I had missed. In many ways, it reminds me of the best of Philip K. Dick. It's thought-provoking, cautionary, ambiguous and downright weird. I like that in a book.
February 25, 2008
A twisted-wicked sinfully delicious read. It spirals off the page but not for the timid or those with weak eimaginations. If you want to go on a "Vacation" in the likes that you have never experienced then pick up this book and turn the page and get ready! Excellent~!
July 24, 2008
This book startled me.
The beginning of the book had me grasping a bit, trying to figure out exactly what was going on. I was confused and almost felt like I was being shoved around a little bit. Then as more and more things began to unfold, the smile got wider and wider.
Then Jack stepped in, and we met Odin and Noh. The confusion was back, yet again I was living beside Bernard, feeling what he felt, because I too was a Tic.
The fifth star in this comes from the end of Chapter 19 if I'm not mistaken, a correlation to God that kept the smile on my face for probably a week.
Excellent writing Mr Shipp.
Absolutely loved this book.
The beginning of the book had me grasping a bit, trying to figure out exactly what was going on. I was confused and almost felt like I was being shoved around a little bit. Then as more and more things began to unfold, the smile got wider and wider.
Then Jack stepped in, and we met Odin and Noh. The confusion was back, yet again I was living beside Bernard, feeling what he felt, because I too was a Tic.
The fifth star in this comes from the end of Chapter 19 if I'm not mistaken, a correlation to God that kept the smile on my face for probably a week.
Excellent writing Mr Shipp.
Absolutely loved this book.
November 15, 2010
Loved this book , a twisted -wicked sinfully delicious read. This is the most unique book i,ve read in awhile.Iloved everything about it from the characters to the plot line. His promise is simple a man who is dissatisfied with his life, from his career to his lover-decides to go on a vacation in search of redemption to come back a different person. Better than the jaded man he once was. A fascinating story I truly enjoyed it. I normally don,t read books online that much i love the hard copy, but this was well worth my time to read it online. hope everyone who enjoys a good book picks up a copy today.
January 26, 2008
First e-book. The e-book part is fascinating. At first it was a lot of fun, but after about 30 pages, I wanted to hold it. I printed it out! Don't laugh at me. I am just old fashioned.
The story is detailed and believable. That is what makes it scary. You have to care. A lot of info and a lot to track.
Jeremy S. can write!
Recommend to those who like a scare. ...or are going on vacation!!!
The story is detailed and believable. That is what makes it scary. You have to care. A lot of info and a lot to track.
Jeremy S. can write!
Recommend to those who like a scare. ...or are going on vacation!!!
Want to read
February 29, 2008I have never heard of this book until this site and from what I have read in the discription it looks extremely interesting. I can't wait to see where this book takes me, if it inspires and gives me a whole new understanding of life itself. If anybody has this book for lending please let me know ASAP:D!
Read
April 15, 2008This has to be the most unique book I've read in a long time. I thought it would be good, but was pleasantly surprised with how amazing it was! I loved the plot, the characters, everything! I absolutely loved it, it is now one of my favorites!
October 12, 2008
A surreal oddysey of sorts.The prose is smoother than a smoothie and the characters are carved out in great detail.The best part for me was the mini truths the protaginist discovers in this novel. If you haven't read this novel you better have your bookstore Shipp you this book quick.
October 11, 2008
I had to take a step back after reading Vacation to realize it really is as imaginative as it's advertised as being, because it's not so much the usual suspects, like the crazy plot antics or the political interpolations, that impressed me, but the parts that were presented more matter-of-factly, the characters and the interactions. The novel's main character, Bernard Johnson, suspends himself from his prestigious job and prestigious relationships to take his medicated, ennui-filled self off on the Vacation, a free year-long trip provided to each citizen by the oh-so-benevolent U.S. government. But he's sidetracked into the Garden, a more-or-less-terrorist more-or-less stronghold where he's detoxed and deconstructed, then shown the world as it is outside the bubble he's been limited to thus far. It's a twist, though not a very radical one, on the classic hero's journey—but in each part of the journey, the goal Bernard thinks he has is just a slight angle off from what turns out to be the real end. And fitting in with the hero-journey theme, Shipp throws in a few more classic character-types, including guides, foils, virgins, geniuses, and even a bona fide Jester, but they're all nicely fleshed-out, so you have to work to recognize them as types. The characters in Vacation aren't exactly what you'd call believable, but they are true, and that's more important.
Vacation is a novel with a lot of interesting ideas in it and a lot of problems. (In fact, Vacation has been referred to as a Novel of Ideas.) Many of those ideas weren't as new to me as they may have been to some, but then, I read a lot of anti-corporate-globalization, anti-capitalist, and anti-imperialist writing, including some that's dropped off the far edge of paranoia. (Not that I’m saying Vacation is necessarily any of those things, per se, but it draws on the relevant paradigms to build the particular possible future of its setting.) A lot of other reviewers seem to think this novel really wild and crazy, and not that I don't think it's an original take, but if you've never thought about this stuff before...well, read Vacation and get thinking, because you should be! It's a good meditation on the possible outcomes of Progress, and it usually manages not to be preachy. And as the characters point out, certain ideas are best encountered in fiction first, before they bite you on the ass in reality.
Besides its political ideas, Vacation also has plenty of interesting and thought-provoking musings on the intertwining and conflict of personal goals with political or artistic ones, the vagaries of human nature, the question of deserving what we get, and the importance of eating your vegetables—mixed in with a lot of hot air from Bernard, the former-English-teacher narrator. (In case you miss anything, the important ideas are repeated, in a way that is usually more interestingly refrain-like—a Chorus, perhaps?—than annoying. Usually.) His characterizations of the world around him, in pithy analogies and humorous tangents, can be quite clever when they work—and when they don't, their particular brand of annoyingness does fit the character. Shipp is one of those writers who bases his craft on being a good social analyst; that's mostly a good thing, but there are almost more observations about the contradictions of—and the nifty things about—our society and humanity in general packed into the space of this short novel than it can hold.
In fact, Shipp could have written a much longer book with the same basic content; this book is good and spare, mostly without feeling too abbreviated. In general, it's nice to have a bit of a challenge, to have to fill in some of the emotional details for oneself, though there are a few points of character development and relationships on which it might have been nice to have a bit more to go on; at times I felt more like I was giving the author the benefit of the doubt than accepting a challenge. In any case, the novel is never boring, even the parts that are just the narrator whining—but interestingly, I didn't find the bits that would usually be called action sequences particularly more exciting than the rest; the book is very evenly paced.
As for the problems.... Well, most of the things I found problematic about the novel came at me full-force with the introduction; I half-suspect the author of trying to warn off the faint of heart. So if you can get through that, you know what you're in for, and at least things don't get much worse. The introduction frames the whole novel as a personal letter from the narrator to his parents and advertises that we're in for an abrasive read. The intro is clumsily written at various levels, and though I'd like to think that's on purpose because it's supposed to be a personal letter, I frankly suspect the author was just trying too hard to get a certain feel and not paying much attention to the details. The letter-frame (and the attitude of the narrator in writing it) isn't necessarily plausible in the context of the whole book, but it's an integral part of the way it's written. There are a number of such small implausibilities, as well as a couple of discontinuities and general factual unlikelihoods, scattered throughout the book, along with more low-level editing problems, but it's not bad for a first novel.
As the book goes on, the character changes and one gets more used to his abrasiveness anyway, so it ceases to interfere as much. One can fall into the rhythm and special logic of the story and be captivated by its charms—and I, at least, certainly was.
Vacation is a novel with a lot of interesting ideas in it and a lot of problems. (In fact, Vacation has been referred to as a Novel of Ideas.) Many of those ideas weren't as new to me as they may have been to some, but then, I read a lot of anti-corporate-globalization, anti-capitalist, and anti-imperialist writing, including some that's dropped off the far edge of paranoia. (Not that I’m saying Vacation is necessarily any of those things, per se, but it draws on the relevant paradigms to build the particular possible future of its setting.) A lot of other reviewers seem to think this novel really wild and crazy, and not that I don't think it's an original take, but if you've never thought about this stuff before...well, read Vacation and get thinking, because you should be! It's a good meditation on the possible outcomes of Progress, and it usually manages not to be preachy. And as the characters point out, certain ideas are best encountered in fiction first, before they bite you on the ass in reality.
Besides its political ideas, Vacation also has plenty of interesting and thought-provoking musings on the intertwining and conflict of personal goals with political or artistic ones, the vagaries of human nature, the question of deserving what we get, and the importance of eating your vegetables—mixed in with a lot of hot air from Bernard, the former-English-teacher narrator. (In case you miss anything, the important ideas are repeated, in a way that is usually more interestingly refrain-like—a Chorus, perhaps?—than annoying. Usually.) His characterizations of the world around him, in pithy analogies and humorous tangents, can be quite clever when they work—and when they don't, their particular brand of annoyingness does fit the character. Shipp is one of those writers who bases his craft on being a good social analyst; that's mostly a good thing, but there are almost more observations about the contradictions of—and the nifty things about—our society and humanity in general packed into the space of this short novel than it can hold.
In fact, Shipp could have written a much longer book with the same basic content; this book is good and spare, mostly without feeling too abbreviated. In general, it's nice to have a bit of a challenge, to have to fill in some of the emotional details for oneself, though there are a few points of character development and relationships on which it might have been nice to have a bit more to go on; at times I felt more like I was giving the author the benefit of the doubt than accepting a challenge. In any case, the novel is never boring, even the parts that are just the narrator whining—but interestingly, I didn't find the bits that would usually be called action sequences particularly more exciting than the rest; the book is very evenly paced.
As for the problems.... Well, most of the things I found problematic about the novel came at me full-force with the introduction; I half-suspect the author of trying to warn off the faint of heart. So if you can get through that, you know what you're in for, and at least things don't get much worse. The introduction frames the whole novel as a personal letter from the narrator to his parents and advertises that we're in for an abrasive read. The intro is clumsily written at various levels, and though I'd like to think that's on purpose because it's supposed to be a personal letter, I frankly suspect the author was just trying too hard to get a certain feel and not paying much attention to the details. The letter-frame (and the attitude of the narrator in writing it) isn't necessarily plausible in the context of the whole book, but it's an integral part of the way it's written. There are a number of such small implausibilities, as well as a couple of discontinuities and general factual unlikelihoods, scattered throughout the book, along with more low-level editing problems, but it's not bad for a first novel.
As the book goes on, the character changes and one gets more used to his abrasiveness anyway, so it ceases to interfere as much. One can fall into the rhythm and special logic of the story and be captivated by its charms—and I, at least, certainly was.
March 27, 2009
Vacation by Jeremy C. Shipp
159 pages, Raw Screaming Dog Press
Vacation is the tale of Bernard Johnson, a teacher who leaves his boring life to go on a year long corporate sponsored trip. Shortly after leaving he falls for a transsexual who he discovers was one of his most hated students back when she was a boy. Sound strange? We have not even touched the tip of the iceberg. Bernard is captured by terrorists and is drafted into secret drug war battles. The book has the label Science fiction from the publisher on the back cover, it is however much stranger than your average Science Fiction. It has elements of horror for sure, Humor, politics and is provocative.
Jeremy C. Shipp has done something truly fantastic. I love the growing Bizzaro movement; the world needs a literature underground with stories about post nuclear warriors in cockroach suits* and time travelers being vomited through time by Giraffes**. I enjoy the off-the wall nature of the books. Most of the genre has its tongue planted firmly in cheek and the humor is one of the things most exciting about Bizzaro. This book takes the genre to a whole new level.
That is not to say it hasn’t been done before in Bizarro. No two Bizarro authors are alike it is not enough in this genre just to write something original daring and different to se yourself apart. No one writes like Gina Ranalli but her. No one writes like Jeremy Robert Johnson but him. So what sets Shipp at the top with this novel?
Jeremy Shipp is not filling space he has written an original fine tuned freak fest that has many levels to it. He is a talented writer who has written a whacky novel that is not only Bizzaro but it rises to the level of literature. I don’t mean this as an insult to anyone in the genre but this is a book that could break out of the underground ghetto.
While the pages go by you will find reality bending in the same way that the best of Phil K. Dick’s novels do. You will not only be wondering about what is coming in the story but the nature of the reality you engulfed in. One thing is for sure this book is worth the money.
When you close the book for the last time you may not feel as though you can put every piece in the puzzle but the picture you do have will be fascinating. This is a book that begs to be re-experienced each time you dive in and peel a layer off the onion you’ll get a different flavor.
*Extinction Journals by Jeremy Robert Johnson
** It came from Below the Belt by Bradley Sands
159 pages, Raw Screaming Dog Press
Vacation is the tale of Bernard Johnson, a teacher who leaves his boring life to go on a year long corporate sponsored trip. Shortly after leaving he falls for a transsexual who he discovers was one of his most hated students back when she was a boy. Sound strange? We have not even touched the tip of the iceberg. Bernard is captured by terrorists and is drafted into secret drug war battles. The book has the label Science fiction from the publisher on the back cover, it is however much stranger than your average Science Fiction. It has elements of horror for sure, Humor, politics and is provocative.
Jeremy C. Shipp has done something truly fantastic. I love the growing Bizzaro movement; the world needs a literature underground with stories about post nuclear warriors in cockroach suits* and time travelers being vomited through time by Giraffes**. I enjoy the off-the wall nature of the books. Most of the genre has its tongue planted firmly in cheek and the humor is one of the things most exciting about Bizzaro. This book takes the genre to a whole new level.
That is not to say it hasn’t been done before in Bizarro. No two Bizarro authors are alike it is not enough in this genre just to write something original daring and different to se yourself apart. No one writes like Gina Ranalli but her. No one writes like Jeremy Robert Johnson but him. So what sets Shipp at the top with this novel?
Jeremy Shipp is not filling space he has written an original fine tuned freak fest that has many levels to it. He is a talented writer who has written a whacky novel that is not only Bizzaro but it rises to the level of literature. I don’t mean this as an insult to anyone in the genre but this is a book that could break out of the underground ghetto.
While the pages go by you will find reality bending in the same way that the best of Phil K. Dick’s novels do. You will not only be wondering about what is coming in the story but the nature of the reality you engulfed in. One thing is for sure this book is worth the money.
When you close the book for the last time you may not feel as though you can put every piece in the puzzle but the picture you do have will be fascinating. This is a book that begs to be re-experienced each time you dive in and peel a layer off the onion you’ll get a different flavor.
*Extinction Journals by Jeremy Robert Johnson
** It came from Below the Belt by Bradley Sands
November 20, 2008
Some of the other reviews that I have read of this book in the past seemed to dote on the complexity of the storyline. This idea coupled with my previous experiences with Shipp's short stories led me to believe that I was embarking on a task of 'Finnegan's Wake'-like proportions when I first began reading. This was a task that I wasn't sure that I was up for at this point in time, and I was pleasantly surprised to find the storyline fairly straight forward. I do not know whether my ease in following the story has to do with my penchant for fringe literature.
'Vacation' is a brilliant critique of the foibles of modern society. Why do we all feel so tired and sickly when we live in the most prosperous nation in the world? Why does the evening news air almost exclusively commercials for pills with a myriad of damned scary side effects? Has anyone else wondered about this? These questions are but one of the themes explored in this book. There are also some interesting questions about human gender that I am still rolling around in my head.
I often tend to get hung up on short passages and little tidbits in books that don't always make an impression on others. An example of this is that the vacationers must wear uniforms that consist of corporate logos. Shipp doesn't explicitly state the reasoning behind this, and I found that it was much more fun to theorize about while reading rather than being spoon fed. I also love the fact that a sour nut in a bag of airline peanuts can be used as a subtle foreshadowing of bad things to come.
While 'Vacation' is a completely original animal, I found myself drawing slight similarities to "The Illuminatis Trilogy!" Don't let this thought lead you astray, as 'Vacation' goes in a completely different direction. I'm also impressed that Shipp managed to cover as much ground as RAW did in that book in five hundred less pages.
It's very exciting to read a young author as his career is beginning. Thanks Jeremy! I look forward to reading your future works.
'Vacation' is a brilliant critique of the foibles of modern society. Why do we all feel so tired and sickly when we live in the most prosperous nation in the world? Why does the evening news air almost exclusively commercials for pills with a myriad of damned scary side effects? Has anyone else wondered about this? These questions are but one of the themes explored in this book. There are also some interesting questions about human gender that I am still rolling around in my head.
I often tend to get hung up on short passages and little tidbits in books that don't always make an impression on others. An example of this is that the vacationers must wear uniforms that consist of corporate logos. Shipp doesn't explicitly state the reasoning behind this, and I found that it was much more fun to theorize about while reading rather than being spoon fed. I also love the fact that a sour nut in a bag of airline peanuts can be used as a subtle foreshadowing of bad things to come.
While 'Vacation' is a completely original animal, I found myself drawing slight similarities to "The Illuminatis Trilogy!" Don't let this thought lead you astray, as 'Vacation' goes in a completely different direction. I'm also impressed that Shipp managed to cover as much ground as RAW did in that book in five hundred less pages.
It's very exciting to read a young author as his career is beginning. Thanks Jeremy! I look forward to reading your future works.
May 31, 2008
An author strives to transport his readers to another world; that of his imagination. Jeremy Shipp achieves that goal is this short novel. But it isn’t an easy world he conveys.
His premise is simple. A jaded man—dissatisfied with his career, his lover, his life—goes on vacation in search of redemption. Shipp’s writing style is stark and plain. In many ways his style reminds me of the English writer Magnus Mills.
Bernard Johnson, the son of an “Education Expert Extraordinaire, has gone from being a frustrated teacher to becoming an even more frustrated writer of lesson plans for other teachers. He’s bored with every aspect of his life, including his hot girlfriend Hillary.
The only recourse is the vacation—though this is not what one usually envisions as a holiday. There are some similarities. Bernard does go to exotic locales, he does indulge in adventurous activities, he does change habits and attitudes as ordinary tourists do. But this is no ordinary excursion.
This vacation is no mere change of scenery. It is, in fact, a change of person. Shipp provides a stimulating venue with plenty of magic and metaphysics along the way.
Vacation is a surreal trip into a world you might not want to encounter. What goes on just beneath the surface will grasp your imagination and have this simplistic story haunting your mind for days after you’ve finished the book.
His premise is simple. A jaded man—dissatisfied with his career, his lover, his life—goes on vacation in search of redemption. Shipp’s writing style is stark and plain. In many ways his style reminds me of the English writer Magnus Mills.
Bernard Johnson, the son of an “Education Expert Extraordinaire, has gone from being a frustrated teacher to becoming an even more frustrated writer of lesson plans for other teachers. He’s bored with every aspect of his life, including his hot girlfriend Hillary.
The only recourse is the vacation—though this is not what one usually envisions as a holiday. There are some similarities. Bernard does go to exotic locales, he does indulge in adventurous activities, he does change habits and attitudes as ordinary tourists do. But this is no ordinary excursion.
This vacation is no mere change of scenery. It is, in fact, a change of person. Shipp provides a stimulating venue with plenty of magic and metaphysics along the way.
Vacation is a surreal trip into a world you might not want to encounter. What goes on just beneath the surface will grasp your imagination and have this simplistic story haunting your mind for days after you’ve finished the book.
November 24, 2009
So what would a book like 1984 look like if it were written today? A dystopian future in the post-Cold War world is no longer dominated by the Evil Empire and the human spirit crushed beneath the heel of brutally efficient communism. In Shipp's dystopia with a dash of hope, it is instead commercialism and neo-colonialism run amok that form the artfully concealed and gilded cage holding the developed world captive while the rest is exploited ruthlessly (save for deliberately crafted bubbles that the common people are taken to on vacation, so that the illusion of international development is maintained.)
Unlike 1984's Winston, Bernard is kidnapped and drawn kicking and screaming against his will into the sorry truth of the world. Dissatisfied with his life though he may be, his eyes are not opened easily, and we're carried along on his nightmare journey. Ultimately, though, the choice of whether to close his eyes again and return to the life he once knew or to make a grasp for something better, for happiness and meaning, are entirely his. Failure is not inevitable, and the human spirit might well be able to triumph against all odds, so bleak as the world may be, there is still light.
An outstanding read, and one that I highly recommend.
Unlike 1984's Winston, Bernard is kidnapped and drawn kicking and screaming against his will into the sorry truth of the world. Dissatisfied with his life though he may be, his eyes are not opened easily, and we're carried along on his nightmare journey. Ultimately, though, the choice of whether to close his eyes again and return to the life he once knew or to make a grasp for something better, for happiness and meaning, are entirely his. Failure is not inevitable, and the human spirit might well be able to triumph against all odds, so bleak as the world may be, there is still light.
An outstanding read, and one that I highly recommend.
June 14, 2015
What if the life you're living right now is a dream? Take it one step further:
What if the life you're living right now is a dream of a dream? Now take it another step further:
What if the life you're living right now is a dream of a dream being controlled by an outsider to mask the truth from you to mask the truth from you?
This is the kind of cerebral head-trip that Jeremy Shipp presents in his novel, Vacation.
Mr. Shipp's voice is clear and immediate, almost minimalist, choosing to move you forward at a brisk, terrifyingly urgent pace. The characters aren't very developed, which in a way enhances what seems to be one of the book's points: you don't really know anybody.
"Vacation" is a creepy, intense and very provocative social commentary on the media's impact on public opinion. Mr. Shipp consistently maintains a terrific use of metaphor and simile, making this book even more entertaining and unpredictable.
I'm still not sure if I completely understand everything that went down in this novel. However, the mysterious grip this book had on me kept me reading, kept me fascinated, and left me wanting more.
"Vacation" is a terrific novel, one that deserves your full and complete attention.
What if the life you're living right now is a dream of a dream? Now take it another step further:
What if the life you're living right now is a dream of a dream being controlled by an outsider to mask the truth from you to mask the truth from you?
This is the kind of cerebral head-trip that Jeremy Shipp presents in his novel, Vacation.
Mr. Shipp's voice is clear and immediate, almost minimalist, choosing to move you forward at a brisk, terrifyingly urgent pace. The characters aren't very developed, which in a way enhances what seems to be one of the book's points: you don't really know anybody.
"Vacation" is a creepy, intense and very provocative social commentary on the media's impact on public opinion. Mr. Shipp consistently maintains a terrific use of metaphor and simile, making this book even more entertaining and unpredictable.
I'm still not sure if I completely understand everything that went down in this novel. However, the mysterious grip this book had on me kept me reading, kept me fascinated, and left me wanting more.
"Vacation" is a terrific novel, one that deserves your full and complete attention.
October 2, 2012
If you could take a year-long Vacation, all-expenses paid, would you? Would you be afraid of the journey? Or would you be afraid of what you may find at the end?
Jeremy C. Shipp addresses these questions through Bernard Johnson, a man who lives in the shadow of many. His father, his girlfriend, the world. His life is spent trying to be what is expected, what is normal. He sometimes thinks of himself, but he has no idea how to express it, often out of fear of the all-consuming forces that surround him. So he decides to finally take his one and only Vacation, just to get away from his mundane life and see the world.
What follows is a journey of personal discovery and adventure that is equal parts surreal and too real. The fantastic elements are kept to a minimum, there to keep the story moving in favor of the human drama. The people he meets, the truths discovered, and the realizations made will change Bernard, and perhaps the reader too.
What Vacation offers is a little grain of truth, couched in fiction. What you thought you knew may not be what you will find here. Mr. Shipp, like one of his characters, leads you to the information. You, however, will have to find it.
Jeremy C. Shipp addresses these questions through Bernard Johnson, a man who lives in the shadow of many. His father, his girlfriend, the world. His life is spent trying to be what is expected, what is normal. He sometimes thinks of himself, but he has no idea how to express it, often out of fear of the all-consuming forces that surround him. So he decides to finally take his one and only Vacation, just to get away from his mundane life and see the world.
What follows is a journey of personal discovery and adventure that is equal parts surreal and too real. The fantastic elements are kept to a minimum, there to keep the story moving in favor of the human drama. The people he meets, the truths discovered, and the realizations made will change Bernard, and perhaps the reader too.
What Vacation offers is a little grain of truth, couched in fiction. What you thought you knew may not be what you will find here. Mr. Shipp, like one of his characters, leads you to the information. You, however, will have to find it.
April 11, 2009
Vacation was my first foray into the bizarro fiction genre. I wasn't sure what to expect when starting this book, but soon realized that all expectations simply fly out the window anyway. Bernard Johnson, a 35-year-old English teacher decides (in an early-mid-life-crisis kind of way) to spend the next year of his life "finding himself" during a government sponsored world Vacation. On this Vacation, Bernie meets up with a beautiful woman who used to be one of his male students; is visited by his dead sister; and finds himself dumped into an alternate reality where the ultimate battle for truth and freedom is unfolding. Hold on for the ride of your life, the twists and turns never end and constantly leave the reader having to reshuffle what they think is real and what is a dream. This expertly crafted story manages to be both phenomenally deep and highly entertaining all at the same time.
March 3, 2009
Wow... very thought provoking. I should probably preface this review by saying that this is a book that is definitely not in the genre(s) that I typically find myself choosing books from. However, the story sounded so unique and interesting I thought I'd give it a try. I'm glad I did! I loved Jeremy's writing style and didn't find the story hard to follow as I saw in some of the other reviews. However, I do have to say that this was a book that took me awhile to read. Mostly because I'd stop and think about my opinions on ideas that were brought up in the book. Definitely one that I'll read again. For me, there was just so much to take in the first time. Second time around I'm sure I'll get even more out of it.
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