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.
Marvin's Bookish Blog
Another darn place to list my reviews and to obsess about books.
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.
