15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wicked Good Fun, March 27, 2007
The world has, since the inception - intentional or otherwise - of humankind, always been a dubious plane of existence. You'd be hard-pressed to find an author, poet, artist, musician, politician, holy man, or everyman who has never spoken out concerning the human condition, from the tiniest fib to the most horrific act of genocide. Newspaper columnists, Sunday preachers, eastern philosophers all dissect the meaning of life in their various fashions - but Jeremy Shipp's Vacation, a first-person tour de force that takes place in an alternate universe and / or future-in-the-making, actually takes the human condition and turns it inside out.
On the surface, Vacation is about a disgruntled English teacher named Bernard Johnson who goes on Vacation (yes, proper capitalization) with an ex-student, once-male, now-female friend and discovers the world is not what he initially thought it to be.
Okay. Simple enough premise - you see it all the time in various forms of literature (well, maybe without the sex change). Peel away that superficial layer, though, and you soon find yourself entangled in a labyrinth of spiritual testing and social commentary unflinchingly portrayed by Shipp's characters. In this world, society exists in two major flavors: the Tics and the Meeks, the former being the well-to-dos of the industrialized nations, the latter being the poor, the exiled. Using this metaphor, it quickly becomes obvious the Tics are our own pop culture, the pill-popping, credit-card-wielding, overfed, and over-stimulated masses who have been shielded from the terrible truths of the world in a sort of global propaganda scheme to bolster big business. The Meeks are, well, everyone else - a grassroots conglomerate of militants who have cleansed their bodies and minds of all social poisons. Somewhere in between is the Garden, an external haven lead by Noh, who seeks to seed truth back into the world, one mind at a time.
Bernard's adventure plays out in the classic escapist fashion - on crack. Indeed, much of his transformation has to do with the altering of his mind, the skewering of his perspective, so that he may glimpse the dream he's been living from the outside. He goes on Vacation, falls in love, becomes a tool for the Meeks, and ultimately helps to realize Noh's vision of social revolution - but don't expect any of this to be A-B-C, for the strength of Shipp's narrative lies in his ability to toss the ball to his characters and trust that their decisions, their reactions will guide the story true. The underlying meaning is present throughout, but it is quite obvious from the start that you, the reader, are just as responsible as Bernard in coming to your own conclusions.
Shipp's style in Vacation demands an agile approach, as various scenes shift seamlessly between dreams and reality - often without warning. I'm reminded of S.P. Somtow's Riverrun Trilogy: one quarter real, three quarters surreal. Considering the concept, I can't imagine it any other way.
Vacation is a potent social theory, a spiritual hopscotch from start to finish. With interesting scenarios and thought-provoking dialog, it is a compelling reason for fans of psychological fantasy to look up Jeremy Shipp.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Masterpiece!, March 14, 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 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 brain-teasing movies, where the
reader is left confused. This unpredicting story of one man's
journey is a powerful, bizzare, 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. Shipp invites his readers to take that 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.
Geri Ahearn I.O.M.
Author of 6 books
Author Geri Ahearn, INC.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very Interesting Read, June 26, 2011
Hey, how would you like to take an all-expense paid year-long vacation around the world in the name of "finding yourself"? What if it meant leaving behind your loved ones, your career, everything you ever felt secure in? What if it also meant leaving behind your regrets, your bad memories, your addictions? What if you could talk to angels and become stronger, achieve more than your wildest ambitions? What if you had to be completely broken down and painfully rewired first? Would you do it?
Jeremy C. Shipp's book VACATION is a well-written voyage of self-discovery in a not-so-fictitious world of Big Brotherism. It's not a long book, but it will make you think. And thinking is good.
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