I found myself intrigued and confused at the same time when I finished this book. So I read it again, this time with no caffeine or hangover tainting my already aged mind. I have come to the conclusion that I love this book! It has a depth to it that many authors' lack. Jeremy Shipp makes you think about your life and your very soul; then he wants you to face what you are and the potential in which you have. YOU MUST READ THIS BOOK! It is excellent and superior to many of the dust covered books on the shelves today. NOTE: Some people have labeled this author as "crazy"...in a joking matter of course. I just wish to add my two cents. In my opinion he is not crazy, he has a deepness inside of him that seems to pour out into his writing. That makes him a very intelligent and gifted individual...but that is only my two cents worth.

If you're looking for a simple read, "Vacation", by Jeremy C. Shipp, isn't for you. However, if you're looking for a surrealistic exploration of humanity, this is the thing to read against those planned New Year's resolutions. Set in an apocalyptic future reminiscent of "Blade Runner", Shipp tells a darkly comic story that's often hard to read, but is still harder to put down.

Bernard is an English professor who dictates how other teachers should teach and how books should be interpreted. He leads a comfortable life that's been planned for him, he's financially well off, and has an eager-to-please girlfriend. Like everyone else, he coasts through life on an easy existence and a recreational drug called "Pax", the elixir of his generation.

Everything changes when Bernard goes on "Vacation", an organized event designed to allow a Citizen every excess. However, Bernard is kidnapped along the way and forced into a hallucinogenic experience as a hostage in a war with no clear sides. Forced to confront painful memories about his dead sister and shameful truths about himself, Bernard gains a greater understanding of the world, even if it's the world often defies understanding.

"Vacation" is a wonderfully strange novel defying simple categorization. Astoundingly literary and offering deep, social commentary, it also reflects strains of magic realism and William Gibson's work. It makes us question our sanity on one page and question society at large on the other. In any case, it's a "mind-trip" with deep ramifications; a tale that mere review can't do justice.

What a fantastic read
And what a fantastic vacation
I can't wait to read more from this exciting (and very weird) author
A MUST READ...!!!

Upon receiving Vacation in the mail, one becomes concerned. It's thin. What sort of story can really be told in so few pages? Then, suspicious of being disappointed you examine it. You're familiar with the cover: A smiling face super-imposed on a burned-out building. On the back, a short description of the plot (and I paraphrase)-


Rich guy goes on corporate-sponsored Vacation, gets captured by terrorists, gets tangled up in drug wars and doesn't once miss his secure "American Dream"

This sounds extraordinarily uninteresting and trite, especially for around 150 pages. Fortunately, the description is a painful misrepresentation of the actual story.

Shipp uses a stripped down style of story-telling, removing unnecessary textural adjectives. In doing so, he pulls the reader directly into the main character's head. And so the tale is told like a voyeuristic replay of Bernard Johnson's memories and emotions during his Vacation-turned-VisionQuest. They come delivered in dream-like clumps, disjointed sometimes, even out-of-sequence. What is most compelling is the speed at which Shipp shifts the story. There simply isn't any time to waste examining the details of the landscape. And that is exactly what makes the book so appealing because it feels correct in light of the plot which certainly doesn't give the main character much time to rest.

The reader experiences Bernard's metamorphosis from cowardly privileged tool to self-actualized individual from the inside of Bernard's head looking out and the path he travels is a surreal psychological journey wherein Shipp explores coercion and choice in a raw landscape of exploitation and victimization that most of us try never to think about.

A book that at first appears too short, reveals itself as a multi-faceted metaphor that isn't very far removed from the real world we live in today. The perception displacement and paradigm shift you may experience compels you to re-read it, especially with Shipp's use of circular references to earlier parts of the story as the book progresses. And since it's short, it doesn't seem like such a task to flip straight back to page 1.

Sometimes surreal, sometimes touching, VACATION is was a fun and fascinating read. Told in first person, the book tells the story of Bernard as he goes on a government-mandated vacation across the globe. After he is abducted by a secret organization, he begins to see there's more the the world than he thought. Everyone he meets - and he meets quite a few characters - is interesting and unique, though there was a time when the cast became fairly crowded. Still, Shipp managed to keep the reader aware of who was who, an important skill with such an esemble. The surrealism is not as mind-blowing as, say, a Cisco novel, but for VACATION this is a good thing. The reader is treated to a smooth mix of a number of genres, and on finishing the book I can honestly say the combination was just right.