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victorialynch's review against another edition
3.0
A little bit darker and more political than I expected, but fun to listen to John Hodgman share it!
blankpagealex's review against another edition
5.0
What an excellent book. So many of Hodgman's stories hit me at just the right moment. The anecdote about trying to kill mice in his garage while paying hundreds of dollars to extend the life of his son's similarly sized hamster was hilariously poetic. His loving little digs at his own wife and children had me giggling. Most poignant, however, was the chapter about being a privileged white person witnessing racial injustice and not knowing how to respond in a meaningful and sensitive way.
Highly recommend this to anyone whether you are familiar with Hodgman's work or not.
Highly recommend this to anyone whether you are familiar with Hodgman's work or not.
gjmaupin's review against another edition
5.0
A solidly 4-star book nudged over into 5 territory by the audiobook performance. Splendid.
ivanssister's review against another edition
4.0
This book is the proof of Hodgman's evolution from fake fact absurd humor into a thoughtful, honest, and sweet humorist. I was tickled to find the Daddy Pitchfork story, a version I saw live during his I Stole Your Dad tour. 4 bags of Chex mix out of 5.
dogtrax's review against another edition
5.0
I love his dry humor, and since part of the book is set in my world of Western Massachusetts, I had a great time reading it. This stands out from his other books, which I enjoyed.
maureenr's review against another edition
4.0
John Hodgman's book is funny and poignant in places. I particularly enjoyed the second half of the book, about his experiences in Maine. He nailed the Maine zeitgeist. I particularly loved the story of the man who came to cut down some trees for him. There are some serious turns done well - his mother's death, his thoughts about white privilege while reading about Philandro Castile's death. I highly recommend the audio version, read by Hodgman.
rebeccalm's review against another edition
3.0
I listened to this on audiobook and found John Hodgman's voice to be quite soothing. His stories are entertaining and relatable, only in the sense that he's desperately trying to seem relevant and tells long rambling stories like a typical dad. Some parts are funny and other parts are mostly observational. I appreciated his self-awareness and self-deprecating humor. I didn't really know who John Hodgman was before reading this book, and I know only slightly more now - but I wouldn't say no to reading something else by him.
andtheitoldyousos's review against another edition
5.0
John Hodgman is many things: Daily Show correspondent, a “PC”, podcast guest and host, internet judge, former literary agent, and generally droll New England weirdo. He wrote several books prior to Vacationland, and all of those books were collections of “facts”. I say “facts”, as that is what he might say as well: Hodgman (with the help of Jonathan Coulton) created three full books of completely made-up facts that he presented as being VERY true. They are a weird delight, and sometimes they are correct, like when he “created” a furry lobster that turned out to be a real thing, but I digress. Going off of his past creations, I was expecting another irreverent and enjoyable flip-through. My expectations were (mostly) incorrect! His humor is completely intact and frequently laugh-til-you-hiccup enjoyable, but he also peels back the layers of his cultivated persona to give a deep and true look at his real-life experiences.
Vacationland is a memoir more than anything else; Hodgman has a little midlife crisis moment while writing in a used bookstore, “a place where books go to die”, and he frames the story around his acquisition of not one, but TWO vacation homes- a situation that he does not jump into on purpose. He questions his career, shares his childhood, gives some ridiculous details of his time at Yale, gets really into weed as a 45 year old man, and plays with unfortunate facial hair choices:
“A mustache sends a visual message to the mating population of Earth that says, “No thank you. I have procreated. My DNA is out in the world, and so I no longer deserve physical affection. Instead, it is time for me to turn away from sex and toward new pursuits, the classic weird dad hobbies such as puns, learning trivia about bridges and wars, and dreaming about societal collapse and global apocalypse.”
We learn about his attempts at being cool as a teen in Brookline (lots of jazz violin and fedora wearing), his jaunts into Western Massachusetts with his parents who just wanted to “do nothing near a bog” on the weekends, his job counting cars in traffic while an undergrad at Yale, and his unplanned and uncertain charge into adulthood in NYC. He speaks frankly about his misadventures as a homeowner: he didn’t know that you need to order more propane, he leaves trash to liquefy in his garage because he is scared of getting in trouble for going to the dump, and he let his septic system utterly fail- giving me extreme flashbacks to my time in college with six lovely but clueless roommates living in someone’s summer house during the off-season. He focuses frequently on change and uncertainty with his traditional dry aplomb:
“There are transitions in life whether we want them or not. You get older. You lose jobs and loves and people. The story of your life may change dramatically, tragically, or so quietly you don’t even notice. It’s never any fun, but it can’t be avoided. Sometimes you just have to walk into the cold dark water of the unfamiliar and suffer for a while. You have to go slow, breathe, don’t stop, get your head under, and then wait. And soon you get used to it. Soon the pain is gone and you have forgotten it because you are swimming, way out here where it’s hard and where you were scared to go, swimming sleekly through the new.”
Don’t panic, though. This isn’t some navel-gazing woe-is-me midlife crisis. He speaks frankly about insecurity, loss, privilege, and death. He takes many jabs at himself as a straight white man of wealth and (moderate) fame, but it is clear that he cares deeply for humankind as a whole. I did not open this book (well, tune into the audio recording) expecting thoughtful sections on privilege, bullying, and the Black Lives Matter movement, but they were present, well said, and I am grateful for their inclusion.
Oh, and yes, don’t worry- there is plenty of vacation talk. While this book is full of surprises, there is no false advertising here! Come for quaint tourist trap tales, but stay for this universal truth: “the bottom of every lake is a Lovecraftian hellscape.”
Vacationland is a memoir more than anything else; Hodgman has a little midlife crisis moment while writing in a used bookstore, “a place where books go to die”, and he frames the story around his acquisition of not one, but TWO vacation homes- a situation that he does not jump into on purpose. He questions his career, shares his childhood, gives some ridiculous details of his time at Yale, gets really into weed as a 45 year old man, and plays with unfortunate facial hair choices:
“A mustache sends a visual message to the mating population of Earth that says, “No thank you. I have procreated. My DNA is out in the world, and so I no longer deserve physical affection. Instead, it is time for me to turn away from sex and toward new pursuits, the classic weird dad hobbies such as puns, learning trivia about bridges and wars, and dreaming about societal collapse and global apocalypse.”
We learn about his attempts at being cool as a teen in Brookline (lots of jazz violin and fedora wearing), his jaunts into Western Massachusetts with his parents who just wanted to “do nothing near a bog” on the weekends, his job counting cars in traffic while an undergrad at Yale, and his unplanned and uncertain charge into adulthood in NYC. He speaks frankly about his misadventures as a homeowner: he didn’t know that you need to order more propane, he leaves trash to liquefy in his garage because he is scared of getting in trouble for going to the dump, and he let his septic system utterly fail- giving me extreme flashbacks to my time in college with six lovely but clueless roommates living in someone’s summer house during the off-season. He focuses frequently on change and uncertainty with his traditional dry aplomb:
“There are transitions in life whether we want them or not. You get older. You lose jobs and loves and people. The story of your life may change dramatically, tragically, or so quietly you don’t even notice. It’s never any fun, but it can’t be avoided. Sometimes you just have to walk into the cold dark water of the unfamiliar and suffer for a while. You have to go slow, breathe, don’t stop, get your head under, and then wait. And soon you get used to it. Soon the pain is gone and you have forgotten it because you are swimming, way out here where it’s hard and where you were scared to go, swimming sleekly through the new.”
Don’t panic, though. This isn’t some navel-gazing woe-is-me midlife crisis. He speaks frankly about insecurity, loss, privilege, and death. He takes many jabs at himself as a straight white man of wealth and (moderate) fame, but it is clear that he cares deeply for humankind as a whole. I did not open this book (well, tune into the audio recording) expecting thoughtful sections on privilege, bullying, and the Black Lives Matter movement, but they were present, well said, and I am grateful for their inclusion.
Oh, and yes, don’t worry- there is plenty of vacation talk. While this book is full of surprises, there is no false advertising here! Come for quaint tourist trap tales, but stay for this universal truth: “the bottom of every lake is a Lovecraftian hellscape.”