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bigbookgeek's review
5.0
This book had me in stitches! Waters is such a comedic genius. So he starts off in this book with outrageous scenarios of "good rides", and then does the same thing with out rages fictional "bad rides". Fact sometimes is stranger than fiction, as we learn when we actually see what happens when waters gets his real rides. This book will definitely keep you entertained it will make you laugh out loud and it will really make you just wish that you could hang out and party with John Waters!
palindromephd's review
3.0
The 3rd part (real life) is by far the best part but the whole thing comes together as a fun look at Americans. I appreciated Waters' unique and humorous perspective on what good/bad are and his inability to rip cardboard. A great road-tripping audiobook (which is what I used it for and we even stopped in the same town, Saint Clairsville, Ohio!). I don't really know much about Waters' career but probably would've gotten more out of this if I did.
eludemann's review against another edition
4.0
Exactly what you want out of John Waters: hilarious, over-the-top, and filthy.
dave_white's review
4.0
Although I enjoyed the non-fictional part the most, the worst and best case scenarios still have lots of "bite" in them. I would recommend to any John Waters fan.
dmknyc's review
4.0
I think you would call this a "celebrity hitchhiking" tale. I love John Waters & quote his films endlessly, but I'm not sure truly authentic hitchhikers are in constant contact with their assistants.
Of course this doesn't diminish the craziness of what he did-it was courageous and very entertainingly told.
Speaking of crazy, I could have done without the worst-that-could-happen fiction section. There are images I hope to truly forget in the next few months. The best-that-could-happen was great, poppers and all!
Of course this doesn't diminish the craziness of what he did-it was courageous and very entertainingly told.
Speaking of crazy, I could have done without the worst-that-could-happen fiction section. There are images I hope to truly forget in the next few months. The best-that-could-happen was great, poppers and all!
almightybumble's review
4.0
Funny book, great read! Biggest complaint? Felt like there was paid sponsorship by a certain company. John Water's fans will want to read.
cluckingbell's review
4.0
I am a John Waters fan in spite—or possibly because—of the fact that I have never seen any of his films. I know him only through interviews and an occasional guest appearance, and I really like the guy.
Looking forward to his interactions with a stream of strangers, I was a little disappointed initially to find his imagined best and worst case scenarios take up the bulk of the book. I knew the fictional rides would be there, but I had thought there were maybe three apiece (there were thirteen apiece). So I took a break from the audiobook and returned a couple days later with different expectations and was able to enjoy it much more after that.
It was funny to learn in the acknowledgements that even one of his assistants, who presumably knows him very well, had had difficulty discerning between the imagined "good rides" and "bad rides." Good: a maniac driver who runs over a squirrel. Bad: a maniac driver who runs over a dog. Good: abduction and 'probing' by aliens, resulting in a temporarily magical anus. Bad: abduction by a vegan who forces him to eat a raw turnip. The confusion is understandable, and these relatively innocuous examples are representative of many reasons I will not be able to recommend this book to people I know. They also had me laughing out loud (especially the bad rides) and feeling like I’d gained even more insight into John Waters as a person.
More than anything, the good and bad fantasies give an indication of how exciting, dangerous, and full of possibility hitchhiking seems to the uninitiated, when overall the "real rides" proved somewhat mundane—which is probably the best outcome one can or should hope for when hitchhiking. In his imagined series of bad rides, Waters never gives up his cross-country mission, no matter how alarming or terrifying the experiences, while in reality the tedium (and occasional despair) of waiting hours for a ride proves his greatest obstacle. He's not as resilient in real life as he is in his fantasies, and he spends a lot of time calling and emailing his assistants at all hours, negotiating alternate drop-off points with his drivers, and suffering disappointment with the motels of America.
While Waters seemed more inspired by and invested in the possibilities of hitchhiking than the largely uneventful reality, I ultimately enjoyed hearing about both.
Looking forward to his interactions with a stream of strangers, I was a little disappointed initially to find his imagined best and worst case scenarios take up the bulk of the book. I knew the fictional rides would be there, but I had thought there were maybe three apiece (there were thirteen apiece). So I took a break from the audiobook and returned a couple days later with different expectations and was able to enjoy it much more after that.
It was funny to learn in the acknowledgements that even one of his assistants, who presumably knows him very well, had had difficulty discerning between the imagined "good rides" and "bad rides." Good: a maniac driver who runs over a squirrel. Bad: a maniac driver who runs over a dog. Good: abduction and 'probing' by aliens, resulting in a temporarily magical anus. Bad: abduction by a vegan who forces him to eat a raw turnip. The confusion is understandable, and these relatively innocuous examples are representative of many reasons I will not be able to recommend this book to people I know. They also had me laughing out loud (especially the bad rides) and feeling like I’d gained even more insight into John Waters as a person.
More than anything, the good and bad fantasies give an indication of how exciting, dangerous, and full of possibility hitchhiking seems to the uninitiated, when overall the "real rides" proved somewhat mundane—which is probably the best outcome one can or should hope for when hitchhiking. In his imagined series of bad rides, Waters never gives up his cross-country mission, no matter how alarming or terrifying the experiences, while in reality the tedium (and occasional despair) of waiting hours for a ride proves his greatest obstacle. He's not as resilient in real life as he is in his fantasies, and he spends a lot of time calling and emailing his assistants at all hours, negotiating alternate drop-off points with his drivers, and suffering disappointment with the motels of America.
While Waters seemed more inspired by and invested in the possibilities of hitchhiking than the largely uneventful reality, I ultimately enjoyed hearing about both.
ecrate's review
3.0
I found the intro kind of rambling so I skipped it. I read the first novella like it was nonfiction and couldn't believe what was happening to John Waters! (Spoiler) it took me to the part where he gets abducted by aliens and received the gift of a magic butthole until I realized it was fiction. Moral of the story: skim the introduction.