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A review by cluckingbell
Carsick: John Waters Hitchhikes Across America by John Waters
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.