Review: Vacation

Got to get away.



Jeremy C. Shipp's debut novel, Vacation, begins as an academic conspiracy yet quickly morphs into one involving the controlled mind in a hostile, remote forest environment; the implication being that the two settings—war-torn forest and academia—aren't all that dissimilar.

Vacation is structured as a meandering letter, possibly written by our protagonist, Bernard Johnson, to his parents as he suffers the aftermath of a corporate-sponsored vacation to various countries. His noble goal of "rebirth" is taken to the extreme as he is captured by terrorists and forced into a conspiracy involving class wars and antidepressants. And worse, he might just be willing to embrace this knowledge despite the possible repercussions against his reputation as a successful second generation English literature professor.

Vacation is the best type of conspiracy novel, following a nihilist from pessimistic to optimistic, though nihilistic he remains. The protagonist begins as an everyman, succumbs to mistrust and fear, and ultimately has that paranoia justified, though the powers responsible for the suspicion remain in power. Knowledge, in itself, is the reward. Though it comes not necessarily without moral baggage:

"…the truth—and I speak from experience—will yank apart the lobes of your brain and crap guilt into your conscience." [pg. 5]

Shipp's narrative style echoes of Palahniuk-ian turns of phrase and chorus lines, which he uses to economically embed thematic elements. While many writers have attempted to emulate Chuck Palahniuk's unique brand of minimalism, forcing the style where it's best left out, Shipp's story demands this approach; his characters thrive as smooth talking, lyrical people with the penchant for involvement in situations necessitating intelligence and wit. For example, take the following two lines:

"Another Pax [antidepressant] rolls down my throat…Pax means peace. It doesn't make you feel any more alive. Remember, the dead are peaceful." [pg. 10]

"And [God] could blow everything up into little bits, but he doesn't, for the same reason people don't blow up cemeteries. [pg. 131]

This style parlays well into the conspiratorial base of Vacation. Clever dialogue at every exchange is very telling of the history of Shipp's characters; they've been there, done that, so to speak, and
are ready for any rebuttal. Additionally, because the story is told as a letter written in the aftermath of the story proper, a certain amount of self-awareness is allowed. This novel would not have worked nearly as well told as a present narrative.

Shipp also enlivens Vacation's conspiracy with meta-layers of commentary that, because the novel relishes in paranoia, the meta-layers represent a deeper understanding of the interconnectedness of events. Bernard's occupation as an English professor especially reveals these correlations:

"My students learned that no matter how the protagonist encounters death, it always represents something important." [pg. 94]
(revealed during an actual death in the story)

"Various truths about the world [are] embedded in fiction. Why fiction? Because people are more prone to believe foreign truths in an imagined reality than otherwise." [pg. 106]
(a successful way to legitimize not just the story, but fiction in general)

I write this review as I sit on the beach during my own vacation, checking my shoulder for destruction at every footprint in the sand and at every personal encounter studying the eyes of strangers for a knowing glance. This breed of witty, past-paced fiction is a welcome additional to the growing Bizarro genre despite the accompanying guilt and paranoia.

[Caleb Ross]

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Vacation by Jeremy C. Shipp
Raw Dog Screaming Press
164 Pages

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Caleb Ross has written reviews for the (now defunct) Depraved Press, Thirdeye Magazine, and even a couple right here at Dogmatika: Palahniuk's Rant, the Falling From the Sky anthology and most recently Rayo Casablanca's 6 Sick Hipsters. Visit his website for a full list of publications: www.www.calebjross.com/work