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Vertical: The Follow-Up To Sideways (2010)

by Rex Pickett(Favorite Author)

3.41 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

0983143404 (ISBN13: 9780983143406)

languge

English

genre

Humor

publisher

Loose Gravel Press

review 1: Where "Sideways" flirts with alcoholism, "Vertical" is an all-out portrayal of severe, life altering, life controlling addiction. And certainly the very wineries that made fortunes from "Sideways" must have had a collective "gulp" (pun intended) when their poetic product this time around is cast in the more real light of addiction."Vertical" picks up where "Sideways" leaves off. Sort of. Several years have passed, the characters are older (though clearly not the wiser) and Miles is on a journey (yes, another road trip book)to re-settle his stroke-damaged mother from an assisted living hell-hole to her sister's mid-country home. Jack is also on the journey.But this book is dramatically less "sweet" than its predecessor and the trip is a far different, more intense, severely... more frustrating one. It's level of decadence is of Roman proportion where it comes to intake of wine and (literally) orgies. And it is in this far more graphic and explicit portrayal that one might suspect the author (Rex Pickett) had a little help from the publisher. This book is again beautifully written but I drop a star in my rating because I was struck by some extraneous, dragging detail that simply wasn't included in "Sideways". I highly recommend this book even for those more faint-hearted because it doesn't take the cheap, easy road of a slightly altered version of "Sideways", repeating the exact, quirky relationship between the main characters, but rather shakes you around with a very intense, at times kind of creepy, storyline.In some sense reading "Vertical" is akin to seeing a friend after decades, having a less than enjoyable reunion, and realizing that a wonderful memory has been greatly altered if not destroyed.I loved "Sideways"; I very much liked "Vertical".
review 2: 'Vertical', the sequel to 'Sideways' is pretty much about as good as the original, which is to say, good but not great. The story is a bit more over the top but at the end of the day it's a continuation of the life of the same main character and is very focused on his hangups, life problems, depressions, etc. It's different primarily in that 'Vertical' finds Miles extremely successful as opposed to down and out. I suspect it's somewhat autobiographical and it's sort of interesting that throughout, Miles mentions to side characters that he might include this or that in his next book. I think it's likely that Pickett is being clever here.Some people might find the ending of the book a bit disturbing. I found it a little bit so. While the actions Miles takes are morally defensible in my opinion, I'm certain some will find them completely objectionable and it may turn them off from the book entirely.One problem I had with the book is that throughout, Miles comes across as a jerk. He does lots of jerky things and sometimes to nice people who definetely do not deserve it. Considering he is the main character and I believe regardless of his personal hangups, the goal of the writer in this book is to get the reader to root for him, the negative character brings everything down a little bit. less

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