Review Detail

Reader reviewed by Kristopher Reisz

Let it be known, first and foremost, that Kris Reisz's debut Tripping to Somewhere is a remarkably quick read even at 384 pages. True to my words in the previous post, I cracked the book open at 1:22 pm on Saturday, and I was done before five. I didn't look at the clock once, I skipped lunch: for all practical purposes I was dead to the world, this world, and off in a wicked trippy place... somewhere.

So here I am two days later (because I wanted to let it sink in) and Gilly and Sam are still with me. Sam more than Gilly, for some reason - without giving too much away, I can tell you that her story comes to a more open end. These two girls from unsettling families share a thirst to run away, catch a ride on the speeding world and find out what moves them, what makes them. So after a meeting with a voodoo guy and a quick stop to take in the crow entrails on a shop counter, Sam and Gilly are off in search of the legendary Witches' Carnival.

All road trips are coming-of-age stories, and this one is no less so. Only, Tripping to Somewhere is Thelma and Lousie's spirit in the body of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas's drug haze, with a dash of darkness from Stephen King, a pinch of Neil Gaiman's fascination with magic that dances just on the edge of our world. Kris Reisz's voice, however, is all his own. His world of druggies and parties and the happy-go-lucky Witches' Carnival takes shape with minimal introduction and description, but it is as real as any daydream and certainly as haunting.

In case you can't tell, I really liked this book. For once, liberal cussing wasn't some stylistic stunt, but just evidence of Reisz's finger on the pulse of today's kids. I liked how Sam and Gilly aren't geniuses, they make stupid mistakes and what gets them through the day is nothing more than luck and a bit of guts - and if I was a little frustrated at real world professionals for not picking up on the liberal trail they left when they ran away, maybe that's just my delusion of professional efficiency speaking.

All in all, the verdict is a thumbs up on a great debut. Reisz's strengths are the enduring kind, and I'm looking forward to collecting the rest of his works.

Originally posted on wendelin.blogspot.com by Nandini Seshadri. Reprinted here with author's permission.