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A review by acsaper
Vacationland: True Stories from Painful Beaches by John Hodgman
3.0
When middle-aged men begin wearing mustaches, it's their way of telling the world they're done mating. Or, at least, it's Hodgeman's way of doing so.
Vactaionland is a funny and relatively thoughtful reflection on one man's forties - facing the turmoil of multiple summer home ownership, minor fame, and unpredicted wealth. In short, what Hodgeman calls, privilege comedy.
I really did enjoy his musings on what it means to grow older, and become a dad, and remove one's self from the mating pool (for some reason, this mustache thing really stuck with me). And, of course, enjoyed the brief fantasizing about life in rural western Mass or coastal Maine. Sure, it'd be nice to be by the water, but compare those descriptions to the blue beaches of Florida and I begin to wonder, why? Then again, Hodgeman answers that pretty clearly, because Maine is where you go to stew - and there's no stewing around a coast that's not trying to kill you at all times.
The book offers a comforting glimpse of life in ten years, or, at least, life in ten years if I had a family, mild fame, and comfortable fortune. So, maybe more than anything, it just offers reassurance that we all face these fears, anxieties, and frustrations - no matter how cushy life ends up or how quasi-famous we are. And, in some way, I guess that's comforting to know.
Thanks for the bday book Mal and Jimi :)
Vactaionland is a funny and relatively thoughtful reflection on one man's forties - facing the turmoil of multiple summer home ownership, minor fame, and unpredicted wealth. In short, what Hodgeman calls, privilege comedy.
I really did enjoy his musings on what it means to grow older, and become a dad, and remove one's self from the mating pool (for some reason, this mustache thing really stuck with me). And, of course, enjoyed the brief fantasizing about life in rural western Mass or coastal Maine. Sure, it'd be nice to be by the water, but compare those descriptions to the blue beaches of Florida and I begin to wonder, why? Then again, Hodgeman answers that pretty clearly, because Maine is where you go to stew - and there's no stewing around a coast that's not trying to kill you at all times.
The book offers a comforting glimpse of life in ten years, or, at least, life in ten years if I had a family, mild fame, and comfortable fortune. So, maybe more than anything, it just offers reassurance that we all face these fears, anxieties, and frustrations - no matter how cushy life ends up or how quasi-famous we are. And, in some way, I guess that's comforting to know.
Thanks for the bday book Mal and Jimi :)