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“It’s rare to find a book that resembles no other book you’ve ever read.
It’s rare to find a book that’s both funny and profound. John Waters’ Carsick is a doubly rare book.”
— Michael Cunningham, New York Times bestselling author of The Hours
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“Fantastical and plush…Carsick becomes a portrait not just of America’s desolate freeway nodes—though they’re brilliantly evoked—but of American fame itself.”
— New York Times Book Review
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“Waters reads with a joie de vivre that is infectious. He
is spirited and funny and fast, which quite matches the often-outrageous
material.”
— Cleveland Plain Dealer
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“Underlying it all is a highly
developed sense of fun, a desire to amuse more than to shock…Waters has made a
funny, engaging, and—of course—occasionally outrageous book…All in all a cool
trip and a delightful book.”
— Washington Post
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“This is all good, dirty,
subversive fun…a good helping of unbridled lewdness is surely to be expected…However,
once [Waters] gets on the road and begins his “real life” adventure,
he comes across as a very different, and much more benign and vulnerable,
figure…He also has to rely on the kindness of strangers, and he finds it
everywhere. Quite a few people mistake him for a homeless man and try to give
him a handout. Some of this is deeply moving…As he says in the book’s
acknowledgments, “If I ever hear another elitist jerk use the term flyover
people, I’ll punch him in the mouth.’ I do believe he will.”
— San Francisco Chronicle
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“Pretty constantly hilarious…The
real trip, hardly as ludicrous as the preceding fictions, takes longer,
involves more drivers, and has Waters growing in admiration for the regular—but
far from colorless!—people who pick him up, especially the married guys who
praise their wives to the skies. Travel—uh, hitchhiking—book of the year?”
— Booklist (starred review)
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“Waters idiosyncratically cuts
to the core of American diversity, finding the good (and bad) in any situation
with biting wit. The unlikely friendship Waters forms with a young Republican
politician is an unexpected twist…For Waters aficionadoes, the best parts of
this enchanting narrative aren’t the ones that actually happened. Fans will
delight in the two novellas, with Waters at his campiest and most ludicrous,
that precede the nonfiction third act…Waters devotees take note: this is
required reading.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review)
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“A rollicking, raunchy romp that
delivers big-time laughs.”
— Library Journal
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“Face it: wouldn’t you rather
strike out on the road with John Waters than Jack Kerouac?…Once [Carsick] takes
off, it’s a sweet and funny ride.”
— Kirkus Reviews
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Who better than quirky film director John Waters himself to narrate his hitchhiking odyssey? Listeners will feel like they've been along for the whole ride as Waters joyfully reaches his destination.
— AudioFile Magazine