Riots in
the streets. Conflicts spreading like viruses. And a presidential
election looming. Looks like it's time to go searching for America
again.
It's not
that we lose America. It's more like we lose track of it. It's
especially easy in this days of social media, when you can fine tune
your input according to your tastes – then, oh, the shocks when
your step out of your comfort zone onto . . . the road.
That's
where you find the real America, on the road. Huckleberry Finn knew
it. So did Jack Kerouac. And Hunter Thompson.
And so
does John Waters.
His
latest book, Carsick, is
another fine example of the Great American Road Book. He tells of
hitchhiking across America, and more.
Carsick
is another work of American literature that straddles the borders
between fiction and nonfiction. After an introduction, he presents
two outrageous novellas: one presenting the best case scenario, the
other the worst. Waters' own twisted utopian and dystopian visions.
Magnificently outrageous. The kind of stuff that makes you fall in
love with America as the fantastic place where anything is possible,
the way it should be, if only so many Americans weren't afraid of
everything.
This gets into speculative fiction territory, crashing through
alternative universes and all. Maybe John deserves a Hugo award for
this.
Then,
he goes on to document his real trip. Celebrity hitchhiking in the
time of interwebs. Real people that are strange in ways his
imagination didn't expect. The amazing, mind-blowing thing is – and
I'm fighting the urge to commit spoilers here – it leaves you
feeling good, and hopeful about this country.
It's
the sort of book we need right now. And it makes me once again think
of John Waters as a Great American.
