The Hike

There comes a clichèd point in most stories that deal with insanity where the nutjob asks the sane one who determines what sanity is, and maybe we've got the whole thing inside-out. I can say without hesitation that The Hike is batshit insane, but there's nonetheless a steadfast internal logic and heart that undergirds the craziness and connects all of the terrifying parts into a cohesive (if hallucinatory) whole.

It's rare to find a “grounded” fantasy that doesn't traffic overtly in “magic” with laws and rules (think Harrys Potter and Dresden), especially when combined with a rollicking adventure plot. Think of The Hike as a modern-day Odysseus, only with lot more LSD involved (in execution if not authorship). Eminently relatable main character, highly entertaining and endearing sidekicks, thoroughly enjoyable to read (unlike trying to slash your way through the thickets of this review), this is a fun book.

I enjoyed this, but I could have enjoyed it more if I knew a bit more about where it was (or more to the point WASN'T) going.

About halfway through, I started to feel a familiar, suspicious sensation - it's the feeling I get when I'm reading/viewing something dreamy and weird, and there's a danger the whole thing is just a mindfuck. You probably know what I'm talking about - you get tense, waiting for the author to jump out from behind a door and yell, “The protagonist was really the bad guy all along!” or “All the characters are actually the protagonist!” or (God help us) “It was all a dream!”

The good news is that this does not happen. Sure, this story goes to some weird places; some of our assumptions may get upended. But in a general sense, the rug doesn't get pulled out from under us. Ben is a worthy hero, even if he has flaws. His love for his family is genuine. The story does actually go somewhere, and there's a satisfying conclusion.

Overall, this is like Alice in Wonderland mashed up with The Wizard of Oz and The Odyssey, with touches of Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and The Matrix, adapted for screen by David Wong and directed by David Cronenberg.

Magary does a good job of juxtaposing fatalism and predestination with randomness and personal empowerment. It's a combination that should't work together, but does. The story keeps the reader slightly off-balance throughout - a reflection of the confusing sensations of business travel. We leave our daily grind of boring sameness and family obligations and set out on the road, only to find that we feel lonely and displaced, and we just want to get back to our loved ones, no matter how many fabulous buffets and bottles of fine wine we encounter along the way.

I think there's a specific type of reader that will really love this book, and I'm happy to say that I'm absolutely that type of reader. The Hike is strange and funny and terrifying and poignant in equal measure, sometimes (often) in the same scene. I would like this book for its imagination and twisted sense of humor even if there was nothing beyond that, but it manages to be thought-provoking and emotional on top of those things.

It's an adult Alice in Wonderland of sorts, but it isn't weird without a purpose. On top of all that, it has one of the more satisfying and altogether excellent endings I've read in a novel. Highly recommended.