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.

A mindf@#k joyride through an unexpected metaphysical thrillscape. Part Hitchiker's Guide; part horror novel; part classic hero's journey; with a bit of Narnia and old world fairy tale mixed in. This story is a collage of settings and characters that weave together into something that is at times simultaneously terrifying and hilarious. Loved it!

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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This is one of the more creative, inventive, unpredictable books I've come across in a long while. Ben takes a business trip to Pennsylvania, and goes for a hike in the afternoon before his big diner meeting. Somehow, while hiking he runs into ... well some creatures that I won't describe because you should read that for yourself, and realizes that reality has turned off and he's in a very strange place. Eventually he learns that he needs to stay on the Path (not a yellow-brick road, but might as well be) until he finds the Producer. So he sets out to do just that – and ends up walking a lot further than he imagined possible, doing things he'd never imagined and almost befriending a talking snow crab that curses like a sailor.

I was so annoyed last week when I showed my wife the paperback version of this book – “hey, this is the strange book I was telling you about...” when I saw a blurb on the back from Wired comparing this to The Phantom Tollbooth, because that was almost all the insight I had into this – some (I feared and now know) obvious comparison to the Juster classic, but for adults. But really, that's the best way to put it – the Adult Phantom Tollbooth, but without the wordplay (or charm, or heart, or . . . ).

The thing just left me cold. I never, ever, ever cared for the protagonist or his plight. I kept looking for the point to all this and never got there (even the thing at the end which came close to giving us the point, didn't really). I appreciated the skill, the imagination, etc. I quite enjoyed crab. But I just never cared about any of it.

The ending? I'm talking the last paragraph or two (hard to guess on audio) – so the very end ending? That earned .5 - 1 star from me. It didn't make me care any more, but it floored me. I want to give this 2 stars, that's how little I liked it, but the talent and skill displayed keep me from it – not to mention that killer ending.

Utter waste of time

I kept waiting for something of substance to occur in this meandering, disconnected series of meaningless quests. I almost gave up several times, but was encouraged to continue by reviews mentioning the last 2 chapters as being a payoff. The “twists” of those chapters are cheap, and without any character development of those they involve, hollow and meaningless.

Pretty sure I saw this one mentioned in the NYT Book Review and I snapped it up. Then, not even remembering the details of the review and not bothering to read the jacket copy (it's in hardcover), I set to reading this tale. It's a wild, outlandish, modern odyssey of a story with our hero Ben deciding to take a walk since he has some hours to kill before a business meeting. He's checked into some bucolic hotel and walks out the back towards the woods. When he stumbles across what seems to be the aftermath of a murder by people who don't seem quite human, he makes a run for it and becomes epically lost. Things get stranger from there. The story is propulsive, horrific, fun and just a cool excursion. I read the book (it's short) in just under 5 days – which is quick for me. Good ending too.

Hey. So anyway, after I read the book, I then read the jacket flap and was glad I'd waited. It was a helluva lot more fun going into this story completely in the dark from the get-go. I hate when the copy gives too much away. But that's me.