The listing, Spalding Gray's 'Impossible Vacation' has ended.
"I just accepted that as a part of my life, accepted that forever I would always be a little in the place that I was not.." With that begins the melancholic search of meaning for the main character of the book Brewster North. After having received a monkey mask from his uncle's adventures in Bali at a tender age of 5, Brewster longs for that Impossible Vacation. Knowing for a fact that wherever he goes he can't escape the ghosts of his past, present and future. The book is beautifully written and at times the voice of the narrator Brewster comes to take you over and it feels as if you're there watching his painful time on Earth. The closests I can think of is Holden Caulfield in Cathcher in the Rye, but unlike Holden he is searching for a place he knows he can find but yet leaves it as it is, a longing. Brewster takes the reader on this unique trip around the world, where he not only goes to various groups to learn new things but to enjoy those painful moments of longing to be where the soul really wants to be. The problem is that Brewster's soul is restless and madness boils in him and he is disillusioned by mankind, the world, the people around him and yet he still has that hope to find peace somewhere in the crazy world. The madness, the vignettes of Brewster's thoughts on suicide at a young age, saving bugs, walking stoned while starring at a sea of bright stars, and to the smiles and dark figures he meets in every part of the world is something to look forward to in every page. He sees smiles, groups of people, people ice skating and he sees himself as a the landscape being bigger than his whole self. In all this book is highly recommended for that restless mad soul, or anyone who wants to escape that happiness for awhile and face the truth of reality on this world. The book is not for the close minded or people that get offended easily, its filled with raunchy scenes, but in all a book that is intelligent and dark as the narrator himself. What a guy!