Vacationland: True Stories from Painful Beaches
Published by Penguin Random House Audio
4/5
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Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this audiobook
Although his career as a bestselling author and on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart was founded on fake news and invented facts, in 2016 that routine didn't seem as funny to John Hodgman anymore. Everyone is doing it now.
Disarmed of falsehood, he was left only with the awful truth: John Hodgman is an older white male monster with bad facial hair, wandering like a privileged Sasquatch through three wildernesses: the hills of Western Massachusetts where he spent much of his youth; the painful beaches of Maine that want to kill him (and some day will); and the metaphoric haunted forest of middle age that connects them.
Vacationland collects these real life wanderings, and through them you learn of the horror of freshwater clams, the evolutionary purpose of the mustache, and which animals to keep as pets and which to kill with traps and poison. There is also some advice on how to react when the people of coastal Maine try to sacrifice you to their strange god.
Though wildly, Hodgmaniacally funny as usual, it is also a poignant and sincere account of one human facing his forties, those years when men in particular must stop pretending to be the children of bright potential they were and settle into the failing bodies of the wiser, weird dads that they are.
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Reviews for Vacationland
190 ratings15 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I listened to this - quite appropriately- over the course of several trips up to Maine. I really enjoy Hodgman's voice and way of storytelling. His story and where he came from is very relatable to me. There were a few parts ( as I have often found with essay collections) that were uncomfortable to listen to. In particular, I had to fast forward through the chapter dealing with the mouse infestation in his garage. I think other soft hearted animal people may also have trouble with that.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A collection of funny and sad stories about John Hodgman's life. As someone who lived in Maine for several years, I especially enjoyed his takes on the state, but I would recommend the book to anyone who enjoys a solid memoir.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I know nothing about John Hodgman, but after this entertaining collection I'll definitely be picking up something else. He's at his best when he's talking about Maine.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I love the sardonic wit and deep insights of this book by John Hodgman. I am familiar with him from the Sunday NYT Magazine so I was looking forward to reading this book and was not disappointed. The memoir of sorts is about his wanderings in NYC, MA and the ME coast. Beneath the wit is an touching honesty about the reminiscences of his past and what the future holds for him as he ages. I could not live with a man like this 24/7 but he is a hoot to take in small doses.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Almost a 4 but the guy was so whiney and forever apologizing for being white. Get over it! That said he had some intersting looks at life in New England. Though like most he confused the coast with Maine its generally forgiven. I liked his metaphor. But I get to live it every day in La Vida Bangor.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5For a satirical humorist known for encyclopedic fake trivia, Hodgman is surprisingly funny with his authentic voice in Vacationland. I had seen the standup shows that included some of this material, but it becomes even more cohesive as a story collection.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5If you know John Hodgman, then not much of this book will come as a surprise. This is classic Hodgman with the usual wit and dry humor you have come to expect from him if you have seen him on TVor heard him on This American Life. The book is mostly stories about time spent in Massachusetts, Brooklyn and Maine. What makes this book very enjoyable is that he will abruptly make these sharp digressions into very real discussions about some of the social justice issues of our time and general thoughts on being an American in 2017. His writing on these topics is some of the best in the entire book and definitely makes him and the book more fulfilling to read and much more to ponder upon its completion.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You know a book is worth reading (especially during a pandemic), when you not only laugh out loud, but read passages to your spouse, and said spouse then wants to read the book, too. Also, I'm somehow delighted at the friendship between Hodgman and Jonathan Coulton, who also makes me laugh with his lyrics to clues on NPR's "Ask Me Another".This was delightful pandemic read, though in truth, it would still be delightful in a non-pandemic time.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A darkly humorous collection of stories from the author's life. They relate to his life growing up, he career trajectory, and his various vacation homes in out-of-the-way locations. Throughout them run the theme of mortality like a black ribbon. He is a humor writer who is unafraid to face the realities of life even if they are bleak or unsettling. Then he usually makes a joke. I love John Hodgman's work and truly enjoyed listening to him read this book. As another person brought to Maine by a spouse, I can relate to these funny stories about such an uncanny and beautiful place.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I really love Hodgman’s work. He’s got a great comedic sensibility, and he’s the perfect narrator for his own stories. This is his first book without made-up facts, focusing instead on short memoirs of his life on vacation and how things changed for him after his sudden fame. These aren’t particularly eventful stories, and they probably won’t blow your mind with their unique insights, but they’re well-told and entertaining, and I loved every minute of the audio version. I just hope he decides to write a novel some day, if only because I love him best when he takes flights of fancy.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Incredibly funny. I believe part of the reason I enjoyed this so much is that we live in the area of western Massachusetts where most of the book is set. If you live in another area of the country (or even east of Worcester) you might not enjoy it as much as I did, but you will still laugh out loud. Hodgman has a very dry wit and very engaging way of telling a story.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Audiobook.
I listened to this over 2 days of working on a project that I needed my hands for, hence the audiobook.
I've never come across this gur before but I gather he is purely an American phenomenom. So I came to it with no expectations at all.
I liked his style and humour, though not penetrating nor profound, it still has an air of authenticity that I could go along with.
Being not American, the places mentioned meant nothing to me except as place names but still he managed to put across some of their import, culture and quirkyness.
Reminded me a bit of Garrison Keilor in that hokey, down home, kind of way that we English (by birth) have not had for a long time and that New Zealand (by adoption) is quickly losing.
I was going to say it would be a good holiday read/listen but them I remembered the title. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It's a rare event that I'm moved to laughter and tears, and unsurprisingly to deep introspection, on a given passage in any book, and yet this often happened while I was reading John Hodgman's Vacationland. Part of this, I will admit, is because I'm similar in age to the author and our personal coming-of-age histories share many similar cultural beat points.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An often hilarious, sometimes thought-provoking, always readable collection of vignettes from minor television personality and fake internet judge John Hodgman.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Classic Hodgman candor and humor, paired with an unguarded conveyance of what it is to be human -- our journeys, our gains, and our losses. Not every essay / story in this collection is at the same level, but things I thought I would have cut out while reading, provided context in hindsight and allowed me for space to breathe and contemplate while i was reading and existing in the book. Highly recommended!
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