Tripping to Somewhere

I read this book in 3 days and loved every minute of it! Gilly and Sam are great characters that I really identified with. The book is an amazing representation of being young, jaded, and looking for a way to escape life as you know it. After reading Tripping to Somewhere I wanted to run away to find the Witches Carnival and never look back! Great read and you should check out Kristopher Reisz's other book Unleashed. Also a brilliant story.

So I finished Kristopher Reisz's Tripping to Somewhere. I haven't been so affected by a novel in ages. There are certain books that you begin and you start to dread the next page. Not because the prose is bad, the ideas are flat, the story is dull. But the reverse. It must be what falling in love is like. The fear that you will be swept away, that you will be crushed by the ending that doesn't happen like you desperately want to happen. Of having your devotion rejected. It was terrifying how much I adored this book. I mean, when I was the age of the girls involved I had never had a drink, been kissed, or listened to cool music. I should not have been able to relate. Oh, but their angst was fresh and sharp, their hopes and fears reached deep into me. I worried over them. Kris broke rules. He had the magic so strong and sudden at the start and gentle, almost inconsequential later on. You could have removed the fantastical and still been left with a brilliant story. How many YA fantasy books can claim that. How many adult? But the fantastical elements are wonderful and enrich the book. The mythology was new to me, yet familiar. I liked that a great deal. The pairings seemed so natural, erotic and wrenching and worrisome. I expected disaster and he surprised me with an ending that felt so right. I know I haven't told much about the book's plot. But that can be found at any number of sites. I'm so in envy of this book.

Have you ever read a book so incredible, so heartbreakingly beautiful, you felt like the author wrote it specifically for you? And when you finished it, even after you closed the book with reverence and gave it to someone else to enjoy, it remains with you always? This was one of those books for me. Tripping to Somewhere chronicles the adventures of young lesbian Gilly and her best friend Sam as they steal, outsmart, and risk everything in an attempt to track down the fabled Witch's Carnival, a roving band of immortal partiers. They embark on this amazing journey in order to get away from their boring lives for awhile and have some fun in the process...what they find is something far greater than either girl ever imagined. Together they discover the power of love, loss, growing up and letting go, and most importantly, the power of friendship. Now I know there's a ton of road trip/coming-of-age books and movies out there, where the main characters go out in search of a good time and end up finding themselves in the process, but this book is far from the ordinary. There's magic, mystery, intrigue, sex, and excitement, and while it's almost 400 pages long, it never gets dull or boring. The teenage girls are potrayed very realisticly, so much so in fact, it's hard to imagine it was written by a man. Gilly and Sam are both beautiful, amazing characters. They are flawed yet strong in their own ways, and develop into wonderful young women by novel's end. Meek is very cool and mysterious, and you never really know what his deal is. All the characters were very special, and I really felt like I knew them personally as I read and related to their joy, pain, dissapointments and dreams. There was nothing about this novel I didn't like, and Kristopher Reisz has definately found himself a lifetime fan. I strongly encourage anyone with a desire to run away and leave it all behind to pick up this book. You will find new friends in the form of Gilly and Sam, and you most definately will not be dissapointed.

Gilly just wants to be beautiful, and Samantha just wants to go home. At least, that's what the resident crazy homeless guy in their town tells them late one night. The strange part is when he whispers about the Witches Carnival, and tells Gilly that if she hurries, she can catch it. Everyone knows the Witches Carnival is just a myth, something to dream about when you wish you could escape your life. Funny thing is, both of them want just that. The next day at school Samantha convinces Gilly to run away and search for the Witches Carnival. The adventures begin. From Alabama, to Georgia, to Florida, to Rhode Island, to London, they chase the Carnival, and the idea of escape. They do and see things and people they could never have imagined. When Gilly hesitates Samantha pushes; when Samantha pauses Gilly convinces. Without each other they wouldn't keep going. In the end they find out that home isn't always where you'd expect, and beauty is something you have to find in yourself. And that crazy old man might not be so crazy after all, or he just might be... I feel like I have to add a few notes as to the nature of this book, and some of the things that happen. There is a fair amount of sex in this book. Not just discussions about sex, but actual sex. There's also some drug use. In defense of the drug use, the bad side of both the use and the lifestyle are realistic and somewhat graphic. I would say that both sex and drugs aren't encouraged or discouraged, merely treated as a reality. Overall, though, TRIPPING TO SOMEWHERE is a good, entertaining read. Reviewed by: Carrie Spellman

Billed as Young Adult fiction, this Old Adult started out with a bit of skepticism. I received the book on a Friday night. Saturday morning I picked it up, intending to read a chapter or two, get a feel for the story... I read the whole book in one sitting. (* NOTE: This is not a short book. It is 368 pages. I just read really fast. YMMV.) Tripping to Somewhere is a well-done, fast-paced read. It's about two high school girls named Sam and Gilly whose home lives aren't exactly out of any Disney movie. A chance encounter with a mystic sends them off on a road trip to find the Witches' Carnival, a loose group of hedonists who transverse the world throwing wild parties. They've been doing it for years- hundreds of years. The girls' goal is simple, find the Witches' Carnival and join up. But nothing is simple when you're on the run, one of you is gay, and oh, yeah, you've stolen thousands of dollars from someone who'd rather you kept quiet about the theft. No one ever said following a dream would be easy, and the Witches' Carnival tests the boundaries and depths of Sam and Gilly's friendship. Don't underestimate the power of two girls on a mission. The characters are very well drawn and sympathetic, including Gilly's father, who could have come off as a cliché, but in Reisz's hands rises to the role of anguished parent torn between doing what is safe, and saving his daughter. Watching each character being presented with choices, and how they each deal with those choices is what made this such a fascinating novel. I know there will be howls about the swearing and the fact a character is gay, but the presentation is such that everything works. It is believable. If you think high school girls don't act and swear like that, then get thee down to the nearest institute of education and stand around at lunch time. Reisz was restrained in his use of language. An extremely well-done first novel. I look forward to reading more from Kris Reisz.