Download Nobody Rides for Free A Drifter in the Americas John Hughes 9781927040041 Books

Product details Paperback 224 pages Publisher Book*hug Press (May 1, 2012) Language English ISBN-10 1927040043

Nobody Rides for Free A Drifter in the Americas John Hughes 9781927040041 Books Reviews

• As T.S. Elliot once said, the joy of going on a trip was finding out, upon your return, that you have been someplace else.
  
  As interesting as I found the author's trip to SA, his description of his return to the USA was more interesting. His comments about traveling in the third world, turning other people's lives into tourist attractions, were well taken.
  
  I think anybody who has done much touring on a bike will enjoy this book.
  
  djc
• This book kept me captivated. It was a "what the heck" is going to happen next to this reckless, often unwise,but always adventurous bicycle pilgrim. I felt that I was riding along with him in his effort to shake his demons. The efforts of the author will make you laugh and often make you wince. A must read if you have any wonderlust in your soul.
• Well written, a great read for anyone who is considering travelling through the Americas' and willing to take in the experiences and challenges this writer contends with during his travels....written with rye humor and wit. The author takes no prisoners regarding his descriptive oration concerning his experiences and the often interesting and even bizzare characters he encounters.
• The premise for this book is good enough. But why the need for all the extended alcohol & dope drama; and raw, explicit language? I almost put it down, but because of its acclaim I thought I should finish it. I kind of wish I hadn't finished it.
• I have had this book lurking in one of my several "to be read" stacks for quite awhile now. Due to a lengthy illness where I have been unable to read, much less write, it took me quite some time to get to this one. I can tell you truthfully though, once I finally started reading this thing I simply could not put the book down.
  
  In brief, this is the true story of a young man...a very troubled young man I might add, who traveled via bicycle through Mexico, Central America and South America on his own; no group tour here. The travel was supplemented by buss and boat. Upon his return to the United States via Air Travel, he lands in Florida and the second part of his odyssey begins as he hitchhikes along some of the most dangerous roads in the United States (I know...I have traveled many of them via auto) all the way home to Vancouver, Canada...his home.
  
  What makes this trip even more remarkable is that the author is obviously a hardcore alcoholic and more than just "dabbles" in just about any drug he can get his hands on. He pays little to no attention to what and where he eats and spends the better part of his journey either extremely ill (Some of his illnesses are literally life threatening), being robbed, cheated or harassed. He has very few personal items with him and a rather limited amount of cash.
  
  The author has used a nice technique...the story has been written as he is hitchhiking across America and just about ever other chapter is a flashback to this Central and South American adventures. The book is extremely well written and I personally classify it as a page turner. Now some of his stories may seem sort of "over the top" or embellished to a certain extent; this may seem so to those who are not familiar with the backpacking/bike culture of the 1990s. I personally found no story here that was not believable. In addition to this, the author is brutally honest as to his wretched condition as to his use of alcohol and drugs and in no way glorifies it. As a matter of fact, after reading his harrowing story, you may quite well feel a pang of anxiety the next time you merely sip a small glass of wine. If we are honest with ourselves, most of use could say "There but for the grace of God go I."
  
  I get the feeling that part of the motivation for writing this most interesting tale was a cathartic act on the author's part. He certainly approaches his subject matter as such. On the other hand, not once did I get the impression that the author was traveling the "poor me" route and some of his material is actually quite funny. The situations he gets himself into...some of them...are quite amusing.
  
  As I have indicated, this is a rather skilled writer and he most certainly has a story to tell. I am hoping he follows through and shares with us his adventures in India and traveling the rails in North America.
  
  Don Blankenship
  The Ozarks
• The hitchhiking author of "Nobody Rides for Free" got his title from a driver who wanted to have sex with him
  
  "Listen, Mr. Freeloader. Maybe you remember those bumper stickers from the '70s? You know, the ones that said, 'gas, grass or ass--nobody rides for free?'...You have a choice, Mister Gimme some or hit the bricks!"
  
  The author hit the bricks. He is either sick, drunk, drugged, or mugged throughout this travel autobiography, but he never agrees to have sex with men. This book follows in the literary footsteps of the Marquis de Sade's "Justine" as far as plumbing the depths of human depravity---except "Justine" was fiction. The pain never lets up in either book.
  
  "Nobody Rides for Free" is structured around the author's attempt to hitchhike from Miami to Vancouver after an abortive bicycle tour through South America. Flashbacks from South America alternate with cold, soggy, sometimes creepy rides on U.S. highways. Alcoholic excesses plague both parts of the journey. And the food--I'd rather eat radishes dug up from under a latrine in New Delhi than dine from the street vendors this author patronized. It's no wonder he was plagued by diarrhea and internal parasites throughout his South American bike tour.
  
  There are moments of wild exhilaration
  
  "Water ran all over my body and a mad howl ripped from my lungs as thunder and lightning shook the uplands blasting through the Andean tempest tore a gaping chasm in life's outer limits."
  
  But, as the author himself says
  
  "Even so, my poisoned spirit was not resurrected."
  
  There is a postscript to "Nobody Rides for Free" where the author's mother persuades him to sign up with a Twelve-Step recovery plan, but this postscript floats lightly on what is otherwise an alcoholic sea of misery. I was discussing this book with my sister, while trying to figure out who might benefit from reading it. She suggested that parents might want to give a copy of "Nobody Rides for Free" to teen-agers who seem to be tempted to give hitch-hiking a try. There are also some graphic sections on the perils of cocaine.
  
  ***review copy supplied by author