Vertical: The Follow-Up to Sideways [Large Print] [Paperback]

If you ever wanted to continue riding along with Miles and Jack as they drink fine wines and sleep with sultry women, "Vertical" definitely delivers. But Rex Pickett doesn't merely retread the same terrain as he did in "Sideways", he sets his story on existential fire, deconstructs it, and then boldly shoves it into uncharted emotional territory for himself and his alter-ego, Miles Raymond. If a "sequel" is technically just more of something, then "Vertical" does not qualify. Life is drastically different for Miles this time around, who is reeling from his success as a writer who's book became a hot movie (sound familiar?). In "Sideways" Miles was dogged by his failures, now Miles is dogged by his success and its trappings: drowning in all the Pinot and p---y he could ever hope for. Like Icarus before him, Miles is flying too close to the sun and his proverbial wings are melting. Between chugging from spit-buckets before cheering crowds and engaging in whirlwind threesomes, he's quickly losing touch with reality. A reality that becomes impossible to ignore when he chooses to rescue his ailing mother from her nursing home. His mission: to emcee a hedonistic wine festival in Oregon en route to depositing his mother in Wisconsin to live out her final days. Easier said than done, to say the least.

Yes, Miles and Jack are back, loaded up on wine and hitting the West Coast asphalt (along with an eternally-stoned Filipina caretaker and his mother's pesky dog). Only now, Jack is the loser going nowhere fast with his life (divorced, jobless) and Miles is the wild womanizer, a role-reversal that offers much insight into both characters, and a lot of laughs. Once again, Miles sets out on a road trip with the best of intentions, only to have them backfire in all the right ways, setting an unpredictable domino-effect into motion that ultimately makes him a better person in the end. If "Sideways" was about sending off a best friend in style to get married, then "Vertical" is about sending off a parent to die with some semblance of dignity. In both cases, Miles is undergoing a personal transformation despite focusing all his efforts on others. Like life, "Vertical" is not a comedy nor a drama -- it is decidedly both, and with potent effect. I laughed out loud on several occasions (the ever-incorrigible Jack continues to get himself into horrible-yet-hilarious predicaments) and cried twice toward the end. The author is able to provoke this spectrum of emotions because he realizes that at the end of every lustful bacchanal, there is an existential hangover that must be dealt with. These days, it's hard to find fictional prose that has the courage to embrace subject matter pertaining to actual human beings. Let's face it: when our art is designed purely for escapism, we ultimately end up escaping our own humanity. Rex Pickett knows this all too well, and delivers -- more than just a sequel -- a bittersweet meditation on Fame, Friendship and Family that is not to be missed.

Miles and Jack are back on the road, this time venturing to the Willamette Valley in Oregon, to again chase their quaffable dragon, Pinot Noir. And I couldn't be happier to read about it!

Vertical, Rex Pickett's follow up to his acclaimed debut novel Sideways, is a rewarding read for anyone who loved the Sideways novel or the film adaptation. Lovers of the movie will delight in imagining how Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church and Virginia Madsen will play the scenes of Vertical, and lovers of the novel will enjoy seeing how the true characters (as the Miles and Jack of the novel differ greatly from the ones in the movie) have grown, matured, and in some cases regressed, since that fateful trip to Santa Ynez.

Not to be left out, Oenophiles and casual wine lovers get their due, as Rex treats the reader to a handy primer on Willamette Valley Pinot Noir, and a few further lessons about the wine world of Central Coast California.

What I enjoy most about Rex Pickett's work is how much of himself you can read into his characters. Rex's choice to parallel his own life, by having Miles find success by writing a novel that is, ostensibly Sideways, and have it achieve the same film success as the Alexander Payne movie, is a master stroke. Rex gets to comment on the compromise-laden reality of Hollywood, how when movies are made into books, the two entities become interchangeable, and, for better or worse, how the author of the novel must accept what the film and filmmaker turn the book into. More importantly, knowing what we know about how similar real life and the world of the novel are, we get the added bonus (read: "salacious joy") of wondering just how much of what we are reading actually happened to Rex.

In Vertical, Miles has written the novel Shameless, watched an independent filmmaker turn it into a hit movie, and has since ridden the success of the franchise to new found wealth and more interestingly, respect in the wine world. This respect becomes both the boon and bane of Miles's existence.

What Vertical explores in a way Sideways barely touched on, is the simple fact that Miles is an alcoholic. Not simply a guy who likes the grape on occasion, this is a man who cannot function without alcohol. He drinks to wake up, he drinks to go to sleep; he drinks to calm his nerves, and he drinks when he is calm. With his newfound stardom, Miles is invited to host and speak at wine events, giving him instant access to an endless supply of the best wine money can buy. Unfortunately, this is like giving an addict the keys to a meth house. Or giving Charlie Sheen Internet access.

While the novel is materially about another road trip for Miles and Jack, with the ultimate destination this time being the delivery of Miles's stroke-addled mother to her sister in Wisconsin, the real plot is Miles's struggle to come to terms with his alcoholism. While the first half appears to be simply another wild and wacky ride for our favorite drinkers, the second half of the book takes a turn to darker, more rewarding places, as Miles begins to sober up and see the world with clear eyes. This is where the reader will find the true treasure of Vertical.

The wine notes are interesting and the bacchanalia of the IPNC are amusing, but the development of Miles's relationship with his Mother is heartbreaking, and gives further insight into the life of our author, Rex. Alcoholics aren't made, they're created; it's with a dawning realization of anger that Miles sees his dependence on alcohol (and subsequent emotional and romantic problems) may be hereditary and out of his hands. His yearning to know about his past and understand his dying mother are a far cry from his Sideways days of stealing money from his Mother on her birthday. This is a Miles who is desperate to make sense of his life, after the rollercoaster Shameless (nee Sideways) has put him thru. It's a journey that is central to all man's questions: who am I, where did I come from, what can I control? Readers will find themselves relating to this part of the book more than anything Miles or Jack do in pursuit of great wine.

If Sideways is a guidebook for how to fall down in the face of struggle, Vertical is surely a story about how to get up and stand tall in the wake of that struggle. While I don't know if Rex plans his titles so thematically, if he doesn't it's simply a further testament to his talents as a writer, and his gift of creating complex, fascinating characters that readers can love, admonish, relate to, rebel against, and ultimately respect.

Vertical is a wonderful book, and I urge you seek it out.

I read this book in about 3 days and that is saying something. I kept wanting to know what was going to happen next so it does keep your attention. I think it's actually a very different story with a completely different direction from it's predecessor. Yeah, there is Pickett's writing style of sometimes using words that most of us will probably have to look up, thoughts about wine, sex, and traveling to somewhere new, but I think it lacks the adventure quality of the first novel. The search for great wine, horny women and money is no more so things are more predictable.

This is deeper and the focus is more on Miles. Jack seems to play a background character who is just simply there along with anyone else in the book until the end when the Mother moves to the forefront of the story. But you get more emotionally involved. You can feel a bit more for the characters and how things in life have changed them. There are a few laugh out loud moments. The sexual descriptions and adjectives are a little more intense then they were in the first novel. The writer does reference his fame and ensures we know he was the whole reason for the base of the popular movie that followed. The Williamette Valley plays a little background in the book and that is good for that area. I have visited many wineries there and it is a great place to base some of this book.

I support adventures in wine. I support books with some spice to them. I support Rex Pickett. Highly recommend!