Book Review: Sideways- New Zealand by Rex Pickett

 Twenty years have passed since Raymond Miles tasted the success of his breakthrough novel and the resultant movie adaptation. Tired of negotiating the dirty and crooked alleys of Hollywood, he has moved to New Zealand and taken up wine growing, finding enough time for writing a follow-up novel and for romance. But when his past catches up with him in the form of an email, he decides to throw everything away and return to the US after the impending book tour across New Zealand that his publisher wants to send him on. And what a crazy and life-altering spectacle of a book tour it turns out to be! 

Sideways: New Zealand is an autobiographical novel written by Rex Pickett as a follow-up to his Sideways series, the first book of which turned out to be a literary success and resulted in an acclaimed movie adaptation directed by Alexander Payne. I haven't read the book or watched its movie version. Though Sideways: New Zealand is a sequel and contains many allusions to the events in the previous books, it can be read as a standalone novel. The novel is a black comedy that explores themes like growing old, catching up with one's past, the decline of literature, and the grip of algorithmic culture that promotes only the vain and ridiculous. 

The novel is a first-person account by its protagonist, Raymond Miles, the alter-ego of the author, of his eventful and hectic book tour through the harsh and tempestuous New Zealand winter. Giving him company are Max, a special needs cat that he has adopted; Jack, his old actor friend who accompanied him on his previous journeys; Hana, his clueless novice publicist; and Amanda, Jack's producer girlfriend, who joins them late with her own agenda. The book tour consists of meeting up with several small book clubs, as his cash-strapped publisher believes that the era of book signings in book shops is over. 

The plot is pretty meandering and unhooked, consisting of unpredictable style choices that alter from slapstick comedy to biting dark humour to feel good melodrama. It unsettled me initially, though once I got a hang of the protagonist's mind and its tumultuous nature, I could comprehend the importance of this style. Miles is shaken by a revelation and has decided to forsake his future in New Zealand. It is with this mindset that he enters the tour. The tour turns out to be a disastrous affair with an uncomfortable vehicle, raging weather, and the realisation that his time under the spotlight is long past and his passion for literature is not finding resonance with the public. Thus, we find him on a quixotic quest, sleepwalking from one disaster to the next. 

The novel gives a pretty pessimistic view of the future of literature, which its protagonist mirrors several times in the novel. The number of serious readers is declining, and those remaining are mostly interested in stuff that is superficial and comes with wacky promotional stunts. Everyone, including the author, publisher, and those involved with books, has a certain agenda other than a passion for literature. All are always looking out for an angle that benefits them, like the prospect of a movie or streaming deal. We find that most of the characters try to hijack the book tour with an agenda, much to the horror of Miles, who is passionate about writing and literature. 

While giving a biting and satirical view of the present state of the publishing industry and readers who aren't passionate, Miles manages to find oases of solitary reading communities that still maintain their interest. We encounter a small town that reinvented itself through books and reading about its state of decay. We find homeless communities that bond over the written word. Though Miles is pessimistic, Pickett instills a ray of hope in his readers' minds. 

The writer's and his protagonist's affinity for wine and wine-growing introduces us to several nuances of wine-growing. We could also find several parallels between wine growing and literature, and between drinking wine and reading, as alluded to liberally in the novel. The novel also presents a bleak picture of growing old in the typical pessimistic fashion of Miles. He finds it difficult to keep up with technology, changing social norms, and even his past fame. He is uprooted from his origins and floats around like milkweed. When he aspires to settle down finally, he is again forced to deroot and repeat his past in a world that is far away in space and time from the one that's familiar to him. But even when Miles isn't so sure of what lies ahead for him, the book ends on an optimistic note, giving him a ray of hope to hang on and a promise to readers that his adventures will continue.