Vertical (novel)
| Author | Rex Pickett |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Fiction, comedy |
|
Publication date
|
September 10, 2010 |
| Media type | Print, e-book |
| Pages | 404 pp |
| ISBN | |
| Preceded by | Sideways |
| Followed by | Sideways 3 Chile |
Vertical is a 2010 novel by Rex Pickett and the second novel in the Sideways Trilogy. It is a sequel to the novel Sideways, which was made into a successful 2004 film of the same name.
The novel takes place seven years after the events depicted in Sideways. It contains the same characters as in the earlier novel: Miles, a writer, his friend Jack, a sometime actor, and Miles' mother Phyllis, all wine lovers. Miles is now a successful author, having written a novel called "Shameless" with much the same situations as the real-life Sideways. Like Sideways, "Shameless" has been adapted as a successful movie. Jack, who had been prosperous in Sideways, is now divorced and short of cash. Pickett says that the character Jack is based on his friend Roy Gittens, a film electrician.
The novel recounts a road trip involving the three and a Filipina caretaker, Joy, as they head first to Oregon's Willamette Valley for the International Pinot Noir Celebration, and then to Sheboygan, Wisconsin, where Phyllis is to live with her sister, Alice.
The book was self-published by Pickett. He has said that the book is autobiographical, saying: "The trip didn’t happen with Jack, but everything with my mother was real. I lived that, and Jack is that character now, he’s a guy who’s gone to seed. And I am a guy who’s had success and overimbibed and did some things that I don’t do anymore."
As the novel begins, Miles agrees to take his ailing mother, Phyllis, to live with her sister in Wisconsin. He convinces Jack to tag along as wingman in return for some cash, hires a pot-smoking Filipina caretaker, Joy, to attend to his mother, and recovers Phyllis's beloved Yorkie, Snapper, from one of his ex-girlfriends. They then set out on a trek that takes them up the California coastline and to Oregon wine country for a wild pinot noir festival. Through it all, the four have many conflicts and misadventures, as well as sexual escapades. Snapper gets into an accident and ultimately loses a leg, and Phyllis and Joy are constantly quarreling.
The tensions come to a head in Oregon, where Joy abruptly quits after being falsely accused of stealing money from Phyllis. Jack goes back to California, and Miles is forced to drive with his mother to Wisconsin. He quits drinking. In Wisconsin, Phyllis's sister has difficulty coping with Phyllis. His mother has another stroke and is hospitalized, and at her request Miles causes her death with an overdose of Seconal. At the end, Miles plans to travel to Barcelona, Spain, to be with a woman he met during the trip.
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