This is Oh, the Places You'll Never Go--the ultimate
hilarious, cynical, but absolutely realistic view of a college
graduate's future. And what he or she can or can't do about it.
This commencement address will never be given, because graduation
speakers are supposed to offer encouragement and inspiration. That's not
what you need. You need a warning.
So begins Carl Hiaasen's attempt to prepare young men and women for
their future. And who better to warn them about their precarious paths
forward than Carl Hiaasen? The answer, after reading Assume the Worst,
is: Nobody.
And who better to illustrate--and with those illustrations, expand upon
and cement Hiaasen's cynical point of view--than Roz Chast, best-selling
author/illustrator and National Book Award winner? The answer again is
easy: Nobody.
Following the format of Anna Quindlen's commencement address (Being
Perfect) and George Saunders's commencement address (Congratulations,
by the way), the collaboration of Hiaasen and Chast might look typical
from the outside, but inside it is anything but.
This book is bound to be a classic, sold year after year come graduation
time. Although it's also a good gift for anyone starting a job, getting
married, or recently released from prison. Because it is not just funny.
It is, in its own Hiaasen way, extremely wise and even hopeful. Well, it
might not be full of hope, but there are certainly enough slivers of the
stuff in there to more than keep us all going.
