4 out of 4 stars
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"There and Back There Again" by Andrew Alsup is an exciting book that introduces us in Andy's daily experience from the last six years of his life. A personal journey in which the government system intrudes into his privacy through "a new form of interrogation". A violation of his brain, invading his mind with voices that harass, threat, humiliate and trying to manipulate him, through pressure and intimidation.
The author calls this continuous mind ‘radio’, chipmunks, a frequency that is quiet only when is raining. It becomes a legal, political and medical fight, a struggle for his own privateness. This psychic harassment gives him a mission to change the civil rights through a Constitutional Amendment for Privacy. An illegal intrusion is best described in his trip to Seattle where the chipmunks try to take control of him, hoping he will be part of espionage. A repetitive phrase of self-encouragement becomes vital for Andy's survival, keeping him "undefeated and impenetrable" in front of these illusions. He holds himself together and he refuse to be a human machinery for federal pleasure.
When the system acts like a bacterium, it begins to spread in all life's departments such as job, friends and family, losing everything, just because he doesn't agree with these mind voices and he doesn't play their game. Andy has no holding back to express himself freely, and swearing is part of human natural reaction. For some readers, this could be disturbing, but on the other hand its quite understandable considering the circumstances.
In the second part of the book, Andy shows us a totally different part of himself. While I was enjoying the lecture, I had the impression that someone else continued writing the book, skipping so brutally from radio's chipmunks, laws, Senate, schizophrenia, to religion, God's signs, Jesus genealogy and faith. It really kept me connected to all his work steps. He also brings into the story ideas about modernism and post-modernism, and before you notice, you wake up reading about the art of sexuality, nudity, erotica and intimacy. Science and mathematics topics are not left aside.
Andy's intelligence level is clearly beyond the common and because the volume is a journal with random thoughts, it could be a bit unpleasant for those who enjoy detailed and organized written, creating confusion in his descriptions, among psychic and real world. But for those who are delighted to read between the lines, the book contains a strong message for government and civil, and for that reason, but also for an overall reading experience I will rate "There and Back There Again" by Andrew Alsup 4 out of 4 stars.
I couldn't help notice that from chapter 13 it skips straight to chapter 21, and that makes me wonder if this was a typing mistake or Andy intentionally didn't write the chapters 14 to 20? But this aspect really strengthens the book’s intrigue; in the end, it will remain a question mark.
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There and Back There Again
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Thanks for your honesty! I appreciate it 
