Review by Tester013 -- There and Back There Again

[Tester013]

[Following is a volunteer review of "There and Back There Again" by Andrew Alsup.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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There and Back There Again by Andrew Alsup reads like a series of rants by Alsup regarding the need for privacy and state surveillance. Throughout the book, Alsup tells the reader about these "voices" inside his head (that he calls Chipmunks due to their squeaky nature), which try to manipulate him into performing actions he otherwise wouldn't do. Whilst it may certainly be down to my own linguistic abilities, I find Alsup's book rather difficult to follow at times, leading to a somewhat unenjoyable experience reading Alsup’s work.

Perhaps some enjoyment can be found towards the latter half of the book, where the author's arguments become somewhat more nuanced, and where the author's writing becomes slightly more coherent. An example of where this begins to show can be found in Chapter 13, where he questions whether his hallucinations are a result of being a "psychic", due to "god's hand" or "schizophrenia". This is in rather stark contrast to his earlier ramblings in the first few chapters (especially one through five), which, unfortunately felt more like poorly written comments on a webpage than chapters in a book. The transition to a more coherent writing style certainly aided in the reading of his book.

Having said that, there really isn’t much else about this book that is very positive. As mentioned before, the incoherence of the book at the beginning is a huge turn-off for readers. Up till around the halfway point, the book mainly consisted of randomly strewn-about thoughts about surveillance, how he feels like he’s being interrogated, as well as the rights he feels that are being violated. Whilst the material itself is certainly something that can be strung into an interesting read, the way Alsup chose to present his ideas to us cannot. In the first half of the book, what we see are mostly paragraphs consisting of one or two sentences, and threats telling the voices to back off and get out of his head. This makes for a particularly confusing read, resulting in much disinterest on my part in reading the first half of the book.

Another aspect of note is the language used. Alsup frequently uses vulgarities and rather crude language, such as in chapter 2 where he proclaimed that he will have his “f-ing amendment”. Whilst we can certainly see the author’s frustration with the current constitution, I can’t help but feel that there are more eloquent and refined ways to convey this point across. Instead, the use of such crude languages gives the reader the impression that the author is extremely angry and hot-headed, which, for me at least, gave an impression that this book is more of a rant than a well thought-out piece with arguments worth reading.

In closing, I feel that the author is certainly a very intelligent individual that albeit has run into some troubles, perhaps with regards to his mental well-being, which led to several of these “intrusive voices” inside his head. However, with regards to There and Back There Again , the book feels like a poorly edited rant from the author which, as other reviewers have attested to, is confusing to read. Hence, considering the confusing and incoherent nature of the book, I would have to rate it 2 out of 4 stars.

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There and Back There Again
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[Ana Megrelishvili]

I've already read several reviews on this book and you are the only one who has mentioned that the author seems to be a very intelligent individual. I got exactly the same feeling, but never thought to put it in words. I would love to hear to whom you would suggest this book. Thanks for your review. I really enjoyed it.