Cover Image

Sideways

by Pickett, Rex.

Format: Print Book 2004
Availability: Available at 2 Libraries 2 of 5 copies

Available (2)
Location Collection Call #
Brentwood Library Fiction FICTION Pickett
Location  Brentwood Library
 
Collection  Fiction
 
Call Number  FICTION Pickett
 
 
Western Allegheny Community Library Fiction Realistic F PICKETT
Location  Western Allegheny Community Library
 
Collection  Fiction Realistic
 
Call Number  F PICKETT
 
 
 
Unavailable (3)
Location Collection Status
Northland Public Library Fiction CHECKED OUT
Location  Northland Public Library
 
Collection  Fiction
 
Status  CHECKED OUT
 
 
Penn Hills Library Fiction CHECKED OUT
Location  Penn Hills Library
 
Collection  Fiction
 
Status  CHECKED OUT
 
 
Shaler North Hills Library Fiction CHECKED OUT
Location  Shaler North Hills Library
 
Collection  Fiction
 
Status  CHECKED OUT
 
 

Summary

A raucous and surprising novel filled with wonderful details about wine, Rex Pickett's Sideways is also a thought-provoking and funny book about men, women, and human relationships.

The basis for the 2004 comedy-drama road movie of the same name starring Paul Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church.

Sideways is the story of two friends-Miles and Jack-going away together for the last time to steep themselves in everything that makes it good to be young and single: pinot, putting, and prowling bars. In the week before Jack plans to marry, the pair heads out from Los Angeles to the Santa Ynez wine country. For Jack, the tasting tour is Seven Days to D-Day, his final stretch of freedom. For Miles--who has divorced his wife, is facing an uncertain career and has lost his passion for living-the trip is a week long opportunity to evaluate his past, his future and himself.

Published Reviews
Booklist Review: "Screenwriter Pickett's debut, already a film in the making by Almost Schmidt director Alexander Payne, is a buddy novel in the cinematic vein of Swingers. Two longtime friends, Miles, a struggling, cynical, recently divorced writer and wine snob, and Jack, a soon-to-be-wed TV director, leave Los Angeles for vineyard country on Jack's last week as a bachelor. Their road trip of endless imbibing and carousing feels like Dharma Bums updated with metrosexual panache. Miles is most interested in consuming wine while Jack is hell-bent on consummating one last affair. Jack's suave demeanor and classically handsome mug get both friends into uproarious and dangerous situations in this rambling comedy of errors. Pickett plays the sex-and-the-single-man angle for all its worth here, nodding occasionally at such larger themes as friendship and romance. Call it Nick Hornby lite. --Misha Stone Copyright 2004 Booklist"
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Publisher's Weekly Review: "Two old friends set out for a weeklong romp through Santa Ynez, Calif., wine country that comically strains their friendship in Pickett's lively debut. Smart, hapless narrator Miles is divorced and broke, and his novel's been rejected all over town. His handsome, "ursine" best friend, Jack, a successful actor, is about to get married, and wants to enjoy a few last days of freedom. Pickett gleefully chronicles their many minor adventures, including the oversexed Jack's attempts at getting laid, a boar-hunting episode and a staged car accident. Add to that massive amounts of wine: oenophile Miles swills rather than sips, and Jack's always been a party guy. While Jack works his charm on the ladies, Miles has his own flirtation with a lovely waitress. Miles can be a delightful narrator, but he's no prince: he's a bore when it comes to wine, for example, and he can get a little pseudophilosophical ("photos mock the present by staring back at us with their immutable luster of our youthful past"). He also thinks nothing of snatching a couple thousand dollars from his alcoholic mother on her birthday. But redemption for all is promised and Pickett takes his readers on a jolly ride. His novel sounds like a perfect buddy flick, and indeed, it will have its chance: Alexander Payne (About Schmidt; Election) is directing it for Fox Searchlight. Agents, Dan Strone and Marti Blumenthal at Writers and Artists. (June 16) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved"
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Additional Information
Subjects Automobile travel -- Fiction.
Man-woman relationships -- Fiction.
Male friendship -- Fiction.
Divorced men -- Fiction.
California -- Fiction.
Publisher New York :St. Martin's Griffin,2004
Edition 1st ed.
Language English
Description 354 pages ; 21 cm
ISBN 0312342519
0312324669
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