Title: Adventures of a Rideshare Driver
Author: Charles Campise
Publisher: Author Reputation Press
ISBN: 1478743204
Pages: 96
Genre: Memoir
Reviewed by: Liz Konkel

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Author Charles Campise has gathered various memories from his time spent driving for a ride-sharing company. The stories shared take place within Austin, Texas, and around the area, with the location of the stories taking place from inside the car. Campise shares his various memories about a variety of passengers that range from drunk college students to dignitaries. The stories take place over three years starting with June 2014, and are brief moments that have stood out to Campise for various reasons. Campise has been working as a ride-sharing driver for more than seven thousand trips, served more than twenty thousand passengers, and worked for three companies.

Adventures of a Rideshare Driver delivers a variety of memories that have stayed with Campise and those that have impacted him ranging from the most offensive fare to the Whataburger incident. Each story is a brief anecdote about moments which reads like the author’s personal memento. The stories range in tone from humorous to profound moments that touched his life – with each one a treat for those who enjoy memoirs, anecdotes, and humorous tales. The various tones of the stories showcase why Campise chose the word ‘adventure’ to describe his experiences, for each moment was a small piece of his larger adventure as a rideshare driver. As a whole, Adventures of a Rideshare Driver is a humorous read in which Campise weaves in poignant moments, such as taking a passenger to the emergency room, or helping a young man that he struck a friendship with.

Several standout stories include various moments such as the times when he picked up dignitaries, the first time he drove someone to detox, when he took a passenger to the emergency room, and the times he drove Kahlid (someone he met in 2014 and who he believed would a connection that would be a long-time friendship). Campise also includes various illustrations that depict often humorous visual representations of various passengers. The book flips the idea of seeing a driver from the perspective of the passenger by seeing the passengers from the perspective of the driver. Campise takes this idea from moments in his own life by accounting how these small moments have done more then give him funny stories to share with others. Campise also includes various comments which he learned from, as well as advice he gave to other drivers.

The brief anecdotes are written in an episodic fashion with most of them averaging the size of a paragraph and create a series of images that feels as if you’re flipping through his photo album of funny stories. The various moments range from his various first experiences such as his first photo with passengers to revealing his own bucket list. His experiences range from laugh out loud moments like navigating a fist fight while driving to friendship connections such as his encounters with Kahlid. The humorous moments found throughout include his first encounter with a fist fight which reads like a moment taken directly out of a comedy as he shares about two men in the car that broke out into a fight, while he was driving, the time he had a stinky fare where his passengers stunk up the car and shares about his pet peeves which focus on his annoyance on drivers not accepting people with animals.

Adventures of a Rideshare Driver is a series of stories are taken from Campise’s personal experiences which bring humor, connection, and poignancy vicariously to the readers from a very unique perspective.