BookTalk.org

I'm looking for novels that feature hippies. Or less specifically, 60s counterculture (but not of the militant variety.) I've read one, Drop City by TC Boyle. An OK experience but not mind-blowing... there must be better stuff out there.

"Bliss" by Lauren Myracle. Main character is the daughter of hippies but during the book lives with her grandmother (I think) so she has to go through a lot of lifestyle changes.. Later in the book, it has a lot of supernatural elements. Slightly creepy, really good read.

...Hmm, I think I might reread it! I don't like the author's other books though; "Bliss" is very different from her usual work.

I've looked into it (a bit) and while it doesn't look to be precisely what I'm looking for it does seem intriguing. It is on The List for the next time I go to the bookstore.

The Electric Koolaid Acid Test by Tom Wolf. Early TW is much different than his recent stuff.

Thanks, Gary. I'm definitely going to get that one. I saw it mentioned that it's going to be made into a film with the actor playing Kesey most likely being either Woody Harrelson or Jack Black.

Try some Tom Robbins books. They're not specifically about "hippies" but definitely of the culture.
Electric Kool Aid Acid is very good.

GaryG48 wrote:The Electric Koolaid Acid Test by Tom Wolf. Early TW is much different than his recent stuff.

I agree Gary, I love old ("Bonfire of the Vanities")Tom Wolfe. Thanks for this recommendation, "The Electric Koolaid Acid Test", hmm, I need to check this one out because of the title alone!

"I am Charlotte Simmons" has been sitting around my house for a long while, have you read this one? If yes, what did you think, worth reading?

How about The Drifters by James Mitchener.

I'm closing in on the finish of Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. It's not among my favorite books, fiction, nonfiction, or nonfiction fiction as I consider this to be, but it's a memorable one. My classification of the book's style is due to its overall tendency to be less an account of things (and thing does play a prominent role) than it does a narrative of vaguely recognized events. After all,you're either on the bus, or you're off the bus.

The gist of the thing?

Ken Kesey commenting on a previous anti-Vietnam war speaker:

-and I could see his jaw sticking out like this...silhouetted against the sky...and you know who I saw...and who I heard?...Mussolini...I saw and heard Mussolini here just a few minutes ago...Yep...you're playing their game[...]
There's only one thing to do...there's only one thing's gonna do any good at all...And that's everybody just look at it, look at the war, and turn your backs and say... Fuck it.

-They hear that all right. The sound of the phrase- Fuck it - sounds so weird, so shocking, even here in Free Speech citadel, just coming out that way over a public loudspeaker, rolling over the heads of 15,000 souls -

OK turn on, tune in, drop out.

Because if you look at it just right it seems clear that both sides are more similar than different. It's not that liberals are an alternative to conservatives but that they're primarily a less extreme form of conservatism whose primary purpose is to function as a pressure-relief valve. And that's fine for many, of course... but the idea here is that they're both on the same bad trip.

Anyway, a thumbs-up for this book.