Reviews

Ve Hipopotamlar Tanklarında Haşlandılar by William S. Burroughs, Jack Kerouac

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amiboughter's review against another edition

3.0

A wild ride. Wouldn't expect anything less from a book co-written by Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs. Underneath the drinking, drugs, and frenetic pace of life in wartime New York, there is a true story. Both Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs heard Lucien Carr's confession of murdering David Kammerer (who had been infatuated with Carr since he was twelve years old), helped dispose of evidence, and were arrested as material witnesses. The story was closely followed in the press and allegedly inspired one of the plot lines of James Baldwin's excellent novel Giovanni's Room.

alexfrantsvog's review against another edition

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dark funny tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

space_owl_'s review against another edition

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4.0

Although not a murder "mystery" as described on the cover, And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks is a quick and addictive read. Being a true crime and containing a slow buildup it reminded me of James St. James' Disco Bloodbath. The change of writing styles when switching from Kerouac to Burroughs is also refreshing.

vseslv's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

bromance gone wrong

nico987's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

mcoda's review against another edition

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2.0

I don't get it... The only reason I enjoyed reason this book was because of how bizarrely this book was written. There wasn't even really a plot.

xanvstheworld's review against another edition

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I put this on my memoir shelf, though that hardly counts. I'm not giving this book a numerical rating, at least not yet, I'm still digesting it.

I wonder what reading this book without knowledge of the Beats would be like, if I could fully distance myself from knowing who the aliases truly were. It would be interesting, I think, to have read this as an intro to the Beats. My actual introduction was copious amounts of Ginsberg poetry, and subsequently Wikipedia rabbit holes and watching Kill Your Darlings-- an even more fictionalized version of the tale. I haven't actually read Burrroughs prior to this, something I'm determined to go do next and my Kerouac knowledge lies mostly in his poetics as well.

As for the novel itself, it is people driven. It's ruled by thought not action in many ways. That's not to say the plot is nonexistent, but it is to say if you care more about plot than characters you probably won't enjoy it very much.