chelseamartinez's review against another edition
4.0
Great if only as an annotated bibliography of beat poets, authors, and related musicians to look up. I enjoyed the second half more than the first, although I did learn a lot of trivia about Kerouac and the first half does a good job of juxtaposing the famous beat writers' lowlife behavior with their art without too much judgment and without absolution either. My favorite chapter was the last, on the Fugs.
weetziebot's review against another edition
3.0
I can't remember when I read this book though I do remember a red haired boy from Lowell tried to impress me on the train by telling me Jack Kerouac was also from Lowell (which I knew since I had just read that two pages before he told me). I imagine it was shortly after it came out in the spring of 2009 but may have been more recently. The brief biological sketches of Burroughs, Kerouac and Ginsberg were interesting...sort of. I loved the artwork, but I could have just read a bunch of wikipedia articles. The writing was often dry (despite the subjects), jokes were corny or forced. I'm not sure who the intended audience was but for much of the book I felt as though someone was trying to beat into my head "THE BEATS WERE REVOLUTIONARY, CRAZY AND TOTALLY COOL" but I already knew that...that's why I wanted to read the book in the first place. The second half of the book was much better, each author and artist pair captured a very 'beat' sensibility that came across in each segment, mostly because few of them said "This happened, and then this other thing happened and then so and so did this". Beatnick Chicks by Joyce Brabner was one of my favorites!
*If anyone remembers me reading this book in 2010 let me know!
*If anyone remembers me reading this book in 2010 let me know!
lindacbugg's review against another edition
3.0
My favorite pieces were about Kenneth Patchen & the Beat Chicks. Who knew Louise Fitzhugh illustrated a book about a little Beatnik girl(Suzuki Beane)before she wrote Harriet the Spy.
nickdleblanc's review against another edition
2.0
Harvey Pekar et al are certainly no journalists. Most of the story telling is perfunctory and it reads as if absolutely no research was done. Frankly, that may have been the case, and if so, it’s fairly impressive that the authors remembered all of this. The art is cool throughout, and it’s a nice outline of who the Beats were including some of the cooler people hanging around the outside like Kenneth Patchen and Diane Di Prima. I have a weird relationship with the Beats. I find a lot of their romance and mythologizing to be a bit overblown and annoying. I never really like Kerouac and Ginsberg can be a bit icky for me, even though he was an impressive community organizer. For me, Burroughs’ writing is far and away the best, and I don’t even mean the cut-ups, just in straight writerly terms, his chops were the strongest—which is too bad considering how shitty of a human he seems to have been. But that’s beyond all of this. The book is fine, good to flip through, probably would be a really great read for someone who wants to learn about the Beats. For someone super into the Beats it would be a shallow retread of everything they’ve known forever. For me, someone who doesn’t care all that much about them with only a passing interest in some of the authors, it’s ultimately forgettable.
ghostofyesterday's review against another edition
3.0
Good introduction to the world of the beats and their principle artists. Though some of the information does become repetitive, the supplementary comics after the central stories of Kerouac, Ginsberg and Burroughs are a nice addition.
sarahpisa's review against another edition
3.0
This one was okay. I enjoyed learning a bit more about the story behind the names that made this movement, authors, poets, artists of all kinds. Each story is designed and told differently, which is one of the things I didn't like actually, the change in pace, in perspective, in graphics. I would have preferred more consistency. In the end, I can put bits and pieces together to sort of get the history, but nothing coherent.
They tried to put so much in such a short volume, the authors sometimes go from one event to the other, living the threading to the reader. Not that I am a lazy reader, but if the beat movement is a topic you have no knowledge of, as I did, you'll find it hard to follow.
They tried to put so much in such a short volume, the authors sometimes go from one event to the other, living the threading to the reader. Not that I am a lazy reader, but if the beat movement is a topic you have no knowledge of, as I did, you'll find it hard to follow.
ifoundtheme's review against another edition
4.0
Reading this was an interesting experience. I wasn't initially sold on it (I think I described it to a friend as "like reading an illustrated index"), but by the end of the book I was fairly moved. I talked about this book a lot while reading it and after, excited by the ideas, the writing, and the influence of the movement.
I've read several of Kerouac's books and few of the other beat poets mentioned. This was a helpful level of knowledge with which to read this book; I think it would be lost on someone completely unfamiliar with beat writing. It might also be too high-level in history for a true scholar of the movement (though likely valuable as homage). Ultimately, it was great context for the poetry and writing I've read, and I intend to read more (this book calls out several titles which I paused to add to my to-read list).
A few interesting artistic choices: The book is broken into rough halves. The first half gives biographies of Kerouac, Ginsberg, and Burroughs– rough and complicated men who I would never hope to meet (well, Ginsberg would be cool), as they are fairly defined by their character flaws. The second half, all by different artists, gives brief vignettes on specific other Beat poets, social movements, and even in one case a publishing house associated with the Beat movement.
The book comes together well as a whole. From the second part of the book, there are a few pieces that stand out: Kenneth Patchem, Slim Brundage (mostly for the amazingly detailed art), Beatnik Chicks (the best piece in the book), and Tuli Kupferberg.
I initially had trouble understanding the choice to write this book in graphic format (for much of the book it felt like a crutch to keep fairly dry information engaging), but ultimately think it works well to showcase the characters. It would also be very short if kept to just the words! As is, this book is quite readable in a day.
I've read several of Kerouac's books and few of the other beat poets mentioned. This was a helpful level of knowledge with which to read this book; I think it would be lost on someone completely unfamiliar with beat writing. It might also be too high-level in history for a true scholar of the movement (though likely valuable as homage). Ultimately, it was great context for the poetry and writing I've read, and I intend to read more (this book calls out several titles which I paused to add to my to-read list).
A few interesting artistic choices: The book is broken into rough halves. The first half gives biographies of Kerouac, Ginsberg, and Burroughs– rough and complicated men who I would never hope to meet (well, Ginsberg would be cool), as they are fairly defined by their character flaws. The second half, all by different artists, gives brief vignettes on specific other Beat poets, social movements, and even in one case a publishing house associated with the Beat movement.
The book comes together well as a whole. From the second part of the book, there are a few pieces that stand out: Kenneth Patchem, Slim Brundage (mostly for the amazingly detailed art), Beatnik Chicks (the best piece in the book), and Tuli Kupferberg.
I initially had trouble understanding the choice to write this book in graphic format (for much of the book it felt like a crutch to keep fairly dry information engaging), but ultimately think it works well to showcase the characters. It would also be very short if kept to just the words! As is, this book is quite readable in a day.