jackbowerman's review against another edition
5.0
At first, it's pretty hard not to feel like Wolfe is putting all of his might into emulating Kerouac. And then as you go on and on you realize... it doesn't matter. Yes - he's taken a lot from Kerouac, this book wouldn't exist without him, and it in many ways IS an emulation of Kerouac, but Wolfe has done a damn good job of that.
I have to admit, it took me a lot longer to read than I'd have liked, but I wanted to give the book the focus I think it deserves without just rushing through it. And oh is it wild. Wolfe does an incredible job of expressing the chaotic, syncopated, hallucinatory lives of the characters. It's truly fascinating that this is non-fiction. It reads like fiction written by a nut job.
I'll recommend this book to a lot of people and certainly read more Wolfe.
I have to admit, it took me a lot longer to read than I'd have liked, but I wanted to give the book the focus I think it deserves without just rushing through it. And oh is it wild. Wolfe does an incredible job of expressing the chaotic, syncopated, hallucinatory lives of the characters. It's truly fascinating that this is non-fiction. It reads like fiction written by a nut job.
I'll recommend this book to a lot of people and certainly read more Wolfe.
nicolebeans's review against another edition
1.0
omg that was excruciating i thought i’d never finish. got progressively harder to get through too; by the end i felt like a soldier trudging through a snowy battlefield.
i really wanted to like it and i got some really interesting stuff out of it so it’s not all bad. the ideas were very thought provoking to me but the delivery was too much to bear
i really wanted to like it and i got some really interesting stuff out of it so it’s not all bad. the ideas were very thought provoking to me but the delivery was too much to bear
bibliotequeish's review against another edition
2.0
It's kind of hard playing cello on a hypodermic needle and using a petrified bat as a bow.
I could have gone without reading this book.
I'm not sure if I thought it would be better, or I just didn't like it.
In my opinion it was much longer than it had to be.
I could have gone without reading this book.
I'm not sure if I thought it would be better, or I just didn't like it.
In my opinion it was much longer than it had to be.
sarcasmandscifi's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
2.0
marmoset737's review against another edition
2.0
I'll admit it - I'm way too square to truly love and appreciate this book. Very readable and well-written though.
zenithharpink's review against another edition
2.0
I've been dreading reading this book for a while (try around 20 years), and my dread was well-founded. I liked nothing about this book. I don't find this era of US History particularly interesting, and there was nothing there for me to invest in.
The narrative was oddly impersonal, it was a sort of generic first-person, but there was no real personality, no identity for the reader to partner with. To boil it down, this was lots of acid & hippie shit, though that makes me sound terribly narrow-minded.
Even after this book, I still don't understand the appeal of this lifestyle, what the characters were trying to accomplish (excluding minor goals like, "The Movie"). Perhaps this was due to the near-incoherent language - something like a cross between high AF stream of consciousness, poetry and more standard prose.
I do find it's a little unfair for me to rate this book, as this book so clearly isn't for me, so I'm going to refrain from making any recommendations, except to say that I read this because it's "in the canon" and for that I can't truly regret my attempt to read this book. Also, I've very glad to have it behind me.
The narrative was oddly impersonal, it was a sort of generic first-person, but there was no real personality, no identity for the reader to partner with. To boil it down, this was lots of acid & hippie shit, though that makes me sound terribly narrow-minded.
Even after this book, I still don't understand the appeal of this lifestyle, what the characters were trying to accomplish (excluding minor goals like, "The Movie"). Perhaps this was due to the near-incoherent language - something like a cross between high AF stream of consciousness, poetry and more standard prose.
I do find it's a little unfair for me to rate this book, as this book so clearly isn't for me, so I'm going to refrain from making any recommendations, except to say that I read this because it's "in the canon" and for that I can't truly regret my attempt to read this book. Also, I've very glad to have it behind me.
joniservo's review against another edition
4.0
What a bunch of bullshitters. Nevertheless incredibly interesting & imaginative. I feel like I lived vicariously through their trips.
angelofthe0dd's review against another edition
4.0
I have to admit that this book was a little difficult to get into at first. The writing style is wayyyy out there. At the conclusion of the book, the author admits he was trying to capture the "mental atmosphere" of the era and of Kesey's Merry Pranksters. But, once you do get into the groove of his unique style, the prose etches vivid images of the psychedelic vibe of that era. I cannot recommend this book enough to anyone wanting to peer back through time. In my opinion, Tom Wolfe captures the all the sights, sounds, characters, and (most importantly) drug effects as a group of hippies introduce various social circles and castes to LSD.