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kingfan30's review against another edition
3.0
When I first picked this book up I got a bit of a quizzing from hubby as he took one look at the cover and wondered what on earth I was reading 😂 It did as a result make me quite conscious of how I left it on my desk at work!
I think this may well be my first book based during the hippy era, and at first I wasn't quite sure I would enjoy it. The whole laziness of them in their Californian commune was pretty disgusting really and it's no wonder the authorities wanted them moved on. The other part of the story based in Alaska was fairly interesting, how they had to grow and store as much as they could while the weather was good to make sure they had enough to get through winter. Of course the two parts of the story come together eventually with some interesting consequences.
It wasn't a bad story, but it did seem to take me an age to get through it, at times I couldn't muster up the enthusiasm to pick it up.
I think this may well be my first book based during the hippy era, and at first I wasn't quite sure I would enjoy it. The whole laziness of them in their Californian commune was pretty disgusting really and it's no wonder the authorities wanted them moved on. The other part of the story based in Alaska was fairly interesting, how they had to grow and store as much as they could while the weather was good to make sure they had enough to get through winter. Of course the two parts of the story come together eventually with some interesting consequences.
It wasn't a bad story, but it did seem to take me an age to get through it, at times I couldn't muster up the enthusiasm to pick it up.
barbn's review against another edition
3.0
Drop City begins by alternating between two stories - the story of Drop City, a hippie community in CA, and a newly married couple, Sess and Pamela Harder, living in the Alaska wilderness in 1970. The stories eventually intersect when Norm, the leader of Drop City, gets in legal trouble and decides to move his hippie community north to his uncle's property in Alaska.
Both groups of people - those living in the Alaska wilderness and those at Drop City - were living alternative life-styles of their own. And, it didn't take a rocket scientist to predict that Sess and Pamela were better suited to survive in the Alaska wilderness than the people of Drop City. It was always clear which people would implode and which would survive; that was no surprise.
I still kept listening, though, in bits and pieces for more than five months. Honestly, I wanted to hear what ridiculous thing would happen to the hippies next.
Both groups of people - those living in the Alaska wilderness and those at Drop City - were living alternative life-styles of their own. And, it didn't take a rocket scientist to predict that Sess and Pamela were better suited to survive in the Alaska wilderness than the people of Drop City. It was always clear which people would implode and which would survive; that was no surprise.
I still kept listening, though, in bits and pieces for more than five months. Honestly, I wanted to hear what ridiculous thing would happen to the hippies next.
frizzella's review against another edition
3.0
Nothing like a book about a commune to get you through a slow class. Great book, fantastic characters. The book was constantly moving, never was there a moment when I was left waiting for something interesting to happen(alright maybe once or twice, but I have yet to come across a book that has absolutely no stand-still moments). My main interest in this book came through the characters, which I already deemed fantastic. Which they truly are. I recommend to anyone looking for an interesting read.
kirstiecat's review against another edition
4.0
I really wanted to like this more and upon pondering all of the novels I have read by T.C. Boyle thus far, I am kind of wondering if I just started out with the one that had the most interesting topic to me, Talk Talk. Suffice it to say, I'd rather read about the frustrating experience of being a deaf woman in America and having your identity stolen then a bunch of hippies who move from California to Alaska and their adventures. Boyle always does enough research and he recaptures the energy and the issues of that time both the anti war and the anti hippie sentiments, the irresponsible drug use, the racism that reared it's head more obviously than it does in our present day, the "free love," the lawlessness within the community, how things break down over time. Though, honestly, what TC Boyle does best above all is what he always does best, which is simply be a great writer. He's an incredible one and when he writes you can't help but be more interested in the story even if it isn't your thing.
Well, this one isn't going to change your life. It isn't going to change your perception of the time, unless starting from a place of ignorance. If you like to read about this time period and if you appreciate great writing, you'll like the book. There's a rawness he captures and even a baseness in humanity that seems awfully realistic. Boyle shows his talent in the way he explores all kinds of people in his novels and how drastically different his full and shorter length stories can be.
Some quotes I like:
pg. 1 "The morning as a fish in a net, glistening and wriggling at the dead black border of her consciousness, but she'd never caught a fish in a net or on a hook either, so she couldn't really say if or how or why."
pg. 30 "In the morning, which came hurtling out of the sky like a Russian missile aimed straight at his brain, Pan opened his eyes on the stiff tall grass and the golden seedheads dropping over him as if he were already dead and decomposing. "
pg. 39 "Like Leda maybe, Leda all wrapped in feathered glory, Leda and the Swan. That had been her favorite poem in Lit class, and she'd read it over and over till it was part of her, all that turmoil and fatality spinning out of a single unguarded moment, and that was something, it was, but what made her face burn and her fingers tingle was the weirdness of the act itself. Picturing it. Dreaming it. The flapping of the wings, the smell, the violence."
pg. 49 "...the county health inspector would have plenty to say and it wouldn't reflect a higher consciousness either."
pg. 160 "It felt like the middle of the night, but it was light out, and for the life of her she couldn't have said whether it was dawn or dusk. The light had no source, direction-it just held, as gray and dense as water, and the limbs of the oak were suspended in it like the superstructure of a dream.:
pg. 207 "When Pamela stepped in the door, there was nobody in the place, though it was ten 'clock in the morning and people were moving up and down the street outside like bloodclots working their slow way through the veins of the town."
pg. 257 "Nothing's the way you picture it," Star said. "The mind creates its own reality, and how could the real and actual thing ever match that? It's like a movie compared to a cartoon."
...
"Or a book," Maya said. "A book compared to a movie."
pg. 315 "...because it would be nice to get a letter once in a while, to correspond, to reaffirm that there was a world out there beyond the cool drift of the river. As she went back up the hill with the laden plate the polar sun reached out and pinned her shadow to the ground."
pg. 417 "The moon was a terrifically heavy thing as he crouched there beneath it-unsupportable, that moon, crushing..."
Well, this one isn't going to change your life. It isn't going to change your perception of the time, unless starting from a place of ignorance. If you like to read about this time period and if you appreciate great writing, you'll like the book. There's a rawness he captures and even a baseness in humanity that seems awfully realistic. Boyle shows his talent in the way he explores all kinds of people in his novels and how drastically different his full and shorter length stories can be.
Some quotes I like:
pg. 1 "The morning as a fish in a net, glistening and wriggling at the dead black border of her consciousness, but she'd never caught a fish in a net or on a hook either, so she couldn't really say if or how or why."
pg. 30 "In the morning, which came hurtling out of the sky like a Russian missile aimed straight at his brain, Pan opened his eyes on the stiff tall grass and the golden seedheads dropping over him as if he were already dead and decomposing. "
pg. 39 "Like Leda maybe, Leda all wrapped in feathered glory, Leda and the Swan. That had been her favorite poem in Lit class, and she'd read it over and over till it was part of her, all that turmoil and fatality spinning out of a single unguarded moment, and that was something, it was, but what made her face burn and her fingers tingle was the weirdness of the act itself. Picturing it. Dreaming it. The flapping of the wings, the smell, the violence."
pg. 49 "...the county health inspector would have plenty to say and it wouldn't reflect a higher consciousness either."
pg. 160 "It felt like the middle of the night, but it was light out, and for the life of her she couldn't have said whether it was dawn or dusk. The light had no source, direction-it just held, as gray and dense as water, and the limbs of the oak were suspended in it like the superstructure of a dream.:
pg. 207 "When Pamela stepped in the door, there was nobody in the place, though it was ten 'clock in the morning and people were moving up and down the street outside like bloodclots working their slow way through the veins of the town."
pg. 257 "Nothing's the way you picture it," Star said. "The mind creates its own reality, and how could the real and actual thing ever match that? It's like a movie compared to a cartoon."
...
"Or a book," Maya said. "A book compared to a movie."
pg. 315 "...because it would be nice to get a letter once in a while, to correspond, to reaffirm that there was a world out there beyond the cool drift of the river. As she went back up the hill with the laden plate the polar sun reached out and pinned her shadow to the ground."
pg. 417 "The moon was a terrifically heavy thing as he crouched there beneath it-unsupportable, that moon, crushing..."
rah's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
informative
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
edboies's review against another edition
3.0
After seeing an interview with the author years ago (what an ass) I swore I would never read another book by him again. However, I couldn't stop myself from reading this. It was pretty damn entertaining and involving. I felt the characters could have been more filled out. Also, the author does this thing where he rushes the writing on action based scenes so quickly and then nothing happens when really something should have. So whenever he pulls out this trick again the suspense is gone.
showlola's review against another edition
4.0
Accessible and fast paced story of a hippie commune headed to Alaska and the homesteaders they meet there. I've been needing to read something with a straightforward narrative structure, and this really worked for me.
Some things about how it all ended up didn't sit right with me, abd I can't wait to discuss those things at genre X tonight...
Some things about how it all ended up didn't sit right with me, abd I can't wait to discuss those things at genre X tonight...
moxiedoll's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars. Solid writing, I just didn't find it terribly compelling.
sallyhatchet's review against another edition
4.0
This is one of those novels that I find difficult to rate, or to gauge my feelings on in any concise way. I definitely think that, if nothing else, it is an interesting read. I have certainly not read anything like it before. Initially, I had trouble getting interested because I was taken aback by the change in character perspective and then the location, but after about 150 pages things really picked up. One thing I do like is that we see how several of the characters thoughts about themselves and companions are reflected and confirmed or disproved by the other character's personal opinions. Had the entire novel been from say, Star's perspective, I would not have appreciated the things that made life difficult for Ronnie who, while still pretty despicable, becomes at least marginally forgivable when we are let into his often muddled chain of thoughts. The main thing I was unhappy with was the ending, I wish there would have been a tad more closure- not that I needed to necessarily know every detail of what happens to all of the characters but the ending was especially abrupt to me. Overall I would still recommend it, especially if like me the idea of living with the elements either in the hippie lifestyle or the rough Alaskan model is totally alien to you.