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heatherlou81's review against another edition
3.0
A little too self-consciously groovy, man. I got a little tired of his literary pandering to the psychedelic generation. I never finished it though so maybe I missed something.
aaaleksic's review
adventurous
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
3.25
Honestly don’t remember where I got this one. It was definitely on my list of books to read after I finished Aldous Huxley’s The Doors of Perception, so I think I might’ve gotten it as a Christmas gift from either a friend or family member who knew I wanted to read it next. I didn’t read it right away after reading The Doors of Perception. Honestly, I had completely forgotten about it until now, but I figured why the hell not? I’ve already been reading a bunch of academic books written in the 70s, might as well read up on the LSD movement too.
Similar to The Doors of Perception, this book isn’t written as a singular narrative. There’s accounts from other Pranksters and people who participated in the Acid Tests, poems, and different POVs strewn throughout. It makes for a fun read and I actually found this one to be a bit more coherent and easier to follow than The Doors of Perception. The author does a good job reflecting the emotions and realities lived by the people who participated in the Merry Pranksters or who underwent the Acid Tests, so it’s more than just an account from an ‘objective’ and outsider point of view. The reader is really sucked into the mindset of the Pranksters and how they perceived the world. Honestly there's not much I can say in criticism of it. It does have a very subjective tilt to the narrative and that’s by design, so it’s hard to tell how impactful the Merry Pranksters really were to the scene and how much was exaggerated. Ultimately, though, I feel like a lot would’ve been lost if the author didn’t include that more subjective experience into the narrative. The reader really gets a sense of the psychology of the Merry Pranksters through this book and it’s super interesting to parse through.
Overall I would say it’s a good read. Extremely fun and pretty easy to follow. I wouldn’t say it’s mind blowing to any degree, it’s the kind of stuff you expect people high on psychedelics would say. We gotta live in the now man, times not real dude, I just now discovered we’re all one with the universe- the regular gist. That’s another thing I would say was missing from this narrative, an overall sense of meaning that didn’t just sound exactly like you’d expect a bunch of young people with money on drugs to sound like. Honestly though, I can’t even say that diminished the worth of the narrative in my eyes, it was still fun to follow the hijinks of the Merry Pranksters.
midnight_bunny's review
3.0
Tom Wolfe is like a square trying to figure out how hippies work. It's somewhat entertaining in that regard, but I'm not sure he ever really figured out what makes 'the other half' tick. Anecdotes about the Grateful Dead are pretty much the best part of the book.
scarletcoat's review
adventurous
funny
informative
medium-paced
3.75
A meandering look at the burgeoning acid scene of the 1960s, Wolfe recounts the exploits of Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters as they experiment with drugs, personal veracity, and communites that are largely confused by them. Based on this true tale, Wolfe's use of scene language and sentence structure is influenced by the beat generation, reflecting how the Pranksters actually talked and experienced their journey. A crazy read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse
Moderate: Racism