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midnight_bunny's review against another edition
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 against another edition
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
faryewing's review against another edition
4.0
I read this for the first time in 11th grade and wrote a review for my creative writing class. My teacher wondered who had recommended this to me. I'd found it in a second hand bookstore at a flea market and it just captured my attention. This is a tale of the hippie generation, following Ken Kesey and his band of Merry Pranksters adventures as they sought enlightment and transcendence on a psychedelic bus trip across the US. Populated by outlandish characters such as "Gretchen Fetchen the Slime Queen", this novel chronicles a movement that impacted a nation. As far as recommending to others, all I can say is you are either on the bus...or you're not. Enjoy!
Read it and then watch the film "Across the Universe". You will recognize some characters.
Read it and then watch the film "Across the Universe". You will recognize some characters.
codyisreading's review against another edition
3.0
You're either on the bus or off.
I think I had one foot on the bus and one off. Here's the thing about this book: you can see where Kerouac really got his prose style from Wolfe. Wolfe writes in an endless onslaught of word vomit. Which isn't bad, but I think it hampers the book a bit. He notes that he was not only trying to capture the events of the story, but also the mental atmosphere, and that makes sense.
But I get the feeling that the Pranksters and Kesey took themselves (and their goals) a little more seriously than they should have. Kesey kept talking about moving "beyond acid," but didn't really offer up what that meant. Is what they did with Furthur and LSD important historically? Maybe...they might have been the progenitors of the psychedelic movement. But to put any more significance on their actions beyond that seems a bit pretentious. In reality, they were a bunch of acid freaks that toured the country and goofed off, all while thinking they were doing something important that never really amounted to much.
It's not a bad book, because it does give an insiders look at the birth of the acid generation in the 60's. But I don't think I'd ever read this again. Anybody reading this expecting any insight to Kesey's life or his way of thinking will be disappointed.
I think I had one foot on the bus and one off. Here's the thing about this book: you can see where Kerouac really got his prose style from Wolfe. Wolfe writes in an endless onslaught of word vomit. Which isn't bad, but I think it hampers the book a bit. He notes that he was not only trying to capture the events of the story, but also the mental atmosphere, and that makes sense.
But I get the feeling that the Pranksters and Kesey took themselves (and their goals) a little more seriously than they should have. Kesey kept talking about moving "beyond acid," but didn't really offer up what that meant. Is what they did with Furthur and LSD important historically? Maybe...they might have been the progenitors of the psychedelic movement. But to put any more significance on their actions beyond that seems a bit pretentious. In reality, they were a bunch of acid freaks that toured the country and goofed off, all while thinking they were doing something important that never really amounted to much.
It's not a bad book, because it does give an insiders look at the birth of the acid generation in the 60's. But I don't think I'd ever read this again. Anybody reading this expecting any insight to Kesey's life or his way of thinking will be disappointed.
xuaeyaqonavosoi's review against another edition
4.0
troche za dlugie. styl w pyte, ale jednak w pewnym momencie troche powszednieje
jq_247's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
4.0
alishaherndon's review against another edition
3.0
This book gave a lot to my inner hippie but, it did drag on some and could've been shorter than it was. It was also convoluted at times but I'm not sure if that was the purpose since the whole book was essentially a trip.