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A review by msrommy
Drop City by T.C. Boyle
2.0
I suppose a good summary of this book is "Thoroughly obnoxious and infantile hippies find themselves in Alaska. Hinjinks ensue." Perhaps I'm being childish, but when the most I can say about the characters is that they may be more interesting or sympathetic if a bear eats them, then I really didn't enjoy the book. I know much has been made of this author's writing style (and yes, he does know how to paint a picture with words) but it so did not make up for the fact I didn't care a bit about these people other than hoping they would become bear chow.
How horrible are they? Well let's see...stealing from "the man" is OK, they are too lazy to dig their own latrines in their hippie paradise, their only source of of income is food stamps for the government, LSD laden juice is given to a kid to shut him up, oh and my favorite, pedophilic rapists are given a pass because no one wants to appear racist (the rapists are black). By the time you get to the squirrelly Alaskans, you're predesposed to see them favorably, despite Cess's weird stalking tendencies and Pamela's daddy issues (marrying a guy simply because he hunts the best and reminds you of your wilderness loving papa who got lost years ago, yeah, that's normal), compared to the mess that is Drop City.
I will say this though - partway through the book I did have an epiphany that helped my understanding of my fellow man. The imbecillic utopia of Drop City is to the conservative what the totallitarian regime of the Republic of Gilead (The Handmaid's Tale) is to liberals. The specter of this sort of freakshow becoming any sort of reality is what keeps them up at night. I have a new found compassion in my heart, as a centerist, for the terror of a world filled with people like the ones in this book.
How horrible are they? Well let's see...stealing from "the man" is OK, they are too lazy to dig their own latrines in their hippie paradise, their only source of of income is food stamps for the government, LSD laden juice is given to a kid to shut him up, oh and my favorite, pedophilic rapists are given a pass because no one wants to appear racist (the rapists are black). By the time you get to the squirrelly Alaskans, you're predesposed to see them favorably, despite Cess's weird stalking tendencies and Pamela's daddy issues (marrying a guy simply because he hunts the best and reminds you of your wilderness loving papa who got lost years ago, yeah, that's normal), compared to the mess that is Drop City.
I will say this though - partway through the book I did have an epiphany that helped my understanding of my fellow man. The imbecillic utopia of Drop City is to the conservative what the totallitarian regime of the Republic of Gilead (The Handmaid's Tale) is to liberals. The specter of this sort of freakshow becoming any sort of reality is what keeps them up at night. I have a new found compassion in my heart, as a centerist, for the terror of a world filled with people like the ones in this book.