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kristinbutler 's review for:
The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test
by Tom Wolfe
I’ve always wanted to read this book, have always been fascinated by the early days of the psychedelic movement, and since I moved to Oregon 28 years ago, Ken Kesey was always a bit of a local celebrity.
But I found Tom Wolfe’s 1968 language anachronistic, dismissive, racist and misogynistic. And with the long perspective of Kesey’s eventual decline, the descriptions of his egoic antics just seem kind of sad. Spoiler alert. I’m with Timothy Leary and Ram Dass. Spiritual enlightenment vs. rave scene.
That being said, Kesey, the psychedelic movement, the Grateful Dead and all these influences were so formative in the way California and Oregon have evolved. The permissive drug culture here (both pros and cons) have shaped migration patterns, the economy, cultural mores and individual expression in a unique way.
I often wonder when I contemplate our current homeless crisis (Portland/Oregon #4 largest unhoused population in the nation per last I read) how many people come here for the freedom, that magic bullet, the blissful ideal presented by Kesey and his Merry Pranksters, only to hit rock bottom, with “nothing left to lose” when they wake up (hopefully in a waterproof tent) to a time space continuum sadly rooted in 21st century 3D reality.
Good book for historical reference points. Tough read. But, as one of the characters taking acid for the first time exuberantly points out. “We’re all Heeeere!” Who am I to judge?
But I found Tom Wolfe’s 1968 language anachronistic, dismissive, racist and misogynistic. And with the long perspective of Kesey’s eventual decline, the descriptions of his egoic antics just seem kind of sad. Spoiler alert. I’m with Timothy Leary and Ram Dass. Spiritual enlightenment vs. rave scene.
That being said, Kesey, the psychedelic movement, the Grateful Dead and all these influences were so formative in the way California and Oregon have evolved. The permissive drug culture here (both pros and cons) have shaped migration patterns, the economy, cultural mores and individual expression in a unique way.
I often wonder when I contemplate our current homeless crisis (Portland/Oregon #4 largest unhoused population in the nation per last I read) how many people come here for the freedom, that magic bullet, the blissful ideal presented by Kesey and his Merry Pranksters, only to hit rock bottom, with “nothing left to lose” when they wake up (hopefully in a waterproof tent) to a time space continuum sadly rooted in 21st century 3D reality.
Good book for historical reference points. Tough read. But, as one of the characters taking acid for the first time exuberantly points out. “We’re all Heeeere!” Who am I to judge?