Drop City
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Amazon.co.uk Review
With Drop City, TC Boyle offers proof that he has become one of America's most prolific, gifted storytellers. Set in the 1970s, Boyle entertains readers with the denizens of "Drop City", a counterculture California commune that welcomes anyone wanting to live off the grid, use drugs and practice free love. Boyle sublimely captures the sociology of its rebellious members, who doubt the sincerity or beliefs of newcomers, express some insecurity about nonconformity, chastise outsiders while oblivious to their own hypocrisy. Marco, Pan, Star and other "cats" and "chicks", live hassle-free until dissention and cries of racism mount amid increasing run-ins with the local government (a young girl is raped, installation of a sewage system is mandated, a mother lets her toddlers drink LSD-laced juice). Seeking refuge, the citizens move north, to Alaska, to reinvent their utopia, but soon learn the natural environment is more unforgiving of a lackadaisical lifestyle.
Drop City is funny, evocative and well-paced, shifting between the hippies and the Alaskan locals--primarily Sess and his new bride Pamela (a city dweller who arranged stays with several trappers over a few weeks to determine whom she would marry)--until the two cultures collide. Balanced between plot and character, Boyle excels at describing the physical world and his characters' interaction with it, whether portraying the harshness (or sheer beauty) of the Alaskan wilderness, the simple survival routines of its grizzled inhabitants, or the sounds wafting through Drop City:
the goats bleating to be milked or fed, the single sharp ringing note of a dog surprised by its own hunger, the regular slap of the screen door at the back of the house--and underneath it all, like the soundtrack to a movie, the dull hum of rock and roll leaking out the kitchen windows.Truly American in spirit, Drop City is a strong novel of freedom and the pursuit of liberty. --Michael Ferch, Amazon.com --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Daily Telegraph
‘Writing on the top of his form, he’s produced a satisfying and hugely enjoyable novel’
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
There are two strands to this book, the hippy bit and the Alaska bit. They weave nicely together. I found the hippy section twee, so hold on till you get to Alaska. I've read T.C. Boyle's short-stories, which are somewhat negative, but this book finds a nice balance. My literary siblings characterise this book as a satire, but I think the writing places nature, character and survival at the centre. There are parallels with Jack London.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This might not be the greatest novel you'll ever read but it is a gripping story - the story of what "tune-in turn-on drop-out" really meant. Star (real name Paulette) leaves home with her boyfriend Pan (real name Ronnie) to join a commune - a farm where anything goes. Star is in her element at first: she milks the goats, learns how to make cheese, helps with the cooking, sleeps with the cats. No, the cats, man, you dig? After a while, however, doubts creep in and in between smoking a lot of hash and definitely inhaling, Star begins to question how free some of the `freedoms' really are.
This story pauses for a while and we learn about Cess who lives in the wilds in Alaska, and has answered an advertisement to be considered in a three-way competition as a husband. This process is successful for him, but this is by no means as straightforward as it sounds as a deeply-held set of resentful feelings is unearthed. Meanwhile, the commune has come up against the law in California and the rest of the novel is about how the commune comes to Alaska in a big yellow bus, (posing at the Canadian border as the entourage and members of The Grateful Dead) and what happens to them and some of the inhabitants of the semi-hostile township, near which Cess and his new wife Pamela live, and where the commune settles. There are a number of entertainingly rendered personalities among the commune members, all of whom are subtly and often brilliantly developed, and there is a gripping sub-plot in the feuding Alaskans.
I read this book non-stop - it is a lot of fun as well as genuinely rooted in its time and place. Immensely enjoyable.
This story pauses for a while and we learn about Cess who lives in the wilds in Alaska, and has answered an advertisement to be considered in a three-way competition as a husband. This process is successful for him, but this is by no means as straightforward as it sounds as a deeply-held set of resentful feelings is unearthed. Meanwhile, the commune has come up against the law in California and the rest of the novel is about how the commune comes to Alaska in a big yellow bus, (posing at the Canadian border as the entourage and members of The Grateful Dead) and what happens to them and some of the inhabitants of the semi-hostile township, near which Cess and his new wife Pamela live, and where the commune settles. There are a number of entertainingly rendered personalities among the commune members, all of whom are subtly and often brilliantly developed, and there is a gripping sub-plot in the feuding Alaskans.
I read this book non-stop - it is a lot of fun as well as genuinely rooted in its time and place. Immensely enjoyable.
11 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I liked the funky cover of this book (two hippies cavorting in the grass), opened it up and discovered I liked the opening sentence even more. Set in 1970, the book charts the meandering journeys of a hippie commune as they’re thrown out of the Californian sunshine into the wilderness of Alaska. The Age of Aquarius is coming to an end, as the differing wills and motives of the commune members surface.
Somehow, the book reminded me of Lukas Moodysson’s film “Together”. Boyle’s take on the far-out philosophies of year ’68 is just as gentle but satirical, though with a more violent twist to it. It doesn’t take long before the story has got you hooked: especially the build-up to the culture clash between the hapless hippies and the outback trappers is terrific. My one criticism is that sometimes plot lines seem to peter out into nothing, which is a shame since most of them could have been developed into something cool.
But hey, what does that matter? Overall, this is a groovy read, man.
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