- Paperback: 144 pages
- Publisher: Arrow Bks.; n.e. edition (2 April 1987)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0099391201
- ISBN-13: 978-0099391203
- Product Dimensions: 19 x 12.4 x 1 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,062,036 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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12 reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Eccentric brilliance
5 Mar 2003
Format:Paperback
If Salvatore Dali, Erik Satie, Ernest Hemingway, The Marx Brothers, Edgar Allan Poe and Sam Peckinpah ever collaborated on a work of brilliant eccentricity, then Richard Brautigan's bizarre, playful and throughouly entertaining novel The Hawkline Monster could have resulted from such a marriage made in surrealist heaven.
As the subtitle suggests, The Hawkline Monster is a gothic western loosely set at the turn of the twentieth century near The Dalles Oregon. It concerns two moronic hit men cut of silent film comedy cloth, a set of spinster twins harboring deep sexual desire, an aged "Lurch" like butler and an "Id" monster of imagined horror. And this is just scratching the surface of Brautigan's finest novel.
Brautigan is an aquired taste. One can easily apply the adjectives "elliptical", "ambigious" and "pretentious" when describing his work. Granted too, the short story and the poem were always his strongest format.
But Brautigan is never boring. His prose while fearless if a bit reckless never fails to paint unique images. Yes, while it is true that Brautigan frequently comes off as a prepubescent boy writing to stimulate his bubbling loins, he does balance it with a sincere ability to turn a phrase and capture a moment that could only exist in a fevered imagination. Brautigan was a unique voice now tragically silent.
It also passes a unique piece of criteria I have for any good book. It has to be read. This book is not filmable in any way. Thank God for that. Far too often, authors write with lucrative film rights dancing in their eyes. It is sad, yet strangely fortunate that Brautigan died before major prepackaged film deals completely nearly crippled the written word.
For those who enjoy taking literary risks without any guarantees, The Hawkline Monster comes highly reccomended. It is a fun, haunting and one of a kind way to spend a dark and stormy weekend.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
The book is enchanting, though widely unappreciated.
6 Aug 1997
Format:Paperback
In discussions, I have been told the Hawkline Monster is crude and wandering - senseless at times. Perhaps it is a look at a world, especially the world of popular TV fiction, that is just that. The story blends several popular soap-style themes with a delightful study of human tendencies portrayed with humor - the cumpulsive counting, for example. And the sexual fantasy and language that sometimes cause a stir are hardly pornography. The book laughs at pornography and, I think, the use of four-letter words sometimes relied upon to sell books.
The Hawkline Monster is a gem in the right light. I can, however, see where some under different lighting and perhaps a narrow perspective find the book trashy. It is a must for those with curiousity, social perspective and a sense of humor.
The Hawkline Monster is a gem in the right light. I can, however, see where some under different lighting and perhaps a narrow perspective find the book trashy. It is a must for those with curiousity, social perspective and a sense of humor.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
The Hawkline Monster - imagery goes on forever
28 Dec 2008
Format:Hardcover
It was over 25 years ago I read 'the Hawkline Monster', and -like 'Jitterbug Perfume' by Tom Robbins- it has 'haunted' me all these years, years filled with reading hundreds and hundreds of other books from classics to sci fi to suspense to fantasys, each trying to out do the last with inventiveness and quirks. Yet despite the strength of many of them, even today the Hawkline Monster always nonchalantly steps through with a memory unique and all its own. I am looking for another copy now - the last mysteriously disappeared long ago. I can't wait!
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