Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Quirky read. , 5 Aug 2008
This is one of the quirkiest books I've ever read. It's about a lonely guy who works in an obscure library that's purpose is to home for all the books that have never been published. The novel is filled with extraordinary characters that Brautigan somehow makes believable. The books contained in the library have been written by random people, amongst them are children who submit tales told in crayon about their toys; teenagers who have written about their problems and worries, and elderly folk who've written their memoirs. All of these books are not shelved in the traditional Dewey Decimal System, but by placement on whichever shelf the author feels happiest with. Eventually the librarian meets a beautiful but insecure woman and they fall in love. She becomes pregnant and they travel to Mexico to get an abortion. At this point you have to remember the book was written in the 1960s and points of view were vastly different then. Brautigan created a surreal world with this novel, full of whimsy and offbeat humour. It's an amazingly creative piece of writing and one that I will never forget.
I believe that the `Brautigan Library' now actually exists and is housed in the San Francisco Public Library .
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brautigan is for writers!, 1 April 1997
By A Customer
When you get taking yourself much too seriously, either as
a writer or as just a human being, pick up anything by
Richard Brautigan. He'll delicately shake you from your rigid thinking, point out the delicious ironies of how we all behave. I found great hope when I first picked up these stories - hope that I could tell my stories, too. Brautigan looks straight on at some of the most difficult things, doesn't get his panties in a bunch over form and structure, and makes me laugh out loud in public places, shrug, and go on about life that much lighter!
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brautigan at his best and sadly, his last., 9 April 1997
By A Customer
The concept of the narrator's employment in "Abortion" is incredibly genius, original and truly "BRAUTIGAN": A librarian for a library of self-published authors, books are "checked in" sort of like the Library of Congress, cataloged, documented and shelved, usually forever. But the Narrator reads most of the books. The overall description of these characters from "The Abortion" is that they are all losers, trapped in this life; however, they are all longing and yearning for something more. Most of the "cameo appearances" are writers, looking for an audience and wanting to feel important. There is a sense of unfulfillment, an unanswered desire, and sometimes a burning urge for more MEANING in life in all of Brautigan's work. His atmospheres can be funny, awkward and really just plain sad.
So the wind won't blow it all away is the perfect ending to his career. The narrator has matured, become disillusioned about life, our political systems, our country, our promise to ourselves as youths, the passing of an era, and his own inability to MAKE A CHANGE. It is most important when reading Brautigan to realize that this man was probably the living breathing MOLD that all other hippies, yippies, counter culture gurus, flower children, etc were made. Brautigan, "the gentle poet of the young," watched his audience of readers grow up, stop caring, become part of the ESTABLISHMENT, get jobs, make careers, raise families, get haircuts, be responsible, drive station wagons, and put this country on the path to where we are now and oh yes, they quit buying his books as well. He noticed the sadness in all of life, not just his. Brautigan had always recognized this in his writing, but he never called by name...being human.
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