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Summary: Post Jack Kerouac
Comment: I have really enjoyed many of Jack Kerouac's novels and was looking to explore something along those lines. This all takes place post Kerouac prior to the 'Woodstock' movement in the San Francisco Bay Area/ California. It can be a little difficult at times to read due to the lack of punctuation, but if you read it in a fashion to a person with A.D.D. or on a acid binge (like they were) it makes more sense. A little rambling, but so much fun!!
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Summary: Good, better if you have read "On The Road First"
Comment: Good book. More in context if you have read "On The Road" by Jack Keruoac first.
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Summary: Fascinating to contemplate
Comment: "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" is the second totally drug inspired documentary I have read. The first was Hunter Thompson's autobiographical "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas." That book, to me, was the scariest ever. Wolfe's, however, fascinated me. The difference I think is clear. Thompson was totally under the influence and control of drugs while covering a law-enforcement convention in Sin City. Wolfe is just an observer, not a user, as he follows Ken Kesey (respected author of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," "Sometimes a Great Notion," and other books) and his band of Merry Pranksters on their cross-country drug-soaked bus journey, to their settlement in the hills of California, their deep association with the Hell's Angel's and Jerry Garcia's Grateful Dead, and concluding with their Electric Kool Aid Acid tests before Kesey's escape to Mexico and eventual return to the states and imprisonment. Where as Albert and Leary were interested in the scientific aspects of LSD, Kesey and his bunch were more involved with the fun of it. It's a long book covering over three years of the mid-1960s and is filled with repeated drug episodes. Yet, Wolfe's almost poetic style keeps the book from being repetitious and moving along with the speed of speed. Almost as fascinating as the story he tells is the style in which he tells it. It is filled with hundreds of various adjectives, most of which I had never seen or heard before, but the sounds of the words alone make their meanings clear. On top of language, Wolfe piles unusual punctuation and capitalization to add to the color and sense of his descriptions. And he thankfully adds an Epilogue at the end of his book to tell how he was able to get into the heads of the Pranksters to give a true accounting of what happened. The epilogue turns what could be construed as fiction into non-fiction. I'm glad I read the book. I'm glad I wasn't along on the trips.
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Summary: Interesting and well-written
Comment: Tom Wolfe takes us through part of the acid-movement of the 60's with Ken Kesey (author of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest") and company as they embark on their journey across America to popularize acid. Wolfe writes in a way that sort of makes you feel that you are on acid too. His writing style in this book is very unique and he has an incredible way of describing things which is one thing I really enjoyed. Now I can finally understand what many of those baby-boomers went through!
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Summary: I have an... wait, no... YES! I have an idea.
Comment: This is a benchmark of non fiction. From reading it, one can understand why. This book has an insane and inspiring stylistic prose, but that isn't to say it isn't flawed. I personally think it rambles a bit, repeats itself, but such is the nature of a hallucinogenic experience. This book is now over forty years old and still seems rather fresh. I can't think of a single non fiction article, or book for that matter I have read in my life time that is as wild as this one... maybe "Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas", but that would be the only book comparable.( Ironically, Hunter S. Thompson did lend some notes to Tom Wolfe for this book, as stated in the end.)
Still, in the end, I do think this book has a bit of that "style over substance" thing. In the end, I'm not left with much besides the style. I read about a lot of hallucinogenic drug use, some of which was interesting( see "The Unspoken Thing" chapter) and some of it not. The story was funny at times, and it gave me quite a laugh. But I didn't experience many epiphanies while reading it.
But these people, these Pranksters, sure did have a funky zest for life that is rather infectious. You can certainly feel that much in the space of these pages. This is a fun read, but unless you are a fan of the time and place in which it takes place, it is probably best sticking to alternate and condensed texts on the subject.
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