I just loved this book. The description of the California and Alaskan scenery is some of my favorite. This is my dream in life. To have been born in the 60's, living the hippie lifestyle. The whole communal living with its good and bad qualities, the music. I think I could have done without the free love though. The story is about a group of hippies living of the land in California who later move their commune up to Alaska because their guru's uncle left him some land up there. Mean time we follow the story of the residents of Boynton, Alaska; some of whom wind up being neighbors of the hippies. Both stories are very engaging and there are plenty of characters to follow. I would just love it if Boyle would follow this up with a continuing tale of these characters. ( )

Richie's Picks: DROP CITY by T. Coraghessan Boyle, Viking Press, March 2003

"Hide, witch, hide
the good folks come to burn thee
their keen enjoyment hid behind
a gothic mask of duty..." --Paul Kanter (1970)

How did Peace and Love mesh with Black and White? How did neophyte
Back-to-the Earth suburban kids relate to the real deal: trappers and other
backwoods individualists who'd never even SEEN a thermostat (no less padded
down the hall on the wall-to-wall to spin one to the right at the first
instant the evening temperature dipped below tee-shirt weather)? And what
were the limits to and the real effects of Free Love?

Besides the fact that I am always eager to read what T. C. Boyle has come up
with next, and the fact that DROP CITY begins just outside my adopted town of
Sebastopol, California, it also caught my attention--when I discovered it a
couple of weeks ago at NCIBA--because the story is set at a commune in 1970.

"...Put your old ladies back into bed
Your old men back in their graves
Cover their ears so they can't hear us sing
Cover their eyes so they can't see us play
Get out of the way
Let the people play
We're gonna get down on you
Come alive all over you
Dancin' down into your town..."

1970. I was a high school sophomore back East, a young antiwar protester, a
founder of the Ecology Club. I read Jerry Rubin's DO IT for an English book
report. It was just a couple of weeks into that school year when Daryl
Dobson came into biology crying because the guitarist Daryl had styled his
wild hair after--Jimi Hendrix--had just been found dead.

Fast forward a few years:

I'm a student at UConn, frequently daydreaming about Northern California
(which I'd never experienced) and lamenting that I'd been born a decade too
late to have experienced the pinnacle of civilization at places whose names
such as "Morning Star" were, even then, eminently familiar to me.

"...Tyrannosaurus Rex was destroyed before
By a furry little ball that crawled along
The primeval jungle floor
And he stole the eggs of the dinosaur
Close your eyes and create the sound
Open your hands and rebuild the ground
We are egg snatchers
Flashin' sunshine children
Diamond thieves..."

But, no, despite having now spent the past 18 years living in a town known
for them (and, indeed, having worked alongside people who were really
"there"), I never did experience that lifestyle. Too much of a worker, I
suppose. Too arrogant, too much of an ingrained political activist. No
matter how many Dead shows I lost myself at, I couldn't relate to the band's
apolitical stance. Instead, I delighted being able to think to myself, "I
told you so!" when they finally switched gears and announced their
involvement in the Rainforest movement. Come on! How the hell can you
contentedly live in Eden, if they're building a nuclear power plant a dozen
miles upwind or dropping napalm on little kids?

"...You unleash the dogs
Of a grade B-movie star governor's war
While you sit in the dark
Insane with the fear of dying
We'll all ball in your parks
insane with the flash of living
I AM ALIVE
I AM HUMAN
I WILL BE ALIVE AGAIN
So drop your f___in' bombs
Burn your demon babies
I WILL BE ALIVE AGAIN..."

DROP CITY has the same problems that (I've since been told by my
"experienced" friends.) really existed at our community's communes: Two
bathrooms for fifty or sixty people. A couple of dozen tourists "dropping
in" for dinner. A handful of hard workers and a hoardful of stoned leeches.
Not to mention "unsympathetic" neighbors and authority figures. I can only
cringe at the vision of the psychedelic circus that Boyle creates at Drop
City, thirty-two years and a couple of miles away from where I'm now sitting,
and the repercussions that so logically follow.

So when they're about to fall over the cliff (actually, when they're
three-quarters of the way down the cliff and the ground is coming up at them
really quickly), the good citizens of Drop City hop on the magic bus and head
for Alaska where you don't have to deal with the (mutter, mutter) fascist
Building Inspectors, and cops and judges and tourists, and draft boards.

"...HEY DICK!
Whatever you think of us is totally irrelevant
Both to us now and to you
We are the present
We are the future
You are the past
Pay your dues and get outta the way
'Cause we're not the way you used to be
When you were very young..."

The hairy, unwashed characters of Drop City (as well as the "neighbors" of
Drop City North) are well-drawn and recognizable without being mere
caricatures. Caring or clueless, funny or somber, bossy or get-along--all
sorts of merging and clashing dispositions and attitudes are present in
respect to work, race, children, sex, drugs, diet, and decision-making.
Standing out amid this impressive and extensive cast of characters are Ronnie
(AKA Pan) and Paulette (AKA Star, goat milker extraordinaire), who together
have made the pilgrimage west from New York. Also notable are a young
Alaskan frontier couple (Sess and Pamela) who are the real deal.

"...We're something new
We don't quite know what it is
Or particularly care
We just do it -
You gotta do it
Open your eyes there's a new word a-coming
Open your eyes there's a new world today
Open your hearts people are lovin'
Open it all we're here to stay..."

DROP CITY is a major work of historic fiction, an incredibly haunting look at
what that Peace and Love stuff sometimes meant, and a book that I'll never
forget. It is unquestionably the most enjoyable adult book that I've read
this year. While this is NOT one that I'll be turning my middle school
students on to, it is unquestionably relevant to older young adults who are
in the process of finding their way while wandering through the shadows of a
war-mongering President, plastic consumeristic idiocy, sexual exploration
(and exploitation), and the latest in drugs.

"...Open it
Open it
Open that door."

Richie Partington
http://richiespicks.com
BudNotBuddy at aol.com ( )

Last time I was looking for a book to read my girlfriend was watching a TV show about California hippies "living off the land" and some Alaskan lady and her son doing the same... whoever produced that must be a Boyle fan. It reminded me that I'd enjoyed this book the first time so I figured I'd give it a reread.
Just as good the second time.
Your usual Boyle fare... I just want to know what happens next! ( )

Boring story! ( )

i'm thinking this is a wonderfully layered book... exploring what it means to belong to any society, and where the line is between compromising for the good of society as a whole & compromising one own ideals ... there are so many things to think about with this book, my favorite brain tickler: who is the tourist & who is actually living here -- living here being a bigger responsibility personally & communally than just existing here. ( )

This was a random, experimental book choice - it was on the 1001 Books list and I hadn't read any T.C. Boyle before so I mooched it as a trial balloon. It was certainly a satisfying read and I'm going to search out more of his novels after this.

This book centres around two drastically different communities in the late 60s/early 70s hippy era: a commune in California and a bush community in Alaska living off trap lines and hunting trips. Boyle carefully sets up both of these communities as opposing ends of the same phenomenon - both, in their individual ways, are trying to drop out of a mainstream American society that they feel no fraternity with. However, that's where the similarity ends as these two are mirror images of each other. The commune may attract tourists and converts but its commitment to living off the land is laughable in comparison to the Alaskans, whose continued existence depends on it. It soon becomes clear that these communities are heading for a spectacular collision.

There is an underlying irony; that the eponomous Drop City community, formed as a means of dropping out of society and living in harmony with the land, finds it impossible to do so despite the visible evidence that it is possible, provided by the Alaskans they live alongside. The longer Drop City remains in the Alaskan bush, the more this becomes a study of the decay and breakdown of a society under pressure created by the reality of living wild in Alaska. It is a symbolic representation of the disintegration of the dream the commune members have, the artificial, romanticised version of Alaskan life they have constructed in their minds. I have seen this book described in other reviews as a comment on the American Dream. If that is the case, then Boyle seems to have penned a fairly damning indictment of those who seek it, implying naivety and unrealistic expectations.

It is a well-characterised and complex novel, certainly not just 'one of the crowd' of hippy novels this period continues to spawn. The question remains, is it a great book? For me, it was a very good book, competently executed, enjoyable and easy to read but it never really crossed the line to greatness. Possibly it suffered from the fact that I didn't really like any of the characters. There was certainly little that really stuck with me from this but it was enjoyable enough that, as I said earlier, I will read more from T.C. Boyle. An enjoyable read but not necessarily a 'must-read'. ( )

The book begins in a commune in California in the late 1960s where a group of hippies of living out their ideals. But factions start to form in the commune and there is trouble with the authorities so they decide to move to Alaska where they hope they can be truly free. At the same time, a young woman moves to Alaska looking for a man to live with out in the wilds. The narrative changes perspective from the point of view of various characters over the its course.

There is a sense of inevitability that things are going to go wrong with the communal living so it isn't the most original storyline, but the Alaska part adds an interesting dimension and you get a real sense of the hardships of these lifestyle choices. ( )

T. C. Boyle is brilliant. Still regret missing seeing him give a reading. First book was Tortilla Curtain then on to Road to Wellville. Drop City turns my whole regret at not having been part of the hippie movement on its head. He's so good at getting right to the heart of the issue. ( )

As with everything TC Boyle, wit, thought and a good degree of meaningfulness are present. Maybe may favorite from him to date, if only because of subject matter. Kinda like the electric kool-aide acid test with sarcasm. ( )

The depiction of commune living here is so vivid as to be somewhat unsettling. The pettiness, irresponsibility, and complex villainy of some characters is highlighted by the patience, determination and righteousness of others, who work to keep the commune afloat through difficult transitions. The climax is, unlike in so many modern novels, both shocking and satisfying. ( )

http://bookcrossing.com/journal/47541... ( )

Beginning in California with a communal hippie fest, the story soon becomes more than peace and love. The author takes a critical look at the hippie movement. A parallel story also occurs in the Alaskan wilderness where a woman longs to live out her years with a wilderness man, living off the land. The stories meet when the hippies are pushed off their land in California and decide to move to Alaska to have a go at living off the land.

This book does not have much of a story. There is no real plot to speak of, no happy or unhappy endings, no real tragedies. Although there are trials and triumphs, the reader does not seem to get to know the more main characters all that well. Everyone is an enigma.

What this book does well is describe. It describes people, places, events, and feelings quite poignantly. What all this description really means, however, remains unknown. Although easy to read and somewhat interesting, the pace is relatively slow and leaves one with the "What is this about?" feeling. What was lacking in story was made up for in description, but it did not feel like quite enough to call this book good; it was OK. It was like a short story gone way too far.

I read T.C. Boyle's, Tortilla Curtain, which I did enjoy, though not love. Having now read two of his books, I think I might retire this author to my "Only If There Is Nothing Else To Read" list. Not that I didn't like this story, I did, but I don't think I could take another tale of good and evil and how easy it is to confuse the two.

One of the annoying things in this book is the author's tendency to use the given and hippie names of the Drop City residents interchangeably. I was always forgetting whose name had been changed to what. I am sure there is a reason for this back and forth between the two names, but for the life of me I can't figure it out.

The ending sort of reminds me of the movie American Beauty. At the end, everyone sort of gets what they want or deserve (and Boyle makes it clear that what you deserve is what you really want), but the reader is left wondering if that really is the case after all. I rather like the ending, which is why this book gets a higher rating. ( )

The California commune attracts too many moochers, cops, and zoning laws, so Alaska looks better. Alaska's not as easy as it looks. ( )

After hearing so much about this book and repeatedly picking it up and putting it down in bookstores, I finally read it and I’m glad I did. T.C. Boyle is fast becoming one of my favorite writers and I’m sad that I didn’t start reading him earlier in my life. His ability to sharply define characters with dialogue, description and action is a finely-honed talent. He pulls no punches and doesn’t solely create people that everyone will identify with or even like. One thing I do like about Boyle, that others find irritating, is the fact that he doesn’t beat you over the head with an idea. He gives it shape and power and then lets the reader draw the conclusion. Some say this is lack of depth, but I don’t think it is because he has no depth, just chooses not to drag the reader down into it.

I really enjoyed the parts that told about life in such a remote and extreme place. It was a bit like little house on the prairie because of the lack of mod cons. Ces and his wife made almost everything they had including the cabin. But they loved it. The garden was a joy. The trapping a job. The dogs weren’t pets, they were necessary equipment. No power or running water either (unless you count the river). Their dependence and independence were balanced and the fact that they opted out was compelling. I was kind of jealous of their ability to confidently eschew most of the modern world. As much as I’d like to strip away all of my dependence on society and all of its mod cons, I cannot. They are too firmly part of how I view the world and how I live. But these folks don’t need that and can leave it behind with a sigh of relief.

The communal hippie lifestyle on the other hand, I have no wistful longing for. A person would really need to be selfless to live this way. To make it work, each person would have to care more about the whole than himself. Because only as a whole can it survive. If each member didn’t suppress her innate selfishness, it would collapse. I don’t have that kind of giving nature. As it turns out, very few did in this story. Sure, when times were good, they were all happy and loving and all was right with the world. But whenever some kind of hardship arose, those other core attributes of humanity came out with a vengeance. People started hording food, acting out violently from jealousy, abusing positions of leadership. All part of being human, but not helpful for a communal society.

And all the drugs were off-putting. How can people even function with that amount of chemical interference? Perhaps that’s part of the glue that holds them together though. Maybe it allows them enough illusion to keep functioning. Maybe it keeps the darker nature at a bay longer. At any rate, keeping a constant supply of pot and other drugs was paramount for the members of Drop City. I thought it would be more of a hindrance in Alaska than it was, but they still survived while stoned, although not as thoroughly stoned as they were in California.

Unlike The Inner Circle, this novel does have a plot, a goal, something that needs to get done. Sure, we get a lot of extraneous detail, but it is a joy to read and Boyle wrings emotion from the reader in many forms; anger, hope, joy and world-weary frustration. That’s what the hippies engendered in me anyway. They made me laugh with their dopey view of the world, but that also made me frustrated. Couldn’t they see what their problem was? They cherry-picked qualities of human nature, taking the ones they liked and leaving the ones they didn’t. Just because they didn’t like deceit, violence or selfishness, doesn’t mean they could escape them.

And they are not the only ones who long for escape. The other half of the tale starts with the small town of Boynton, Alaska. Situated at the end of the state highway, Boynton is about as remote as you can get and still have a road. People who chose to live here are pretty unique. They’re self-sufficient, yet know their reliance on others in the community is the key to survival out there. They want to be free and live off the land, but unlike the hippies who will soon descend, they don’t have any sunshine and bunnies illusions about nature. It is indeed red in tooth and claw.

When the hippies arrive, life soon separates the wheat from the chaff. Slackers take up with other slackers. Soon, light dawns on pot heads that they need to work to survive and work together and that means rules. It means following the rules and they finally get that they have to obey or die. They get their shelters built, some supplies laid and hunker down for the winter. But close-quarters living like this is new to them. It’s 50 below zero and there is no release from the constant chaffing of others’ bad habits. Things boil over, there is a separation into tribes and things get tense.

The natives do their best to help them, specifically from Cecil Harden and his very new wife and another local Joe, a fairly wealthy bush pilot, the sworn enemy of Ces. It is this conflict that escalates throughout and eventually culminates in extreme violence and tragedy, taking one of the hippies with it. In the end, the Hardens stay in Boynton, living an idyllic life for them and have as neighbors and friends, those of the hippie commune who are tough enough in body and mind to stay. ( )

(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com].)

(Just like anyone else who is a lover of great books, I find myself sometimes with a desire to become a "completist" of certain authors; that is, to have read every book that author has ever written. This new series of essays chronicles that attempt.)

So first, a confession, that I still have a long way to go before becoming a completist of author TC Boyle; this is only the second novel of his I've read, to tell you the truth, the other one being The Road to Wellville, possibly his most famous because of the 1994 movie version starring Anthony Hopkins, Matthew Broderick, Bridget Fonda, John Cusack and more. Oh, but what a novel! Who knew that a contemporary author could paint such a vivid picture of events that happened nearly a century ago -- in this case, the formation of the various health spas in the upper Midwest at the turn of the 20th century, which for those who don't know were the groups who accidentally invented our modern breakfast cereals? In fact, this is one of the things that Boyle is most known for as an author; for his meticulous and exacting research into whatever time period he is writing about, and whatever crazy events were happening during that time period. Now combine this with Boyle's ability to effortlessly jump between comedy and drama, his masterful touch as a story plotter, and a personal writing style that is both unique and never manages to call attention to itself, and you've got yourself one very admired and award-winning novelist indeed.

And of the eleven novels that Boyle has now written, arguably one of his best-known ones is 2003's Drop City, mostly because it's about the American hippie movement of the 1960s and '70s, of which Boyle was a part of himself in his own youth (having gotten his Bachelor's degree in 1968, for those who don't know). And yes, just like Wellville, this novel also features a semi-wacky concept to propel the story forward; in this case, it's about a group of young people who start their own "free love" commune at the end of the '60s (the aforementioned Drop City), which gets its start in California after founding member Norm inherits a large chunk of land from a recently expired relative. And yes, just like Wellville, Boyle uses this semi-wacky concept for both humorous and dramatic purposes; to sometimes viciously make fun of how unequipped most of these idealistic flower children are to actually "live off the land," while still legitimately admiring their desire to do such a thing, and arguing why such a desire is ultimately a good thing that all of us should at least partly aspire to.

And of course, this being Boyle, the fun doesn't stop there; about halfway through the book, in fact, the residents of Drop City get tired of all the hassles of being in California (the constant police harassment, the endless hippie mooches), and decide on a whim to move to Alaska instead, where Norm has access to yet more land owned by a relative, a grizzled fur-trapper uncle who has recently retired and moved to Seattle. And thus does Boyle get the chance to expand the story even further, by introducing the existing population of that small Alaskan town as characters themselves, and by hopping back and forth between the two groups' storylines until the moment the hippies actually get to Alaska and the plots suddenly merge.

In fact, it is within these interchanging storylines where Boyle's main strength as a writer can be seen; of the way he is able to not only parody the foibles of both groups, to point out their weaknesses and inconsistencies in a way that's oftentimes hilarious, but also display a lot of affection for both groups as well, and make us by the end fall in love a little with them too, or at least to find both groups compelling enough that we eagerly keep reading, anxious to find out their fates. And this is one of the things I really loved about Wellville too, that I very specifically remember from that book; that Boyle never takes potshots at such groups as a whole, but rather goes out of his way to show that there are varying levels of sanity and insanity in all these groups, depending on which individual within that group you're talking about. Within the extended "family" of Drop City, for example, there are all kinds of different levels of competence (or incompetence) on display, and all kinds of personality quirks that start appearing when the characters are put under stress -- from the older Alfredo, who reveals his secret love for bureaucracy every time the commune faces a crisis, to the drifter Marco, who turns out to be a much more reliable "mountain man" than even he had suspected before joining Drop City.

Boyle has a gift, a rare gift, at making every single character in his books a compelling one, at never lazily lumping these people together personality-wise but rather highlighting all the ways they are different, and of all the conflicts within such groups that these differences inspire. And this is ultimately what makes Boyle such a brilliant storyteller as well -- that his characters are always so human, so deliciously and complexly human, making us literally get sucked into his stories, no matter how ludicrous their settings or plot machinations (and make no mistake, some of the tricks used here to propel the plot forward can get positively fantastical in their ridiculousness). I'm happy to say that, far from being disappointed, my second novel of Boyle's simply confirmed for me just what a smart and entertaining writer he is, a man who can perfectly straddle that line between literary validity and mass-market popularity. Drop City is definitely a book I highly recommend, and I'm now looking highly forward to tackling his next book, whichever that might be. Do you have a suggestion, by the way, regarding which book of Boyle's that should be? By all means, please feel free to leave your thoughts as a comment! ( )

Love the clash of cultures: hippies from California with rural Alaskans. They have more in common that I would have thought. The harsh climate there makes for an interesting character. ( )

http://forreststokes.com/wordpress/?p... ( )

Naïve hippies learn about society when forced to live off the land in Alaska. ( )

Northern CA commune migrates to AK; 2 stories collide; hippies

9.03

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, and chastise outsiders while remaining 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. ( )

So far (halfway through) I am really enjoying this book. It's surprising-- follows two separate narratives, one in Alaska, one in Russian River. I find the writing much sharper in the sections that belong to the Russian River folks (a hippie commune called Drop City-- so well drawn!). It's very funny.

__________

OK, I finished the book a few days ago. Ending was somewhat anti-climactic, and inconclusive. Still, for its incisive look at commune life, a subject I've NEVER seen treated in fiction, this book is definitely worth reading. ( )

This is an excellent novel which seems to me to have no weak points at all. The action is set in the late 1960s, and charts the fortunes of Drop City, a hippy commune in California that is forced by the opposition of the straight world to up sticks and transfer its operations to one of the remotest parts of Alaska, where its leader has inherited some property. The first half of the novel develops two parallel story lines, one following the declining fortunes of the commune, and the other setting the scene in and around the remote town of Boynton - the furthermost reach of mainland USA's road system - where the hippies will eventually arrive. The second half of the novel deals with what happens when they do, and although I enjoyed the twists and turns of the plot too much to give anything away, it will not spoil your pleasure if I say that there is far more to this clash of cultures than a simplistic opposition of locals and interlopers.

The author's style is punchy and direct, and so is ideally suited to the subject, with an omniscient narrator whose tone of exposition varies according to whichever character is prominent in the story. There is a lot of fun at the hippies' expense, but they are not caricatures, for some of them reveal unexpected strengths and talents: one of the pleasures of the book lies in the author's exploration of their multi-faceted personalities. Likewise, although the novel is no advertisement for the denizens, culture or climate of Alaska, we come to understand something of what impels people to live lives of almost unimaginable hardship in hand-built cabins with no services or communications, enjoying a diet of moose and bear and not much else, and where the night of winter is several months long and the temperature regularly falls to 40 below freezing. Having no experience whatsoever of all this, I am quite unable to say how authentic the author's narrative actually is, but I found it totally convincing - parts of it could almost be used as a survival manual!

Although the topography and natural history of Alaska, not to mention its strangeness for most readers, almost require the author to indulge in passages of description, these are always subservient to the development of plot and character, and there are no wearisome purple patches. Indeed, the narration carries the reader along in fine style, the pages flash by, and in an almost unprecedented event I kept away from the internet for 48 hours, every spare moment being given over to finding out what happened next.

Wholeheartedly recommended! ( )