Richard Brautigan's Trout Fishing in America, The Pill versus The…

In Watermelon Sugar reminded me, in a certain way, of the Unthank parts of Alasdair Gray's Lanark in that you're never quite sure if the world it inhabits is our world, an alternate dimension, our world in a post-apocalyptic state, or perhaps the afterlife. And I mention "post-apocalyptic" not because it seems like a hostile wasteland (the world it describes is actually quite magical and beautiful), but because there are hints at mysterious "forgotten things," suggesting that perhaps this is a world inhabited by our descendants--but that is only a possibility, and by no means the point. Like Unthank, this world is a dreamlike one that seems to have its own laws of nature and physics, although in watermelon sugar is a pastoral, agrarian existence rather than an urban, industrial one. I very much enjoyed In Watermelon Sugar, but my favorite section of this omnibus was the first and most famous one, Trout Fishing in America. What really knocked me out was that even when it seems outlandish, it is believable, giving the impression that this was something that actually happened to the author or someone he knows, but then was filtered through a twisted lens of poetic vision. ( )

In Watermelon Sugar reminded me, in a certain way, of the Unthank parts of Alasdair Gray's Lanark in that you're never quite sure if the world it inhabits is our world, an alternate dimension, our world in a post-apocalyptic state, or perhaps the afterlife. And I mention "post-apocalyptic" not because it seems like a hostile wasteland (the world it describes is actually quite magical and beautiful), but because there are hints at mysterious "forgotten things," suggesting that perhaps this is a world inhabited by our descendants--but that is only a possibility, and by no means the point. Like Unthank, this world is a dreamlike one that seems to have its own laws of nature and physics, although in watermelon sugar is a pastoral, agrarian existence rather than an urban, industrial one. I very much enjoyed In Watermelon Sugar, but my favorite section of this omnibus was the first and most famous one, Trout Fishing in America. What really knocked me out was that even when it seems outlandish, it is believable, giving the impression that this was something that actually happened to the author or someone he knows, but then was filtered through a twisted lens of poetic vision. ( )

Richard Brautigan's comic genius and countercultural vision of American life made him a literary idol of the 1960s and early 1970s. He wrote ten novels, nine volumes of poetry, and a collection of short stories entitled REVENGE OF THE LAWN. His books became required reading for the beat generation, and TROUT FISHING IN AMERICA sold more than two million copies throughout the world. read & give away Brautigan committed suicide in 1984 at the age of forty-nine.
Read & then give away.

A lot of hype, not very good: I bought this book after my brother-in-law recommended it but was not impressed. Some of the stories are somewhat entertaining, but most seem pointless or weird for the sake of being weird.

This was read to me in ms form...well, Trout Fishing. I sat there in wonder at the audacity. No story, no conflict, nothing but inventive fun. Lovely man. ( )