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Loading... Revolutionaries: A novel (original 2019; edition 2019)by Joshua Furst (Author)
Work InformationRevolutionaries by Joshua Furst (2019)
   No current Talk conversations about this book. 1   Carlie | Jun 24, 2021 |    ) froxgirl | Feb 1, 2020 | no reviews | add a review
In his second novel, the acclaimed author of The Sabotage Café leads us on a long, strange trip through the heart of the sixties and beyond, as seen through the eyes of the revolution's poster child. Fred is the sole offspring of Lenny Snyder, the famous (or notorious) pied piper of the counterculture, and in middle age he hates being reminded of it. But neither can he ignore any longer his psychedelically bizarre childhood. From infancy, for instance, when his parents named him Freedom, he was held up as a model for the new consciousness, not only by family and friends but also by everyone in the burgeoning movement led by his father, who happily exploited having his wife and his toddling, then walking and talking, and finally observant son in tow. Thanks to Fred, this charismatic, brilliant, volatile ringmaster is as captivating in these pages as he was to his devoted disciples back then. We watch Lenny organize hippies and intellectuals, stage magnificent stunts, and gradually lose his magnetic confidence and leading role as the sixties start slipping away. He demands loyalty but gives none back in return, a man who preaches love but treats his own intimates with almost reflexive cruelty. And Fred remembers all of it--the chaos, the spite, the affection. A kaleidoscopic saga, this novel is at once a profound allegory for America--where we've been and where we're going--and a deeply personal and profound portrait of a father and son who define our times. No library descriptions found. |
LibraryThing AuthorJoshua Furst is a LibraryThing Author, an author who lists their personal library on LibraryThing. Current DiscussionsNonePopular covers  
 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyLC ClassificationRatingAverage: (2.83)
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Wikipedia in English
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Lenny was a social organizer of a sort, but it all seemed like chaos and anarchism. He used his own child to spread messages and provoke attention, not seeming to care how dangerous it was. He was narcissistic and egotistical and cruel. He wanted people to be who he wanted them to be. Of course, he could also be fun and spontaneous and depressed and sullen. Time passed and the world moved on without needing him or his causes any longer. When he was arrested for selling cocaine to undercover cops, his concern was focused himself and not his wife or child.
Freedom tells story after story of the ways he was on his own to fend for himself. He wanted to be helpful and to be what his parents wanted him to be, but also kept feeling like a failure. What he didn’t know then as a child but realizes now as an adult was that there was nothing he could do to make their lives better and that there never would be. It is a hard lesson to learn that you are never going to be able to fix someone else, you are never going to get the love from them you deserve, you are never going to get from them the level of attention they give to themselves, and that all of the focus and devotion you place on them will never be returned.