1985. This book is a satire of the New Age movement (and jogging and yoga and holistic anything and health food and herbal tea) which is funny if you're down on that stuff anyway, or have a sense of humor about its weaker sides. Unfortunately it was marred by racism and sexism to the point that I really didn't enjoy it much. It features a Black drug smuggler and bongo player named Mamba and a Karate master named Yamaguchi, who Mamba calls Gootch. Nearly everyone in the book is trying to smuggle drugs and smoking a lot of pot, but Mamba also talks Black in a way that seems really wrong to me. I'm no expert, of course. And Yamaguchi does ridiculous feats of Karate all the time and otherwise acts mysterious and pronounces his R's as L's which comes out most often as dlugs. The women in the book are the main character's wife and the woman he leaves his wife for. Neither woman is fully developed, one being mostly nurturing and the other exciting if crazy. I suppose Kotzwinkle would say it was a parody, but exactly what is it a parody of? And does it being a parody excuse the racism and sexism? I think not Mr. Kotzwinkle. Especially not in 1985 when I really think you could have known better. ( )

A funny yet sad tale of a man falling for his own PR and losing sight of the important things in life ad truly finishing as a sadder and wiser man ( )