Drop City: A New York Times Bestseller - Softcover

Boyle, Tom Coraghessan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0142004286 ISBN 13: 9780142004289

Publisher: Penguin LCC US, 2004

Synopsis

Jest rok 1970, czas rozkwitu ruchu hippisowskiego. W slonecznej Kalifornii na ogromnej, zapuszczonej farmie powstaje komuna dzieci kwiatów. Mlodzi, bajecznie kolorowi ludzie zatracaja sie w rock and rollu, eksperymentuja z narkotykami, wierza w pokój i wolna milosc. Dla Gwiazdy, bylej nauczycielki, dziewczyny, która porzucila mieszczanska egzystencje komuna Drop City jest utopia, przestrzenia nieskalana nakazami, materializmem i hipokryzja zewnetrznego swiata. Lecz choc czas w Drop City odmierzaja jedynie zachody slonca, wrózby I-ching i wypalone jointy, Gwiazda szybko orientuje sie, ze wspólistnieja one z rywalizacja i zazartymi konfliktami, które zagrazaja wspólnocie. Równoczesnie, w malutkiej osadzie na Alasce mieszka traper i pionier Sess Harder z zona Pamela. W przeciwienstwie do hippisów Sess rzeczywiscie zyje z ziemi, poluje i lowi ryby. Gdy Sess i Pamela przezywaja malzenska sielanke, kalifornijska komuna przezywa kryzys. Szeryf, inspekcja sanitarna oraz konserwatywni mieszkancy domagaja sie zamkniecia farmy. Norm, przywódca grupy postanawia przeniesc komune na Alaske. Banda wyrosnietych hippisów z gitarami, kozami i psami wyrusza zóltym autobusem szkolnym na spotkanie z bezlitosna zima, dzika przyroda i hermetycznymi mieszkancami Alaski. Dopiero tutaj, te duze dzieci straca swoja niewinnosc. Powiesc T. C. Boyla mówi o niewinnym marzeniu jakim byl ruch hippisowski i o stopniowej degradacji wznioslych, choc naiwnych idealów dzieci kwiatów.

About this title

Review:

With Drop City, TC Boyle offers proof that he has become one of America's most prolific, gifted storytellers. 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, chastise outsiders while 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.

Drop City is funny, evocative and well-paced, shifting between the hippies and the Alaskan locals--primarily Sess and his new bride Pamela (a city dweller who arranged stays with several trappers over a few weeks to determine whom she would marry)--until the two cultures collide. Balanced between plot and character, Boyle excels at describing the physical world and his characters' interaction with it, whether portraying the harshness (or sheer beauty) of the Alaskan wilderness, the simple survival routines of its grizzled inhabitants, or the sounds wafting through Drop City:

the goats bleating to be milked or fed, the single sharp ringing note of a dog surprised by its own hunger, the regular slap of the screen door at the back of the house--and underneath it all, like the soundtrack to a movie, the dull hum of rock and roll leaking out the kitchen windows.

Truly American in spirit, Drop City is a strong novel of freedom and the pursuit of liberty. --Michael Ferch, Amazon.com

Review:

'Acutely observed and perfectly pitched, this exhilarating novel rides emotional cross-currents like a raft on rapids’ -- Time Out

'Boyle is America's most acerbic, catastrophist-realist writing today ... Full of pure invention. A glorious read’ -- Scotsman

‘Blistering take on 70s utopianism from one of America’s greatest contemporary storytellers. The hippie dream laid bare, and then some’ -- Uncut

‘Riveting ... lays bare the raw reality behind the city-dweller’s romantic dream of living at one with nature’ -- The Times

‘Writing on the top of his form, he’s produced a satisfying and hugely enjoyable novel’ -- Daily Telegraph

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin LCC US
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0142004286
• ISBN 13: 9780142004289
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 528