Hashishi

this is the first tom wolfe book i've read, and i am stunned. i didn't really know what to expect. from the first few pages i thought he was veering into a creative, psuedo-psycholgical analysis of psychedaelia...which he sort of does, but that's just touching the surface.

what this book really gives you is a priceless and ultimately contemporary episode of american history; the psychedaelic movement, and specifically the sheer intellectual hybrid that evolved from it. i knew nothing about ken kesey, the lead character. i just found out from a friend that he wrote 'one flew over the cuckoo's nest' (this fact was stated in the book but it sort of went over my head ). apparently it was written by kesey while he was fried on off-topics and working on a psychiatric ward! i mean, ****!

the parralelles wolfe draws with the 'north beach' hints towards the ultimate and untimely death of the 'hippy' movement (i haven't finished the book yet, so feel free to give me some pointers) by the legislation of various off-topics and the authorities making it harder for them to live the 'perry lane' life...stunning. reading it, for me, is like puzzling the pieces of a by-gone era together. hunter thompson, audus huxley and all those people you've read/know of/feel echo through the pages like ****ing ghosts or something. educate yourself now in a vital and possibly soon to be forgotten episode of contemporary human history and read this book. there will be no regrets

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