Group Read, April 2015: Drop City

This months Group Read is Drop City by T.C. Boyle. All I know about this one is that it is about hippie culture, and will likely be very different from last months Dictionary of the Khazars!

Oh I didn't actually know that this was this months read. I'm currently listening to it on audio though so that's nice.

I'm only 20% or so through it but it's fun so far. Part of the book is about hippie culture but the other half is set in Alaska with a rather different set of people.

I'm a bit over halfway through this now and I am finding it quite funny. Mostly the parts I'm finding amusing are those the author intended me to but I'm thinking that he probably wasn't expecting me to laugh at some of the Alaskan parts as well. Or perhaps he was, I'm not quite sure.

I know nothing about the author and I'm not going to go and check until I've finished but rightly or wrongly I currently have this image of a stridently right wing republican, loudly declaiming about 'real men' and the virtues of the rugged frontier and how it's important to live free and that 'big government' interferes in everything. Some of his creations comments/thoughts are just classic. As soon a I've finished I'll go and check him out :-) If I find out that he's a peace loving hippy I'll laugh my arse off!

I had such a negative read of a hippie commune book with Michel Houellebecq that I'm avoiding this monthly group read. I have liked other Boyle books that I've read but I just can't face the commune again.

I haven't read Michel Houellebecq so I can't comment. Drop City is proving entertaining though so if you get over your aversion at some point I think it will be worth a read.

I've just finished the first part of the book and not connecting with it - I assume it is meant to be parodying the commune experience as it is not presented as an appealing place on any level, but I'm not seeing any humour in the story at this stage.

I had a quick look at the LT Recommendations and was fascinated to see this connected to The Light of Day which is about a detective obsessed with a convicted murderess, and The Lambs of London which is about a Victorian forgery of Shakespeare's manuscripts - never thought of these two books being connected, and certainly not with what I've seen of Drop City so far.

I didn't look forward to another book on hippies doing drugs but so far (I have finished the first two parts) I like it better than I expected, especially the Alaska storyline. I have no idea where the story is leading, nor do I know the author or anything about him, but I am looking forward to find out.

I don't see any comparison with Houellebecq by the way, whose writing I do like - is it a shame to admit that?!

Finished the book today, and I have to say that for me it improved the further I got in to it. I still failed to see it as particularly amusing, and the connections to The Light of Day and The Lambs of London still baffle me, but I enjoyed it as a exploration of the pros and cons of living on the fringes of society. There are sufficient "bad guys" in the story to keep you on edge. Overall 3.5/5

I finished this a couple of days ago and enjoyed it right the way through. It started out at a 3/5 and worked it's way up to a 3.5/5 at around the halfway mark but it finished by being upgraded to a 4/5 on the strength of it never really losing my interest all the way through.

It was entertaining and interesting from the start but it definitely picked up speed toward the end, had a very wide cast of characters who weren't all completely stereotypical even if the humour lay in many of them being so and the setting/s in the book were also great, seeing as I haven't had any dealings with hippie communes or living wild in places like Alaska.

Good pick.

I also finished it and found it entertaining. I only don't understand the reason for the feud between Sess and Joe Bosky. Did I miss something? For me that storyline was a bit over the top, but the rest of the book and its ending made up for that.

Boyle succeeds in describing all his characters as humans, despite their differences. I could relate to all of them, more or less, that is what I liked most about the book. Plus the descriptions of the scenery, I can visualize the river and its landmarks completely.

Looking forward to finally starting this one!

>10 Simone2:. SPOILER ALERT. Apart from Bosky being an all round unpleasant maniac, the initial dispute was around him using the trap lines Sess had "inherited" from Roy Sender which Sess relied on for his livelihood. Like many small isolated communities the reasons for grievances soon become irrelevant.

>12 puckers: Spoiler Alert!!
thanks Puckers, I must have missed that fact. Therefore, the killing of the dogs and the other incidents seemed a bit too much when you just don't like each other.

Finally got started on this last night and took to it immediately. So far, I'm enjoying the Alaskan community much more than the Drop City community, but maybe we're supposed to feel that way? Hope to finish this evening or tomorrow.

Stayed up late last night and finished reading. I enjoyed it very much - highly entertaining. I liked the ending as far as it went, but I was left wanting an epilogue telling me what the outcomes were of the various threads. **POSSIBLE SPOILER** For example, I assume that Sess and Pamela were good - happily ever after, or so. And I assume that Drop City North dissolved - probably the next summer. But what about Star & Marco? Do they stay in Alaska? Do they stay together? What happens to Norm - does he end up back in California?

Excellent group read book - thanks to whoever suggested it!

I really enjoyed this, especially, as with other readers, I was never quite sure where it was going. Characters were well-drawn and the two settings provided two very different views of life in the States.

I also enjoyed the book, though I'm not really sure why it was special enough to be on the 1,001 list.