Drop City (edit title)

• Rated 5 stars

“My brother-in-law gave me this book for Christmas, and I saved it for a very long business trip. On business trips I usually leave the books I finish in waiting rooms for others to enjoy. I finished Drop City in a couple of days, and then couldn't stand to leave it anywhere. I've recommended this book to countless people and have read it over a time or two. I particularly loved the contrast between the versions of getting back to nature as practiced by the Hippies and by the Alaskans. This is still one of my all-time favorites.

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• Rated 5 stars

“This book was absolutely amazing. It made me want to try acid. I didn't, but I can't believe how totally docile Boyle made it seem...and at the same time, how totally destructive a good thing can be. Marco as a Christ figure - the consumption of pop culture (Drop City) on society (Pamela) - finding yourself - the impossibility of true happiness - ignoring things won't make them go away - Utopian dream - American dream - etc. The sentences are a little lengthy, but you get used to it. Boyle's similes and metaphors are so vivid and graphic and poignantly perfect. AWESOME.”

• Rated 4 stars

“A crazy story of a hippie commune in Northern CA and the tension between them and the surrounding inhabitants. Again, a dynamic of 2 different worlds with both pulling you in fully. Another great Boyle work!”

• Rated 5 stars

“This book is about two completely different groups of people who, while trying to accomplish the same thing, are going about it completely differently. A group of hippies living in a commune in California are kicked off their land. They decide to move to Alaska, to really live off the land. But the people in Alaska aren't quite ready for this group of wild hippies, and the hippies aren't quite prepared for what's in store for them. It's a bit of culture shock for everyone, and it's interesting to see how the two groups adapt to each other. I thoroughly enjoyed it. ”

• Rated 5 stars

“To Build a Fire meets Been So far Down It Looks Up To Me. This communal group of Hippies are like children, confident and optimistic and totally ignorant and hypocritical. The Drop City inhabitants are a carefree bunch living it up in a California paradise only to screw it up and then move to Alaska, where you just know they are going to fail. In Alaska they meet another type of drop out, the survivalist. Total disaster is avoided as the wilderness becomes a harsh teacher sending some home while converting others to responsibility and hard work. Loved the characters in this novel and this has the best ending of any of Boyle’s books I’ve read. ”

• Rated 3 stars

“Immerse yourself in a hippy commune & its members. It doesn't seem right to call this book a "novel" since there's no real storyline to speak of, just a series of events. I stayed a little tense throughout the book; I felt like anything could happen to the characters - horrible things, great things. Boyle didn't give any more rhyme or reason to his character's lives than life itself would have.

Boyle jumps deftly between a few main characters. Liked this book pretty well overall. ”

• Rated 4 stars

“I wasn't sure I loved this book, but I couldn't wait to get back to it whenever I got home. It definitely held my interest.”

• Rated 1 stars

“Kind of made me feel bad, jaded view of people without significant insight to support the reading experience. I got bored and skimmed the last part.”

• Rated 4 stars

“A book about commune hippies to who to live off the land in Alaska and end up tragically unable to do so. Highlights the inflated "we can do anything we want" vibe of that era - with an interesting story along the way.

Plus: naked butts on the cover? Total bonus! (I fully admit that's why I even picked up the cover in the first place, I'm every marketing genius' target demographic, read: sucker)”