Rating: 
Summary: Why do I have to give this book one star?
Review: This rating system should include "0" stars. Even though I got this book at a discount, I still feel cheated. All the "wonderful" and "great" reviews listed here must have been written by Jones himself, his family, his friends, and his agent, (she even identifies herself as the book's agent in her review).
If you want to read about the hippie culture of the 1960's, there are several fine books which are much better than this one. Do a search on Amazon to find them.
Rating: 
Summary: Engaging...
Review: To be honest, I wasn't too sure that I would like this book. The '60s are possibly my least favorite era. (The '70s coming in as a close second, but at least I have some nice childhood memories of life before VCRs, DVDs, CDS, and other things known only by their acronyms. But I digress.) But after a few pages of Mr. Jones' engaging, breezy writing, I was completely drawn into his memoir of his days in the '60s West Coast (another culture completely foreign to me). Gerry, Ginny, Elliot, et al. are drawn with such precision and vividness (is that even a word?) that the reader feels that they, too, are part of this world. And the more I read, the more I found that the time and place of the book didn't matter -- it could have been any time, any place. The charismatic, tragic Ginny might have been Zelda Fizgerald (indeed, she says she wanted to be Zelda), she might have been Marilyn Monroe, she might have been Frances Farmer...it doesn't matter.
Ginny Good is one of the finest books I have read in recent months, on a par with perhaps Michael Chabon's portraits of Pittsburgh in Mysteries of Pittsburgh and Wonder Boys.
Pick it up, read it, absorb it, enjoy it.
Rating:
Summary: Five Stars Easy!
Review: Whether this book is true, partially true, or a complete lie is insignificant. What is significant is that Gerard Jones is a novelist of grand measure. If you want to be entertained, and I assure you this book is entertaining despite "rarany's" recent review to the contrary, by all means pick it up. What you will read is not only a wonderful story colored by an array of wonderful characters, but the brilliance of Jones himself. Ladies and gents, the dude can flat out write. Read it. Love it. Tell your friends to read it, for they too will love it. And when you're done... read it again... the book's narrative excellence deserves it.
Gerard Jones, I tip my literary hat to you.
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