Rating: 
Summary: Trout Whatevering in Wherever
Review: This book really doesn't do much for me. Maybe 10 years ago it might have. This sort of "I'm just going to write whatever I see in front of me and then make a silly non-sequiter out of the next sentence and call it symbolism" is a somewhat lost effort on me. Maybe not lost, but not that effective. I think it masks the reality that the book just isn't very good.I guess there was a time and place for this. The book is from 1967 or thereabouts. Maybe if I was in college in 1967, and I read this book, I would have been thrilled. But it isn't 1967, and I'm not in college. So I trudged through this book and proclaimed, "Whatever." I agree with one reviewer who says, "...you have to keep in mind that at that time, if it didn't make much sense if was always considered good." I generally agree with this. I think it's still true to an extent now. You see this in books and music. If you throw together a completely unfathomable set of thoughts, sounds, or colors, someone is going to say that it's a masterpiece. People will then feel threatened that they don't get it. Dominoes fall and people feel obligated to agree that it's a masterpiece, because they're an idiot otherwise. Whatever, maybe I'm an idiot. But the book's symbolism and abstract ideas are usually either silly or shallow. There are moments when I was entertained. So the book isn't exactly useless in that regard. But as an overall unit, it's lacking in anything other than brevity. Thus, if the obscure metaphor is lost on you, you can try to snare the next one in 2 or 3 pages. So you got that going for you. Which is nice. Unless you're sure you'll like this book, I would pass on it. Otherwise, you'll meander from start to finish and wonder why you read it in the first place, much like I did. I don't see any thrilling reason to read this, so it's hard for me to recommend it to anyone. In the end, whatever. Not my cup of tea.
Rating: 
Summary: The Brautigan to start with
Review: This is one of three collections of re-released Brautigan. It's the best of the three. TROUT FISHING is his classic. It's unlike anything I've ever read. I felt like someone showed me a new way to use words. A reviewer suggested calling his works "Brautigans," as they're an original artform.
IN WATERMELON SUGAR is my favorite of the eight or so Brautigan's I've read. At once funny, touching, nostalgic, smart, insightful...good stuff.
And THE PILL VS THE SPRING HILL MINE DISASTER is a collection of his poems. To have a collection of his poetry thrown in here with these two fantastic books is just icing on the cake.
Brautigan has been called the last of the Beats. Perhaps he killed the Beat movement by pushing it as far as it would go.
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