Seek : Reports from the Edges of America & Beyond

Rating:
Summary: Back in Form
Review: After the slightness of THE NAME OF THE WORLD, and the somewhat scattered ALREADY DEAD, Johnson returns to the form that made JESUS' SON such a classic in this collection of articles. The standout is hands-down the last piece on his f**cked-up experiences in Liberia. Also good are the glimpses you get into Johnson's personal life, including his marriage and subsequent honeymoon in the wilds of Alaska, where they try to pan for the gold from which they plan to fashion their wedding rings; the highly disorganized hippie festival he goes to; the bikers for Jesus; his short piece on his brief stint as a Boy Scout. If you're already a Johnson fan, SEEK is cause for celebration.

Rating:
Summary: Desperately seeking something
Review: As the great author and prophet Copernicus again notes, human beings are pattern-seekers. They opt to give up richness of possibility in trade for predictability and familiarity. Even though none of these patterns ever fits any better than Cinderella's slipper fit her stepsisters. Human beings seek rigid, simple patterns that defy and impoverish their dynamic, multifaceted capacity. The one pattern that human beings have locked themselves into is the simple, rigid pattern of "God," even though there are many other patterns to use, including many that better accommodate their fluid, complexity. What "God" this may be is unclear, since they all seem to talk about the same one and since there have been at least 2,500 Gods concocted and documented during human history. Denis Johnson takes us to some of the margins of human society, where the only common theme is a desperate, fruitless, and vicious seeking -- the harshness and the brutality backed up by this ubiquitous "God." If we want to see the inadequacy of this pattern and start looking for better ones -- more congruent with our design and potential -- Denis Johnson's book might be one that begins to open our eyes.

Rating:
Summary: Seeker's Progress
Review: Denis Johnson is that rare and wonderful thing: a lyrical writer with a brain. This is a collection of non-fiction essays he has published over the last 20 years, and it should win him many new fans who aren't familiar with his acclaimed fiction and poetry. The title, "Seek", is well chosen. Johnson presents himself as a seeker after truth, both physical and metaphysical. He brings with him an open mind, an open heart and genuine humility. "The Civil War in Hell" shows his visit to the heart of darkness of the Liberian civil war, where he views along with other journalists a videotape of the torture of the nations former dictator. The funny "Down Hard Six Times", an account of his honeymoon/gold-prospecting trip to Alaska is both a cautionary tale and a celebration of wilderness. The amazing "Hippies" is an exorciating satire of a drug-addled gathering of aging flower-children over Independence Day. He writes an amazinglyly sympathetic account of a Kenneth Copeland "Bikers for Jesus" rally: Johnson, who defines himself as a Christian, finds genuine religiosity among the weirdness. "Three Deserts" has some of the best writing about the American west I have ever encountered (Johnson lives full-time in northern Idaho.) The high point of the book for me is the stunning "The Militia in Me." Here Johnson gets past the hysteria about "right-wing militias" and, without minimizing their anti-semitism and extremism, sees them as within the well-established tradition of American anti-government, pro-freedom orneriness. In many ways, the West really is a different country and Johnson is well-aware of this, more so than many a provincial Eastern writer. This is a terrific book. Buy it immediately.

Rating:
Summary: Seeker's Progress
Review: Denis Johnson is that rare and wonderful thing: a lyrical writer with a brain. This is a collection of non-fiction essays he has published over the last 20 years, and it should win him many new fans who aren't familiar with his acclaimed fiction and poetry. The title, "Seek", is well chosen. Johnson presents himself as a seeker after truth, both physical and metaphysical. He brings with him an open mind, an open heart and genuine humility. "The Civil War in Hell" shows his visit to the heart of darkness of the Liberian civil war, where he views along with other journalists a videotape of the torture of the nations former dictator. The funny "Down Hard Six Times", an account of his honeymoon/gold-prospecting trip to Alaska is both a cautionary tale and a celebration of wilderness. The amazing "Hippies" is an exorciating satire of a drug-addled gathering of aging flower-children over Independence Day. He writes an amazinglyly sympathetic account of a Kenneth Copeland "Bikers for Jesus" rally: Johnson, who defines himself as a Christian, finds genuine religiosity among the weirdness. "Three Deserts" has some of the best writing about the American west I have ever encountered (Johnson lives full-time in northern Idaho.) The high point of the book for me is the stunning "The Militia in Me." Here Johnson gets past the hysteria about "right-wing militias" and, without minimizing their anti-semitism and extremism, sees them as within the well-established tradition of American anti-government, pro-freedom orneriness. In many ways, the West really is a different country and Johnson is well-aware of this, more so than many a provincial Eastern writer. This is a terrific book. Buy it immediately.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant
Review: Denis Johnson's writing seems to be at its best here. Full of simple, beautiful prose, and suspene, "Seek" is enjoyable the whole way through. The stories, or essays if you can call them that, are so vivid that you really get a sense while reading it that there are other people living right now all over the world. I hope that makes sense, but it is really true. Espescially great about this book is how pertinent the news Denis Johnson reported on so long ago is resurfacing again now. Seek gives such a brutal, interesting perspective on Iraq, Afghanistan, and Liberia, all places that we as Americans owe ourselves to know more about anyways. Reading this book fills with me with a sense of adventure I haven't felt since reading the Hardy Boys when I was eight.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant
Review: Denis Johnson's writing seems to be at its best here. Full of simple, beautiful prose, and suspene, "Seek" is enjoyable the whole way through. The stories, or essays if you can call them that, are so vivid that you really get a sense while reading it that there are other people living right now all over the world. I hope that makes sense, but it is really true. Espescially great about this book is how pertinent the news Denis Johnson reported on so long ago is resurfacing again now. Seek gives such a brutal, interesting perspective on Iraq, Afghanistan, and Liberia, all places that we as Americans owe ourselves to know more about anyways. Reading this book fills with me with a sense of adventure I haven't felt since reading the Hardy Boys when I was eight.

Rating:
Summary: Hippie realities underdone in our literature
Review: That's one of the main reasons I really like Denis Johnson. He is an evolution of Jack Kerouac, minus the jazz and plus the confusion. He's a Jack Kerouac who could live a stable life and write about America after making a living on his books. Hippies comprise a large percentage of America's soulful reality. It's there you find the dead-end dreamers and romantics. Hemingway these days is in the Peace Corps or selling LSD on some parking lot. I also like the parts about Africa and Kuwait. Johnson, you can send me a postcard anytime from anywhere.

Rating:
Summary: pure narrative gift
Review: Who could resist writing that sounds like a combination of Hunter S. Thompson and Julian Barnes? These stories delight but also provoke. ... the writing is always snappy: there are no excess words.

Rating:
Summary: pure narrative gift
Review: Who could resist writing that sounds like a combination of Hunter S. Thompson and Julian Barnes? These stories delight but also provoke. Despite the author's avowed stoner tendencies, the writing is always snappy: there are no excess words.