Memoirs of a Beatnik

Rating:
Summary: An exceedingly important book from the era
Review: This book is important because it is arguably THE book that defined the role of the female beatnik during the 50s and 60s - free spirit, roaming, finding your own path, etcetera. Even though I have read it through a couple of times though, I must say that the actual structure of the book is lacking something. I would have liked to have read more about her mental interactions with people rather than simply her physical ones - After all, the Beat generation was so much more than simply the birth of the free love movement. Big thumbs up to di Prima for being so blaringly honest, though.

Rating:
Summary: Exceptional
Review: This book is not only a wonderful window into the feminine side of the Beat movement - but also a wonderful way to experience (however vicariously) what Di Prima felt, all of the emotions involved in learning who you are as a woman.

Of course there is sex, she gives a depiction of what truly mattered to her as a young woman: the poetry, the culture, the poverty, the sex. This book is not pornography, it's an experience unlike any you'll find in the literary world of today.