Turn on, tune in, drop out (Mom, did I get that right?)

Finally, Erin's Library has a book to report! Now that the Move and the Cold are in the rearview mirror (mostly, at least), I have been able to pick up a book and get some serious reading done. The choice? T.C. Boyle's Drop City, a novel about two different communities of drop outs.

The parallels between the two are pretty cool. The novel is set in the late 1960s, so one group consists of your stereotypical hippies. And since I know my Ken Kesey and Merry Pranksters pretty well, no real surprises there. Although Boyle is skillful in getting inside the heads of his three hippie protagonists to show that in some ways they are just as square as I am - and that is always reassuring. Their counterparts are a some off-the-gridders in BFN, Alaska. Except for booze, everything is freshly caught, skinned, stuffed, and built. They are self-reliant in a way the commune is not, and their relationship with nature is more authentic. And of course - though I haven't gotten that far yet - these drop outs are about to collide.

When I was first reading, I thought I preferred the Alaskans to the hippies, but as I read, I realized that I didn't. And Boyle isn't setting it up for the readers to identify more with one group than another. At least I don't think so. His real motivations will be revealed later, when Free Love and Northern Exposure come face to face. I can't wait.