hey all just wonderin if anyone's read a book called 'drop city' by t.c. boyle? its about a commune in 1970 (i think) in california. anyway, its an amazing book and he's an awesome writer (also wrote 'budding prospects' which is also good) so just thought i'd let you guys know to check it out if you haven't and you're into reading! take it easy lillyblu x
Liilyblu~ I hate to think that young people will read Boyle's fictional distortion of history, and think it reflects the real life experiences of actual counterculture participants. What a lot of hooey. You should know about the real story of the real Drop City, called Memories of Drop City, written by John Curl. It is available free to read online. http://www.red-coral.net/DropCityIndex.html You should also know that Mr. Boyle stole other parts of his fictional story from the real lives of members of other sixties communities. Please read this page from the Morningstar website. Make particular note of the three book reviews at the bottom of the page by Ramon Sender, Pam Hanna, and Timothy Miller. They will tell you what they think of the ridiculous fiction. http://www.ic.org/morningstar/SPRING2003.HTM
cool, well cheers for that, i'll check it out. yeah i had heard there was a real a drop city. i don't know, i still think as a fiction writer boyle's pretty good. if he's twisted history then that's not so good but then he's writing fiction so... i was more interested in how he writes about his characters and developes them and their relationships with eachother. obviously the communal living theme was what was interesting to me too, and that era and that time and that country is something alien to me... ...well i'll check out the link anyway, i'm always up for changing my mind!
ok, checked out the reviews and take your point. i still reckon as a writer he's awesome, and as someone not involved with the scene and so not emotionally attached i read the book as a work of fiction and therefore that it was going to sacrifice accuracies. but yeah, can see why it would piss you off. i'm sure if he wrote about something i was involved in that inaccuraetely i would feel the same. anyway enough rambling, i'm gonna print out the story of the real drop city and read that. cheers for the info, its been interesting. x
lillyblu~ Yes, I know that Boyle's book is popular. He gave a talk recently at the Claremont Colleges as part of a new writer's series. My objections are that he used the name of a real place and the names of real people, and plagarized thier philosophy (which admittedly was 'free', but a little credit is due). John Curl will probably never be able to publish his writing using the words 'Drop City' because Boyle beat him to the punch in the copyright department. His versions of what happened may make entertaining reading, but has little to do with the intentions and experience of the real pioneers of 60's communal experimentation. If you don't mind me adding to your reading list, I would like to recommend some other things to read about a couple of other famous communes of the era. This compilation by Ramon Sender is the story of Morningstar Ranch, and it's sister community, Wheeler's Ranch. These are two early and influential California communes. http://www.diggers.org/home_free.htm These two writings are by Pam Hanna, an early settler at Morningstar: http://www.diggers.org/most/mstar_chron1.htm http://www.diggers.org/most/mstar_chron2.htm You will notice that these stories, like the communities from which they were born, are offered free for free people. The spirit of this sharing has been violated by Boil's... err Boyle's theft of their names, philosophy, and experiences. Thanks for your origninal post. It finally lit the fire that impelled me to register on Hip Forums and speak out on something. peace ~Birdi
that's cool, hey its been nice to talk to someone who has something interesting to say. anyway i've printed out john curl (and the rest will follow once i buy more black ink!) and i'll let you know when i've read them, although it may be a while as i'm pretty snowed under with uni work at the mo lillyblu x
I read Drop City and liked it. I read it as a fiction, not fact though. I need to check out the other books
I also read the book as fiction. I just doesn't really seem, well, real. It was pretty good, though, I think I'm gonna have to check out the real thing.
yeah you should, i managed to print out the first chapter of the one written by john curl. i still haven't bought any black ink to print out the rest!
