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Drop City
Drop City | T Coraghessan Boyle, Boyle T C
10 posts | 30 read | 12 to read
T.C. Boyle has proven himself to be a master storyteller who can do just about anything. But even his most ardent admirers may be caught off guard by his ninth novel, for Boyle has delivered something completely unexpected: a serious and richly rewarding character study that is his most accomplished and deeply satisfying work to date. It is 1970, and a down-at-the-heels California commune has decided to relocate to the last frontier-the unforgiving landscape of interior Alaska-in the ultimate expression of going back to the land. The novel opposes two groups of characters: Sess Harder, his wife Pamela, and other young Alaskans who are already homesteading in the wilderness and the brothers and sisters of Drop City, who, despite their devotion to peace, free love, and the simple life, find their commune riven by tensions. As these two communities collide, their alliances shift and unexpected friendships and dangerous enmities are born as everyone struggles with the bare essentials of life: love, nourishment, and a roof over one's head. "Drop City" is not a satire or a nostalgic look at the sixties, though its evocation of the period is presented with a truth and clarity that no book on that era has achieved. This is a surprising book, a rich, allusive, and nonsentimental look at the ideals of a generation and their impact on today's radically transformed world. Above all, it is a novel infused with the lyricism and take-no-prisoners storytelling for which T.C. Boyle is justly famous.
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review
Billypar
Drop City | T Coraghessan Boyle, Boyle T C
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Pickpick

A California hippie commune is forced to relocate to the Alaskan wilderness with promises from their leader of a paradise awaiting (one guess if that comes true 🙂). Features memorable characters and insights into how society can break down despite the best intentions. This was on my TBR shelf for years: maybe knowing I'd have this cover out in public deterred me. No naked flower formations in the novel btw...not sure who came up with that! 🤷‍♀️

Leftcoastzen I liked this book and T.C. Boyle in general. 5y
Billypar Actually, just realized the cover design is credited along with the photo itself, so we know exactly whose idea it was: Paul Buckley, now a Senior VP at Penguin. Interesting interview here: http://www.casualoptimist.com/blog/2009/09/21/paulbuckley/ It links to his website with his 'greatest hits', which has a ton of famous covers (including the b&w illustrated 'We Have Always Lived in the Castle'). The Drop City cover wasn't among them 😁 5y
Billypar @Leftcoastzen It was my first Boyle, but I would read more from him ... do you have a favorite? 5y
See All 6 Comments
Leftcoastzen I haven‘t read everything,the reviews are kind of on both ends on this one but I think he was on to something 5y
Billypar @Leftcoastzen Thanks for the rec- stacked it. 5y
Blaire This sounds good. #stacked 5y
45 likes1 stack add6 comments
blurb
jillrhudy
Drop City | T Coraghessan Boyle, Boyle T C
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Naked hippies form a crater in this cover of Drop City. One gets the impression from the cover that things will not go as planned in paradise but along very predictable lines, given human nature and . . . nature. I love this novel; it's my favorite Boyle. #7days7covers #7covers7days #covercrush

I just saw that I'm not supposed to explain about the covers so I'll try not to explain about the next 5. Not explaining is not my thing.

LeahBergen It‘s remarkably difficult, isn‘t it?? 😮 5y
29 likes1 comment
review
DreesReads
Drop City | T Coraghessan Boyle, Boyle T C
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Mehso-so

Well, I‘m done. This novel follows the members of a c1970 hippie commune in California that moves to interior Alaska. Sex, drugs, a few hard workers and a lot of hangers on. The first half was OK, the Alaska half unbelievable. No roads in, dark for 6 months of the year, -40 temps, a lot of vegetarians. Boyle did not convince me they could survive. #1001books

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Chili
Drop City | T Coraghessan Boyle, Boyle T C
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A great book mail day! 😁💕💜

monalyisha That cover! And the description, too! Adding “Drop City” to my TBR. 6y
20 likes1 comment
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Ladygodiva7
Drop City | T Coraghessan Boyle, Boyle T C
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April‘s BOTM #Reading1001 #1001Books

BookwormM I am reading this now 6y
5 likes1 comment
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BarbaraBB
Drop City | T. C. Boyle
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Mehso-so

This is the story of a Californian hippy commune, moving to Alaska. They think of this move and their new way of live (surviving the Alaska winter) as a big adventure, what turns out to be rather naive.
In Alaska, another set of (local) people also prepares for a winter of 'living off the land'. The differences between the two are big, but Boyle succeeds in describing all his characters as believable, despite their differences. #1001books

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jennw1212
Drop City | T. C. Boyle
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#riotgrams shelfie day 1

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LibrarianToujours
Drop City | T. C. Boyle
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#FunFridayPhoto "Moon" lit flowers! ???

Suet624 😜😜 8y
24 likes2 comments
review
Johnnyfree
Drop City | T. C. Boyle
Pickpick

Loved this book. Boyle, as always, digs deep, showing us that the SF days of peace and love had a bright side and a dark, dark side.

2 likes1 stack add