You don’t have to be a dopehead LSD popper to appreciate the cultural effect of the merry pranksters and Ken Kesey,this book gives a feel to what they were at and how they worked. It also mentions the harmful effect that the drugs had on some,so it’s not just some hagiography.

What I liked about the book as well was the sense of group,coming together,making friends, falling out,who can’t relate that to their own life?It remembered me of American Graffiti,with drugs.

Whether you agree with the change or not the characters in this book changed Western popular culture and this is a fitting tribute to them.

Huge sections of this book are mish-mashes of words and ideas jumbled together with no cohesiveness, which is appropriate considering how much this book talks about LSD and other drugs, acid trips, and the whole hippie scene. So I would suggest if you want to read this book, it might make more sense to you if you imbibe in drugs before starting.

Otherwise, you might find the mish-mash as annoying as I did, especially when you wade through it and find there is really nothing to it but a word painting of the whole chaotic existence of Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters. Parts of the book were interesting, but it really wasn’t worth wading through the tedious parts just to read the parts that made more sense.

A great book by Wolfe. Read this book.