SPOILERS

My book club read this because one of our office mates has the options to the book and is doing a screenplay. The story’s about hippies in a commune and a couple who live off the land in Alaska.

I think Boyle has a lot of empathy for the female characters in the commune. Metaphorically and literally, they’re always getting screwed. There’s this idea of “free love” that gets translated into things like, “You better have a three-way with me right now or you are uptight.” It’s so ironic…women being pressured into sexual subjugation under the guise of liberation. In this atmosphere, the rape of a 14 year old runaway is not a big surprise. I was infuriated at the rest of the community for not dealing with it properly. But I was always getting frustrated with them for not having any courage or sense of responsibility.

Because the authorities are going to bulldoze their unsanitary mess of a compound, they move the commune to Alaska, where they meet up with our trapper friend and his wife. I thought their existence, out in the wilderness, was fascinating. Of course, you can imagine how well-equipped a bunch of California hippies are for life in the wild.

The prose was wonderful. Absolutely beautifully written. I def. recommend the book.