In Watermelon Sugar by Richard Brautigan is a short novel narrated by a man with no name. A bunch of people seemingly live in a commune in a post-apocalyptic world. Nearby is the Forgotten Works, which is full of things that used to be used, including thousands of books that are used for making fires! by the commune-dwellers. They are mostly entertained by making stuff out of watermelon sugar and trout.
There are other people outside the commune, including those who live near or in the Forgotten Works, freaking out the commune-dwellers.
It's a weird world, inside and outside the commune, both at present and in the past. There's a lot of room for interpretation and for finding symbolism.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
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This sounds fun. In some of your reviews I have a hard time telling whether you like something or not (if you don't mind me saying). Did you like this one? For some reason your description made me think of Paul Auster's In the Country of Last Things. I just reread the plot on Wikipedia. I am going to stop reading plots on Wikipedia. They don't give the stories the credits they deserve. Anyway, I might try this one if you liked it!
ReplyDeleteMichele, I liked this one, but I didn't love it. I feel ambiguous about a lot of books, so I sometimes try to let others decide if it sounds good to them or not. I can try to take a stand and make clear ratings if that would be helpful/enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteI would say that if you can get this from the library, you should definitely give it a try. I know you used to be interested in different ways of living together (how about "The La Chateau"?).
If you read it, let me know whose side you take: the good guys or the bad guys.