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Title: Last Go Round by Ken Kesey, Ken Babbs ISBN: 0-14-017667-5 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: July, 1995 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.2 (10 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Not Kesey's best, but worthwhile all the same
Comment: During an interview on Bravo TV's excellent series INSIDE THE ACTOR'S STUDIO, Dennis Hopper (an artistic, historical and spiritual brother of Ken Kesey) shared a brilliant anecdote illustrating the nature of art. While teaching a lesson on painting, Thomas Hart Benton told Dennis Hopper to "Think loose and paint tight".
The late Ken Kesey's unique literary gifts and contributions lay in his incredible ability to "think loose and write tightly."
In both of his great works, ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST and SOMETIMES A GREAT NOTION, as well as some of his journalistic writing, Kesey brilliantly channeled magnificent, electric, free-floating, randomly abstract and stream of conscious ideas into tight, elegant sentences. Kesey forged the missing link between the spontaneous prose of Kerouac, Ginsberg, Burroughs and the Beats with the laser-like precision of Hemingway and Fitzgerald.
While LAST GO ROUND certainly makes for a fast and fun read, it does not represent his finest work. Attempting to write a combination camp fire story/dime store novel Kesey allows himself to invert his precious balance.
Thinking tightly in the surprisingly demanding genre bounds of oral history and pulp, Kesey simply tries too hard. LAST GO ROUND lacks the spontaneous element of creation that courses throughout all his greatest work. Creatively he appears to be straining and reaching for ideas that should come easily.
While the creativity seems pushed, the writing itself appears unpolished and unfocused, relatively devoid of the razor sharp perceptions that one expects from a great author.
Ultimately though, this is really a small matter. Based on a historical event- The first Pendleton Round-Up (based in my hometown), Kesey does infuse his narrative with rich local color and texture. Having met the real George Fletcher when he was aged and in a nursing home, the story also has strong personal connections for me. That, and my personally autographed copy of the book from the late Kesey makes LAST GO ROUND a valued sentimental possession.
Not a classic by any stretch, but certainly worth reading. Especially for fans of Kesey.
Rating: 5
Summary: What's History got to do with it?
Comment: If you are looking for a complete and perfect, factual, historical and deathly boring scholarly tome on the first big Pendleton rodeo, this isn't it. What this is, is a great little book that tells a great yarn about some people who may or may not have any resemblance to people that may or may not have been in Pendleton, OR around the time that this book is set.
The characters are vivid and the relationship between them is both ribald & enlightening. The young Spain comes up against the elder Jackson & Fletcher. They show him around their world, a world that they have made a niche in for themselves in, and Spain comes out the other side older & wiser. Kesey points out many of the injustices that faced the Indians and Afro Americans in the new west. Spain learns about strength, weakness and right and wrong is an age where they are still working out what these things mean.
Kesey shows some of the great mastery of language that made him a hero to many readers with Sometimes a Great Notion. There are sections of this book that are as good as any he ever wrote. (As Spain is nodding off to sleep in Jackson's teepee he watches the smoke curl toward the roof, turn into snakes and then into tiny delicate horses he doesn't want to scare away.)
This is a great read. Apparently there are people who have an issue with Kesey for taking people out of history and creating a story from their legends, and having a different interpretation form the accepted legend. Kesey was a storyteller, not a historian. There are great pictures of the real people whose story Kesey has attempted to fictionalize. If you want a fun and light book from a master storyteller, this is a good choice. Don't get hung up with facts, enjoy yourself and buy this book.
Rating: 4
Summary: It's a dime western, not a history book!
Comment: I must take issue with Pati Reitenour's complaint that the book was not historically accurate. I'm sure that's true, but that is why it is a "dime western." It is in the tradition of western adventure books published in the 19th century which would take real characters and weave a tall tale from a thread of truth. The point is entertainment, which this book delivers.
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Title: Demon Box by Ken Kesey ISBN: 0140085300 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: August, 1987 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Sailor Song by Ken Kesey ISBN: 0140139974 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: July, 1993 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey, Ed McClanahan ISBN: 0140045295 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: June, 1988 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey ISBN: 0451163966 Publisher: New American Library Pub. Date: July, 1989 List Price(USD): $7.50 |
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Title: Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs ISBN: 0802132952 Publisher: Grove Press Pub. Date: February, 1992 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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