Star has travelled to Drop City - forty-seven sun-washed acres of commune in California - to be free from her home, from society's constraints, and to feel part of something important. But she starts to suspect that free love was invented by some spotty dude who couldn't get laid any other way, and that chilled out means lazy.
And as for peace-living, there seems to be an ugly undercurrent of violence. Then, when rape charges are brought and the police threaten to close down Drop City, the hippies decamp to the wilds of Alaska where they intend to live off the land. But instead the community runs into trouble, unexpected friendships are made and dangerous enemies are born.
About the Author
T. C. Boyle is the New York Times bestselling author of ten collections of stories and fourteen novels, most recently, San Miguel, followed by the second volume of his collected stories, T. C. Boyle Stories II. His work has been translated into twenty-five languages and won a PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. He is a member of the Academy of Arts and Letters and lives in California.
Industry Reviews
Boyle's riveting new novel lays bare the raw reality behind the city-dweller's romantic dream of living at one with nature * The Times *
Lively, intelligent, wonderfully written * Observer *
Writing on the top of his form ... hugely enjoyable ... thoroughly gripping * Daily Telegraph *
One of the funniest, most subtle novels we've had about the hippy era's slow fade to black ... this may be his most affecting emotionally complex novel ... This may be his most affecting and emotionally complex novel * New York Times Book Review *
Boyle is a maverick talent ... tension is maintained by a series of gripping conflicts until the reader finally emerges with despair and admiration for the human spirit * Daily Mail *
A vastly entertaining tale that balances the exuberance and the excesses, the promise and the preposterousness of the counterculture perhaps better than any other work of American fiction * Los Angeles Times Book Review *
Not only an entertaining romp through the madness of the countercultural '70s, but a stirring parable about the American dream as well * New York Times *
Exhilarating ... Drop City is a marvel of construction with a champion omniscient narrator * Independent *
Anything goes in Boyle's imaginative world, so long as it is raw, elemental and in excess * Sunday Telegraph *
Comedy, tragedy and more great sentences than seems entirely fair. Boyle's not exactly unknown, but it's high time he was deified. Marvellous * Uncut *
Acutely observed and perfectly pitched, this exhilarating novel rides emotional novel rides emotional cross-currents like a raft on rapids * Time Out *
TC Boyle's doorstop of a book will have you rushing to bed early to find out what happens next ... a gripping book and a timely reminder of the sexism at the heart of the hippy movement * Good Housekeeping *
No one better than Boyle can hoover a sentence out of the gods' imaginations, and set it in glitter on the page ... Boyle is America's most acerbic catastrophist-realist writing today. Here his vision is more compassionate, more hopeful than ever before. Full of pure invention. A glorious read * Scotsman *
Boyle, whose prolific fiction outpouring has begun to rival that of such workhorses as John Updike and Joyce Carol Oates, ranks as one of our master satirists * San Francisco Chronicle *
Boyle has spun a tale of love, lust and communities, set against the backdrop of the great American landscape * Harpers & Queen *
Right from the opening sentence, Boyle shows himself to be a consummate novelist. Utterly stylish prose, humane characterisation, deft attention to detail and graceful plotting: what reader could ask for more? A profoundly satisfying book * Scotland on Sunday *
One of the finest American contemporary novelists, his name on the cover a guarantee of an intelligent and stimulating read ... Read it and, if you haven't done so already, go away and invest in his fine back catalogue ... Don't be square, man, get him to the trip * Sunday Tribune *
Drop City verges on flawless ... Boyle has a light, winning touch that never fails. He conveys small details beautifully, and through them encapsulates whole worlds ... literary bliss. All in all, quite a trip * Sunday Business Post *
