წიგნში აღწერილია ქვეყანა, სადაც, მაგალითად, ეკლესია მართავს კონფერენცია-ფესტივალს სახელად "Shaking the Foundations", სადაც იწვევენ კენ კიზის და სხვა კონტრ-კულტურის წარმომადგენლებს. ამავე ქვეყანაში, არ დაგიჭერენ, რამდენი გრამი LSDც გინდა გქონდეს. ეს არ არის უტოპიური რეალობა და წიგნიც 100% დოკუმენტურია. ეს ქვეყანა კი 60 იანი წლების ამერიკაა.

წიგნში აღწერილია კენ კიზის რანჩოზე მიზიდული ახალგაზრდების ჯგუფის, Merry Pranksters ის ცხოვრება და თავგადასავლები, მათ მიერ ავტობუსით ამერიკის გარშემო მოგზაურობა, მათი შეხვედრა 60 იანი წლების ამერიკური ალტერნატიული კულტურის წარმომადგენლებთან (ტიმოთი ლირი, ალან გინზბერგი, კერუაკი და სხვები).

წიგნი მეტწილად კენ კიზის გარშემო ვითარდება, აღწერს მის უნიკალურ თვისებებს, საოცარ უნარებს და მის კონკრეტულ მეთოდებს, მაგალითად, როგორ გაენიავებინა ატხადნიაკის shit-filled souls.

Kesey was the magnet and the strength, the man in both worlds. კიზი თანაბრად მაღალფუნქციური იყო როგორც მის გარშემო შემოკრებილ წრეში, ასევე რეალურ ცხოვრებაში, ბარიგებთან, მოტოციკლისტებთან, მეცნიერებთან, გამომცემლებთან ურთიერთობაში. იმ სცენებში, სადაც კიზიც ჩანს, მკითხველი მშვიდადაა, ესე იგი ყველაფერი კარგად იქნება.

წიგნის დასაწყისში გვხვდება კიზის მიერ შემოტანილი ტერმინი - Graduate the Acid, რაც უხეშად რომ ვთქვათ, LSDს გამოცდილების ცხოვრებაში დანერგვას გულისხმობს, ხოლო წიგნის შუაში, იგივე იდეა, ოღონდ უფრო დახვეწილი, გაფორმებული და პრაქტიკაში დანერგილი, Acid Test ის სახელწოდებით შემონარნარდება.

ძალიან სამწუხაროა, რომ ავტო���ი მხოლოს მოყოლით იცნობს ფსიქოდელიურ გამოცდილებებს და ხშირად ძალიან ბრტყლად აღწერს Acid Testებს, მიმდინარე მოვლენებს თუ პერსონაჟების ტრიპებს. მაგალითად, ყველას, ვისაც ერთხელ მაინც გაუსინჯავს LSD, იცნობს გამოსვლის შემდეგ დამდგარ სიცარიელის შეგრძნებას, რომლის პოეტური აღწერას მრავალნაირად შეიძლება, მაგრამ ავტორი, ჯიურად 3 სიტყვით აღწერს მუდმივად - Loose in Head. ამ მხრივ, უამრავი რამ შეიძლებოდა უკეთ დაწერილიყო, ამიტომაც დავაკელი ერთი ქულა.

წიგნი ერთგვარი "იმედგაცრუებაცაა", რადგან ხვდები, რომ ყველაფერი რაც გიგრძვნია, გიფიქრია და გამოგიცდია, უკვე დიდი ხნის წინ ნაგრძობი და ნაფიქრი და გამოცდილია. :)

საბოლოო ჯამში, აუცილებლად წასაკითხი წიგნია ყველასთვის, ვისაც 60იანი წლები და ფსიქოდელიური კულტურა აინტერესებს, ის ხალხი, ვინც were living for some incredible breakthrough.
და ისევ კიზი, ეს საოცარი ადამიანი.

P.S. They were on the purest, don't try it from your local dealer :)

It's a fair amount of years ago but I remember it as a fair amount of fun, although very up & down in the quality of the writing and the interest of the material (or at least my interest). I think I liked the title most of all.It was, after all, my time and reflected a lot of the feelings I had about "hippies". The press always lumped "hippies" and "political activists" together, which seemed very odd, since "dropping out" and "working to change the system" would seem to be almost tautologically incompatible. The activists despised hippies. I don't know what hippies thought of us: I assumed not much since they seemed to philosophically opposed to thinking. Nevertheless, the book was about a lot of major people in my world & so fascinating just for that. I read it several times, always disappointed over all but with lots of moments of interest and wish for more solid writing. I found Vietnam, the Watts riots, the riots that echoed throughout the country, including my area of Washington Heights surreal enough. I was more, Pour-me-another-drink-&-lets-solve-the-country's-problems kind of girl.

I was assigned to read this book in college(1975). I couldn't finish it, it seemed to be so....poorly written. I tried again this year as I've just reread Kesey's books and On the Road. This book focuses on a bus trip organized by Ken Kesey and driven by Neal Cassidy(the real Dean Moriaty in On the Road shortly after Kesey finished Sometimes a Great Notion--and the bus ride is basically one long acid trip.
I read it this time- more as an interesting history of compelling characters from a fascinating time, the only drawback being that it is so...poorly written.
But a compelling story made more interesting by so many characters becoming much more famous since the book was written. It bridges Neal Cassidy, think of the Beat Generation of the 50's driving to Larry McMurtrey's house(think Lonesome Dove). You meet Hunter Thompson and his articles on the Hell's Angels and then meet the Grateful Dead who started off as a house band for the Electric Kool Aid tests(LSD parties)
Interesting read but so many things bothered me. Essentially glorifies the Hell's Angels a group of people who rape and rob and ridicules a group of Unitarians whose only sin appears to be that they are too earnest in wanting peace and helping others. The description of the Merry Pranksters walking out of a Beatles concert was supposed to be a statement about crowd infatuation with the Beatles, but I couldn't help wonder if it was because Kesey couldn't stand not being the center of attention.
Wolfe's telling of how Kesey's speech to an anti war rally supports Wolfe's cynicism about anyone who tries to actually change our country, but I couldn't help that it was easy for Kesey to deceive anti war activists and then ridicule them as a wrestling injury allowed him to avoid the draft.
Anyway, the book did make me think, it was an interesting story and did evoke the times but I finished glad that Wolfe's 1960's style of writing (New Journalism) did not catch on and wishing that Kesey's LSD use and other values hadn't kept him from writing more books like Sometimes a Great Notion and One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest.

I think this should have been half the length. Most pages seemed as though Tom Wolfe was simply describing some seventies hippy picture in as much detail as possible. It would have been more effective if he just showed me the picture.

don’t do drugs m’kay

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test is best if you blow through the first fifty pages and take your leisure with the rest. There's equal information in the introduction as in the meat of the story, but less of the fun, and a little more cruelty to the real people behind Wolfe's "new journalism" report. After the introductory portion, where you meet the cast and understand the premise, you're treated to hundreds of pages of episodes, some as short as two pages long, about radical artists, set free to roam in America (and each other), running across parties, senior citizens, and even Hells Angels. Kesey and his merry pranksters are as interesting as any fiction cast Wolfe could have invented, often funny and always irreverent.

It's the lack of reverence in Wolfe's new journalism style that will bother the most people, as those who hated what Kesey stood for won't read the book. Whatever information traditional journalism would have reported is shaped, painting some very unflattering pictures of the key players, especially Ken Kesey. I've met many people who had Kesey's masterpiece, One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, ruined by Wolfe's portrait of a selfish anti-establishment radical. This isn't quite like Wolfe's other new journalism, either, as there's a stronger sense of bias to it, a pitfall that (whether the sense of bias is true or not) is unfortunately easy to fall into in Wolfe's favorite genre. Much of the middle portion also seems masturbatory, which shines a poor light on the merry pranksters, and makes Wolfe seem like more boring writer than he really is.

Between the slants and lack of grave substance in so much of the book, it is easiest to take it for its entertainment value. Controversy and intrigue got this book all the sales it needed years ago, and the success of new journalism ensured that this pioneering work would receive literary status, but fans of Kesey, Wolfe and the other artists involved should only be disappointed that what was ultimately a collusion between so many great writers wasn't a better book.

I have Tom Wolfe's aesthetic taste figured out: He likes exuberance. He doesn't like ascetics. Asceticism is unamerican.

In The Right Stuff, he prefers Yeager and the test pilots to the astronauts who don't get to really fly their capsules.

In From Bauhaus to Our House, he loathes the European modernists (Mies et al.) and he likes FLW and Saarinen.

In The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, he sides with Kesey and the Pranksters with their undoctrinaire deployment of LSD and technology against other psychedelic advocates like Leary who are from the East coast, who like Eastern religion, and who would frown at an enormous sound system.

These nut-jobs actually came to Houston with their bus and parked it two doors down from my best friend in Houston. Around 1969, moon, Led Zeppelin touring, people taking LSD and sitting on the hill in Hermann Park staring at the sun. My older brother and sister would drag me along to look at the "hippies" ... then the next day in the paper would be another story of a young Houston man who had become blind forever by roasting his retinas with pupils wide open looking at the sun. Guess I should have given him my shades.

Ken Kesey and the "Merry Pranksters" are the subject of this real-life look into the lifestyle of California hippies , commune living, and all those weird things you kids have heard of happening in the sixties.
Well, The weekend they were in Houston, Ken Kesey (a benign Manson) went to the stadium where a day-long concert of the summer (Jefferson Airplane, Country Joe and the Fish, Quicksilver Messenger Service ... blah blah) was happening and again I was in tow by my older brother and sister, Kathy.
This guy Kesey was there to entertain between sets, a true to life Haight-Asbury scene. At one point, he asked everyone to jump in synchronicity , I thought to feel the stadium rumble for a few seconds, but looking back he may have been trying to cause the thing to collapse! Hell, HE was on the field, as was the stage. I was gonna be the one to die, not him.
Finally, he asked everyone to take a deep breath and let it out slowly as a loud hiss. Again take a breath and hiss. Again... again... over and over we were all seated and I was feeling light headed. Finally he says 'Take one more, deeper than any other, and as you breathe in, stand up and stretch as far as you can and as hard as you can. I remember I did this, and as I stood, I stretched and suddenly everything was going dark ... then wham! I hit the dirt, fainted. I had never fainted before. As I awoke, I noticed EVERYONE IN THIS 70+ THOUSAND SEAT STADIUM WAS ON THE GROUND ... having also fainted. He was indeed a prankster. Hippies.... if you want to know (why?) what it was REALLY like to be around hippies constantly ... read this.

Era il 1962 quando Ken Kesey ( autore de Qualcuno volò sul nido del cuculo) battezza con il nome di Merry Prankers (Allegri Burloni) un gruppo di amici e amiche: uomini e donne accumunati dalla passione per le droghe ed in particolare dediti alla sperimentazione degli acidi.

Tom Wolfe, che proprio in quegli anni cominciava a dedicarsi al giornalismo anticonvenzionale (chiamato poi, new journalism) seguirà l’allegra combriccola durante un viaggio verso New York



E’ l’estate del 1964 quando, a bordo di un coloratissimo autobus ribattezzato n   Furthern (Oltre), i 14 avventurieri partono per un viaggio dai toni missionari.
Distribuire e far conoscere LSD è il loro obiettivo.

Non più beatnik, non ancora hippie, i Merry Prankers rappresentano un punto di rottura che va al di là delle famose porte della percezione che le sostanze psichedeliche aprirebbero.

Rompere gli schemi dell’ ”American Dream”, distorcere l’immagine perbenista e conservatrice, lasciare delle crepe che permettano di fuggire dagli itinerari prestabiliti di scuola- lavoro- casa.

I Prankers sono bizzarri: vestono colorato e contro ogni regola estetica, si comportano in modo inappropriato mettendo in atto una vivace quanto pacifica rivoluzione culturale.
Impossibile non notarli.

”Ho cercato non solo di raccontare ciò che i Pranksters hanno fatto ma di ri-creare quell’atmosfera mentale o realtà soggettiva.
Non credo che la loro avventura possa essere compresa altrimenti.
Tutti gli eventi, i particolari e i dialoghi che ho registrato sono quel che ho visto e sentito io stesso, quello che mi è stato riferito da persone che erano presenti e ciò che è stato registrato su nastro o su pellicola oppure messo per iscritto.”

Così Tom Wolfe spiega in una nota finale che avrebbe anche potuto anticipare il testo così da preparare mentalmente il lettore ad una lettura tutt’altro che facile così come non è facile entrare in sintonia nel viaggio mentale di un’altra persona..


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-QnG...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uh2kK...

"Never trust a Prankster." Ken Kesey and his merry band of accomplices habituate this glorious look back at the mid-to late 60's before LSD became illegal & weed was a crime that could incarcerate you ha-ha, look how far we've come! Now we're openly lighting up and micro-dosing like it was baby aspirin. Tom Wolfe takes us there for key events as in the "acid tests" & details the nutty personalities of those who orchestrated the onset of hippy culture. AND, he does it well considering the contact high he must have experienced not to mention his own few excursions with that 'electric Kool-Aid" where he firsthand took a trip not leaving the farm. This is a seminal book for those of us who followed myself included. I "hooked down" some potent windowpane acid before heading out to a Dylan concert a few days before Halloween 1970's when he was going electric and then smoked lots of opium during the show - the results were harrowing as I lost all sense of reality and stumbled around for hours in a freaked-out haze. Woo-hoo but that was a zinger folks! Oh well we & me got through it but not without the realization that I'd never be quite the same again. However, to me, it was a mind expander to which led to further openings and readings and searchings for things beyond just status quo. And speaking of "Further" for that was the iconic bus the Pranksters tricked out in day-glo imagery, 'further' is where Keysey sought to take his and others' trip, to move beyond the drugs into a new realm of consciousness, out of the fog into the new awareness. Me too, I agree with that mostly. Reading cool books, digesting material of consequence, sharing bonds of understanding & accepting the mystery of IT ALL is where my path has ventured. Groovy man, like real groovy!

There were definitely moments of this that I LOVED. Learning abt the Prankster adventures and all the crazy shit that went down was definitely cool.

The stylistic choices were really. Something! It made sense in the midst of all the transcendental / psychedelic moments that needed to somehow be expressed on the page to get Wacky with the writing, but I think about 100 or so pages of the repeating sentences and nonsensical ellipses could’ve been cut and I would’ve been MORE impressed with the experimental style overlayed onto nonfiction. As it was, it got so so tiring and so so ineffective by the end to read the long ass acid test / The Current Fantasy passages.

Glad I read, but would t necessarily recommend unless you are very into the subject and don’t mind a slower read.

A literary LSD trip. Felt like I was zonked outta my gourd for most of the book.

I will forevermore refer to little girls as "teeny freaks."

I'm a square.

The bus is dead.