Johnson is reckless so you don't have to be. Whether it's going to hell (Liberia) and back--twice--and reporting on what he found, to trying to parse whether backwoods Montanans and North Carolinans are just quirky or actually dangerous, Johnson opts to explore the difficult, the unexplored, the road no one wants to travel. What he finds on his respective journeys is unsettling. Perhaps most unsettling, though, is that this collection was published in 2001, and thus takes on a much more ominous tone when placed in a greater context -- through Johnson's essays, the reader sees the piecemeal madness that preceded the year when the world truly went crazy. Viewed through this lens, Johnson seems both prescient and foolhardy. (I received this book as part of the Transcontinental Book Club.)

Bookended by two sublime and terrifying essays on Liberia.

It’s hard to understand how someone can be as talented as Denis Johnson was, but he’ll always be one of my favorite authors; these essays are almost always perfectly crafted, moving, and genuinely funny at times in a way that little nonfiction writing manages to be; if you’re at all interested in learning how to write, skip the writing class and just read Denis Johnson

now I am not as big a denis johnson fan as people would believe me to be. I think on occasion he throws out some amazing sentences and even better paragraphs, but his novels as a whole suffer. I loved Seek: Reports from the Edges of America and Beyond, it was his element. Like I say about Sam Lipsyte, he should stay with the short story for his novels lack. Saunders, lutz they know thier barriers and do not try do be something bigger than they are, but in their form they are as big as a rising moon on a autumn night in the deserts of Arizona. Denis, go back to the short story you are so good at it.

"Seek" is a collection of journalism by Denis Johnson from the early 1990s. The chapters span from his reporting in war torn areas such as Somalia, Liberia, and Afghanistan to his explorations of the fringes of life in America: a bikers for Jesus rally, a hippie festival, Alaskan survivalists, the towns in the area where Eric Rudolph avoided capture. The stories describe Johnson's interactions with the people in these areas and groups and his thoughts on each.

Overall I thought this work was decidedly just okay. I am not sure where the effusive praise of some of the other postings is coming from. I liked the concept of the book much more then its execution. The writing was straightforward but not astounding, and I frankly found many of the chapters rather boring.

The reason I gave the book 3 stars, however, instead of 2, is because the reports from war-torn areas, especially "An Anarchist's Guide to Somalia" and "The Small Boy's Unit" are fascinating tales. It really is amazing that Johnson managed to lived through those experiences and he really manages to capture the surreal insanity of such chaotic regions. "The Small Boy's Unit" is really gripping, you don't want to put it down until you find out how manages to extricate himself from the situation. If only the stories from America were similarly entertaining or insightful. Some, such as "Three Deserts" appear cobbled together and only loosely connected. And there is a bit of overlap between some chapters when Johnson repeats facts or observations he made elsewhere.

Spotty, but a quick read and entertaining in parts.

Johnson's a reporter who is not afraid to get his hands dirty. His writing is straight-forward and plain, but the events he's witnessed speak for themselves. He was writing about the horrors of the Taliban before anyone in America had ever heard of them.

The 60-pg closer “The Small Boys’ Unit,” about the time Johnson was held in ‘light captivity’ in war-torn Liberia for several weeks, is easily an all-timer that rivals some of his best short stories.

crazy stuff

one of my favorite books of all time. honest, clear insightful.

GUIDA ANARCHICA DEL MONDO



Denis Johnson mantiene quanto promesso dal titolo. E più che quello inventato dall’editore italiano, mi riferisco a quello originale che è Reports from the Edges of America & Beyond: in effetti si tratta proprio di reportage dal margine dell’America e oltre.

Nella prima categoria, l’America marginale, posso segnalare i due pezzi (credo tutti destinati al New Yorker) che documentano alla maniera di Denis Johnson due raduni all’aperto: uno di hippy nelle foreste dell’Oregon in occasione del Magical Mistery Message organizzato dalla Famiglia Arcobaleno. Anzi, sarebbe meglio definirli vetero hippy (più che ex), forse anche loro si rendono conto d’essere ormai anacronistici.
L’altro in Texas in una ex base della Guardia Nazionale. E in questo caso ad occorrere, tutti motorizzati, principalmente su due ruote, nello specifico fiumi di Harley Davidson – la moto d’ordinanza dei biker americani – sono fan delle sacre scritture. Perché la mamma dei freaks è sempre incinta, e lo sembrerebbe in modo particolare in questa parte del pianeta. Forse è specializzata in parti plurigemellari.
Oppure il racconto della coppietta in viaggio di nozze stile into-the-wild in Alaska dove hanno l’incontro ravvicinato con un pilota di aeroplanini che colleziona incidenti e cadute.

L’oltre, il Beyond lo si trova nel primo pezzo, che è sulla guerra civile in Liberia raccontata senza peli sulla lingua, senza miti e illusioni. O in quell’altro che documenta la prima presa dell’Afghanistan da parte dei Talebani (1996). O ancora quello a Mogadiscio, e anche qui pazzi sanguinari a destra e sinistra, davanti e dietro, sopra e sotto.



La sensazione che Denis Johnson sia attirato dalla marginalità e ben oltre è forte sin dal principio. E avendo letto la sua breve magnifica raccolta Jesus’s Son non ne sono affatto stupito. Oltre i margini, oltre il confine, le vite secondarie, i dropout, gli alternativi… Tutti coloro che si direbbero esclusi dal sogno americano: ma che invece rappresentano una parte dell’anima di quel grande paese.
E raccontarli con sguardo alla stessa altezza, mai dall’alto. Con sentimento di vicinanza, con simpatia, e volendo scomodiamo l’empatia. Come se fosse parte del gruppo, li racconta con ironia, in modo buffo: proprio come racconterebbe se stesso, mai giudicante. Come se fossero tutti compagni di viaggio incontrati per strada, ai quali si unisce per compiere un tratto del percorso.

Sono storie e racconti che rimangono in bilico tra giornalismo e finzione, testimonianza e invenzione, vero e falso. Ma, in qualche strano modo, sono storie e racconti che fa bene leggere, scaldano il cuore, aiutano ad andare avanti.

Somewhere in between Hunter S. Thompson and Charles Kuralt lies Dennis Johnson and his book Seek: Reports from the Edges of America and Beyond. Seek documents various aspects of American life both at home and abroad. Stories tell about a newlywed couple flying to Alaska to mine for gold to make their wedding bands, old hippies trying to regain the momentum and spirit of the sixties only to find out that it passed them by, trying to meet with the President of Liberia during a civil war, trying to be the last journalist standing in Somalia after U.N. Peacekeepers are forced to lead, to the various militias that litter this country.

Stories of Merritt--"Down Hard Six Times", ""The Small Boys Unit", And "Three Deserts" -in which he he describes and almost compares Afghanistan, The American Southwest and Iraq.

Seek is evidence that Denis Johnson’s life has been one of fearless exploration. Each article in this anthology describes an encounter with the extremes of human experience. He’s rubbed shoulders with cruel, drunken third world warlords. He had a psychedelic experience at a 10,000-strong hippy gathering in the Colorado mountains. He has witnessed transforming faith at a Christian biker retreat. He has white-knuckled through a stalled out free-fall over the Arctic with the Han Solo of Alaska in the cockpit. He spent his honeymoon huddled up in a cabin in the most hostile and isolated of environments, finding time amidst the rhythms of survival activities to pan for gold with his wife. He traversed pre 9-11,Taliban-led Afghanistan. He buddied up with bounty hunters on the hunt for an abortion clinic bomber, and got in touch with his inner anti-government bent while hunkering down with radical militia groups. In the finale, he bravely pursued a quest to get to know Liberian “president” Charles Taylor, and give his personal profile to the outside world; experiencing persistent, infuriating obstruction and endless danger in a land devastated by civil war.

Lucky for us, he also has a gift to tell these tales. Perhaps the strength of the telling is rooted in his open eyes and open ears. He gives us opportunity to empathize, or at least hear from, people and sub-cultures we may never encounter. He exposes cruelty, and corruption in situations which before had seen little light. There are moments, whether in the thick of the fog, or in a moment of clearing, which give a glimpse of life at its grandest… or most delicate… or most grotesque… or most noble… or most absurd.