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Book Review of The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test
kayprime avatar reviewed on + 38 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2


controversial, non-fiction, uncatergorized
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Wolfe highlights some interesting characters from the 60s including the Hell's Angels and Neal Cassady (whom Kerouac based his character Dean Moriaty from On The Road). If the book does nothing else, it has made me interested in becoming more familiar with Kesey's writing and long for a more relaxed drug policy to placate my (sanitized) inner hippie.

The author uses a stream- of- consciousness style of writing which is very effective for getting the psychedelic topic of his book across. Unfortunately, by page 150 I was completely over the rambly and babbled details as well as the mostly immature shenanigans of the Pranksters. (And what was with Wolfe's repeated use of the racial epithet 'spade'?)

This book reminds me loosely of HST's (who makes a brief appearance in the story) Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas. Having said that, I probably would have appreciated this book more had I read it when I first fell in love with HST's similar style of writing.