Revenge of the Lawn, The Abortion, So the Wind Won't Blow It All Away
by Richard Brautigan
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Book Summary Information
Author: Richard BrautiganEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1995-02-21
ISBN: 0395706742
Number of pages: 544
Publisher: Mariner Books
Book Reviews of Revenge of the Lawn, The Abortion, So the Wind Won't Blow It All Away
Book Review: Making the Ordinary Sacred
Summary: 5 Stars
When I was an art student at East Carolina University back in the 80's, a friend gave me a copy of REVENGE OF THE LAWN. As I look back now, I realize Brautigan's book was probably the beginning of my slow change from wanting to be an artist to wanting to be a writer. I had never read anything like Brautigan's work before, and for many years I couldn't understand why his stories and poems moved me so. I now understand it is because of Brautigan's ability to make ordinary details sacred. For instance in the story "Coffee" in REVENGE OF THE LAWN, Brautigan says, "Sometimes life is merely a matter of coffee and whatever intimacy a cup of coffee affords." In this tender story about the end of love, Brautigan reveals that the accoutrements needed to make the coffee are laid out at his lover's house "like a funeral service" and that the cup of coffee is "safely inside me like a grave." Herein is the magic of Brautigan's ability: to raise the mundane act of drinking coffee to a ceremony of death.
This is an especially good volume of Brautigan's works. THE ABORTION begins by describing a bizarre library wherein everyone's books are welcomed and handled lovingly by the proprietors. This certainly evokes the hope of every writer--that his or her efforts would be handled lovingly by readers. However, this was not the case with Brautigan's final book, SO THE WIND WON'T BLOW IT ALL AWAY, included in this volume. The critics panned it, often comparing it to the work that first brought him fame and continued to overshadow his subsequent works: TROUT FISHING IN AMERICA. I cannot express strongly enough how wrong I think critics were in their assessment of SO THE WIND WON'T BLOW IT ALL AWAY. Indeed, I believe it is my favorite of all Brautigan's works. It has all the characteristics of his earlier works--idiosyncratic characters, humor, heartbreaking tragedy--but this work seems especially wistful and wise. It is as though Brautigan looked back over his life and captured the whole of it in this one haunting story.
Brautigan's writing has deeply affected many people. Several years ago, I read in the newspaper that a teenaged boy changed his name to "Trout Fishing in America." In the early years of his career, he had many fans. I think his work is timeless and has the power to attract many new admirers.
Summary of Revenge of the Lawn, The Abortion, So the Wind Won't Blow It All Away
Three unforgettable Brautigan masterpieces reissued in a one-volume omnibus edition.
REVENGE OF THE LAWN: Originally published in 1971, these bizarre flashes of insight and humor cover everything from "A High Building in Singapore" to the "Perfect California Day." This is Brautigan's only collection of stories and includes "The Lost Chapters of TROUT FISHING IN AMERICA."
THE ABORTION: AN HISTORICAL ROMANCE 1966: A public library in California where none of the books have ever been published is full of romantic possibilities. But when the librarian and his girlfriend must travel to Tijuana, they have a series of strange encounters in Brautigan's 1971 novel.
SO THE WIND WON'T BLOW IT ALL AWAY: It is 1979, and a man is recalling the events of his twelfth summer, when he bought bullets for his gun instead of a hamburger. Written just before his death, and published in 1982, this novel foreshadowed Brautigan's suicide.
REVENGE OF THE LAWN: Originally published in 1971, these bizarre flashes of insight and humor cover everything from "A High Building in Singapore" to the "Perfect California Day." This is Brautigan's only collection of stories and includes "The Lost Chapters of TROUT FISHING IN AMERICA."
THE ABORTION: AN HISTORICAL ROMANCE 1966: A public library in California where none of the books have ever been published is full of romantic possibilities. But when the librarian and his girlfriend must travel to Tijuana, they have a series of strange encounters in Brautigan's 1971 novel.
SO THE WIND WON'T BLOW IT ALL AWAY: It is 1979, and a man is recalling the events of his twelfth summer, when he bought bullets for his gun instead of a hamburger. Written just before his death, and published in 1982, this novel foreshadowed Brautigan's suicide.
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