This was a story about hippees, who claimed to strive to be close to nature, be free to do whatever you want, live in a close community, and share free love - but their lifestyle was anything but that, especially when contrasted with a true mountain man from Alaska.
The hippees wanted to be close to nature, but didn't know anything about it. One of the characters in the story notes that they'd all have starved to death if it wasn't for supermarkets and food stamps. They want to be free to do whatever you want, but then no-one wants to clean the dishes, dig ditches for the toilets, or take care of the pool, and the society turns into filth. They want to live in a close community, but when resources get tight people start to get suspicious about those who aren't pulling their weight and want to turn people out. They want to share free love, but couples quickly form and soon things aren't free at all.
It felt like to me that this book was showing that all of the fundamental goals of being a hippee were wrong. I mean here they were out in the Alaska wilderness, but they were all so bored and miserable and the only high point of their day was to take artificial drugs and get stoned. However it seemed like there was something good about the hippee lifestyle - sometimes there were true friendships and true community, something that was missing out in the all-man-for-himself wilderness of Alaska.
I really liked the character Sess in the book - he was admirable for his know-how and ability to truly survive off the land. I was glad he found a wife - and I choose to imagine things working out for him. Would I like to live a life like his? I don't know - there are a lot of pleasures in life that he is missing out there in that lonely cabin.
Rating: 2/4 (riveting page turner, definitely worth reading, but probably won't read again).
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I agree with your comments about how their idealism translated into nobody wanting to do the necessary work to live (digging latrines, getting food, etc) -- it is an unsupportable lifestyle and their lofty mental life was at such a contrast with their dirty physical exteriors and environments.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the goals you say are so wrong... I disagree on that. If they had turned to the joys of productivity (building, hunting, tending the garden, training sled dogs, you name it) rather than depending on getting high, I feel like their communes would work. Maybe I'm a little unclear as to the goals of hippies, maybe their goals are just to get stoned their whole lives, but I am talking about the goals of togetherness and unity and love and nature. They just didn't want to deal with the reality of all those things.
I loved Sess too, but I had mixed feelings about his life. He (with Pamela) is truly self-sufficient, but to what end? The long dark winter still drives them out of their minds, life is still really hard. You have exactly one choice of career: survivalist. How is that any better than living in the city and being a programmer, or raising kids in a suburb on grocery-store food? I think I liked them because we saw them in a life that they chose, that they were suited for.