Revenge of the Lawn: Stories 1962-1970 ("Rebel Inc" S.)
by Richard Brautigan
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 437)
recommends it for:
everyone
in lieu of any review, let me just present the text of one of my favorite stories from this collection.
"PACIFIC RADIO FIRE"
The largest ocean in the world starts or ends at Monterey, California. It depends on what language you are speaking. My friend's wife had just left him. She walked right out the door and didn't even say good-bye. We went and got two fifths of port and headed for the Pacific.
It's an old song that's been played on all the jukeboxes in America. Th...more
"PACIFIC RADIO FIRE"
The largest ocean in the world starts or ends at Monterey, California. It depends on what language you are speaking. My friend's wife had just left him. She walked right out the door and didn't even say good-bye. We went and got two fifths of port and headed for the Pacific.
It's an old song that's been played on all the jukeboxes in America. Th...more
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Read in May, 2008
Well here's another review no one will read. Another few K tossed into the giant pool of Internet detritus. The stories in this book are really short; they're probably about 2 pages average. They're more scenes and/or images than actual stories with plot or established characters or any of that. So you'd better be really good at getting down to the heart of things in absolutely no time flat, which Brautigan absolutely is. Some of the stories work less well than others, but Revenge of the Lawn ...more
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Read in September, 2007
Brautigan writes with a whimsical touch in this collection of brief (some as short as two sentences) stories. His turns of phrase sometimes recall the terse absolutism of film noir, except with more of a loopy absurdism thrown in. Many, if not all, of these stories could be construed as being autobiographical. This, coupled with the recurrence of the idea of 'histories,' in various forms, leads to a general theme of reminiscence in Revenge of the Lawn. The t...more
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Read in September, 2007
This isn't specific. There's no way for me to specifically describe why I love Brautigan the most. Why I love Brautigan the most is because when I read his words I hear him whispering them next to me. Over pints of beer in the city that didn't want me but everything is okay there when he's whispering to me. About radios set on fire. About this girl he loved that looks like "Roosevelt on the radio." About this electricity everywhere in the world. I carry his enamoring of the ever...more
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recommends it for:
Mr. President
Finally he set fire to the radio. He piled some paper around it. He struck a match to the paper. We sat there watching it. I had never seen anybody set fire to a radio before.
As the radio gently burned away, the flames began to affect the songs that we were listening to. A record that was #1 on the Top-40 suddenly dropped to #13 inside of itself. A song that was #9 became #27 in the middle of a chorus about loving somebody. They tumbled in popularity like broken birds. Then it was too late fo...more
As the radio gently burned away, the flames began to affect the songs that we were listening to. A record that was #1 on the Top-40 suddenly dropped to #13 inside of itself. A song that was #9 became #27 in the middle of a chorus about loving somebody. They tumbled in popularity like broken birds. Then it was too late fo...more
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Read in September, 1993
recommends it for:
every one
I found this book on a dusty shelf and took every word down like water. This book was just as thirsty as I was. Let have a drink together I said!
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Read in January, 2008
I still have a few stories to go, but I've really enjoyed this collection. Some of the stories are just short paragraphs and the subjects range from the mundane examined -a bus ride - to the fantastical/surreal, all told in seemingly the fewest, sparest words possible. Some of them are hilarious. I miss San Francisco.
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Read in October, 2006
The beginning of a Brautigan bender that lasted into early 2007. I hadn't read Brautigan for 20 years, and suddenly jumped back into his surreal, late-Beat stories and poems.
He beautifully captures the landscape and people of the Pacific Northwest (Northern California up to Washington and into Idaho).
He beautifully captures the landscape and people of the Pacific Northwest (Northern California up to Washington and into Idaho).
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My poetry teacher in high school made us read the title story from this book. I was instantly obsessed with his words and ideas. His writing seems to filter experience through an emotionaly intelligent filter that i really relate too. More then any other writer. All the storys are good in this one.
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Every time I read Brautigan I remember why I love him so much; he was one of the first modern poets I ever read, and the way he works with language, coming at it from strange angles to get somewhere you didn't expect him to get, is both fascinating and happy-making.
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نمی دونم براتیگان رو چقدر میشناسین؟ ولی پیشنهاد می کنم که این کتاب رو بخونید
این کتاب مثل دنیای براتیگان شلوغ ، جذاب و رنگارنگه....
این کتاب مثل دنیای براتیگان شلوغ ، جذاب و رنگارنگه....
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thomas and i got this to read to each other on our way to cincinnati because we are like, cute and lame. i forgot how great brautigan is. also, we didn't read it because it was dark on the way there and i slept the whole way home.
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Read in April, 2008
زن ها وقتي صبح لباس مي پوشند، بهار به اين مزخرفي، قهوه،آتش راديويي آرام،فيلم خبري كاتن متر 1692 و چند تاي ديگر عالي بودند!
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The stories are so accessible. There is so much depth to Brautigan's casual, comical voice. This is his richest work! When it comes to reading something that inspires me to write, there is nothing else.
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Read in January, 2008
At times, funny as hell, clever as hell, confusing as hell and boring as hell. If hell has this much variety, it might be worth the fun I could have up here while there's still time left to have it.
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Delightfully weird, moody and unexpected. Easily slides in and out of the real and surreal. He's in total control at all times and makes English heel, sit and stay as he sees fit.
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Read in September, 2007
I just can't seem to get into his short stories as much as the novels. Love the writing style, but in only a page or two, it seems to have lost some of the interest.
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Revenge of the Lawn is one of my favorite stories from Brautigan. Original, visionary and timely as ever.
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I have a tendency to poo-poo poetry. But, I really enjoyed this book of poems and short stories.
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book data (includes all editions)
avg rating (all editions): 4.05 (402 ratings) avg rating (this edition): 4.18 (236 ratings) number of reviews: 26popular shelves
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quote
"What I was doing was like an occupation for me. I was that involved in looking at the sky and eating an apple. You would have thought that I had been hired to do it with a good salary and pension if I stared at the sky long enough."
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