And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks

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And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks

3.69 of 5 stars 3.69 · rating details · 3,255 ratings · 328 reviews

More than sixty years ago, William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac sat down inNew York City to write a novel about the summer of 1944, when one of their friends killed another in a moment of brutal and tragic bloodshed. The two authors were then at the dawn of their careers, having yet to write anything of note. Alternating chapters and narrators, Burroughs and Kerouac piece...more

Hardcover, 224 pages

Published November 1st 2008 by Grove Press

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Oct 29, 2008 Tosh rated it 4 of 5 stars

The Beat-lunatic's dream book. William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac's first book - and not only that but the only book that they wrote together. Written in 1945, the story is based on their friend Lucian Carr who murdered another friend of everyone's at that time.

Burroughs would write one chapter and Kerouac would write the other. If one just read the chapters or book you would notice the style of the writing right away. In other words it is very Burroughs and very Kerouac. Even as young writer...more

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Aug 08, 2012 Mat rated it 5 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Burroughs AND Keroauc writing a book together? What more could you want?
This book is BRILLIANT! Loved it. As it was written at a very early stage in their careers, I must admit that initially I had doubts - which were soon dispelled by the great quality of writing from both of these legendary writers. It almost beggars belief that they were just in the incipient stages of their soon-to-be-great literary careers, when they wrote this fascinating story which affected them all in a deep way.

Kerouac...more

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Nov 11, 2009 Neil McCrea rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: beats

And the Hippos . . . is quite the hidden gem. A collaboration between Kerouac & Burroughs written in 1945 long before either of them achieved any literary success. The glimmers of future greatness are there, but perhaps more refreshingly the self-indulgences both writers are occasionally known for are absent. The Burroughs chapters have all of his trademark wry, black humor, and the Kerouac chapters lack some of his poetry but retain his pathos.

The afterward detailing the history of this nov...more

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Jan 03, 2009 Joe rated it 3 of 5 stars

Fun and breezy and has novelty power for those interested in early Kerouac and his development as a writer. There are little flashes of beat brilliance but I had the most fun enjoying the alternating narrative voices of Kerouac and Burroughs, the latter being someone I've never read. If you live in New York and want to get nostalgic over how cool the village was and how great it must have been to get drunk there (you will have lots of time to do that in this book, as characters get no less than...more

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Feb 14, 2009 Joe rated it 4 of 5 stars

I was surprised to see this book at my library. It's the "lost" collaboration between Kerouac and Burroughs, written before they were famous. Based on a true story, it tells of a murder that occurred amongst their friends. The authors flip back and forth between chapters. A good quick read. Kerouac's description of Burroughs is great.

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Jan 05, 2009 Mike rated it 4 of 5 stars

Not recommended for readers that don't care about the Beat history.

If you are like me, you've been waiting for this to be published for years. It's penned by both Kerouac and Burroughs well before they were known or published. They alternate chapters, all 1st person. Burroughs writes every other chapter as Will Dennison. Kerouac writes every other chapter as Mike Ryko. It's a fictional account about how their friend Lucien Carr murdered David Kammerer. Both Carr and Kammerer are early figures in...more

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Jan 05, 2009 Stop added it

Shelves: reviewed

Read the STOP SMILING Two Takes reviews of this book:

Reviewer Steve Finbow writes:

I started to read the book armed with my critical weapons. I finished it, sheathed my switchblade, placed my knuckledusters back in their velvet bag, and slid my steel cobra into its hiding place: And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks by William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac is not that bad after all. But is it really a "classic?"

Read the full review here

And Donald Kennison agrees, in part:

True enough, Hippos i...more

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Feb 18, 2013 tENTATIVELY, cONVENIENCE rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: literature, crime

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. review of
Jack Kerouac & William S. Burroughs'
And the Hippos were Boiled in their Tanks
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - February 11, 2013

I was in Boston recently & I was astounded to find this. A collaboration between Burroughs & Kerouac?! Written in 1945, 5 yrs before Kerouac's 1st published novel came out & 8 yrs before Burroughs' 1953 Junkie?! What a wonderful find for a Burroughs enthusiast such as myself!

&, at 1st, I found it excellent. The story's based on an actual...more

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May 21, 2012 Geoff Dunk rated it 4 of 5 stars

The first book I have completed so far this summer. I read the first 20 or so pages last night before bed and read the rest in the car today on the way to and from brunch with my mom’s side of the family.

It’s about 200 pages and it’s a fictionalized re-telling of the infamous “Columbia murder that gave birth to the Beats” and essentially inspired Kerouac, Ginsberg, and Burroughs to start to thoroughly document their times and travels. The murder of David Kammerer by Lucien Carr is a well-documen...more The first book I have completed so far this summer. I read the first 20 or so pages last night before bed and read the rest in the car today on the way to and from brunch with my mom’s side of the family.

It’s about 200 pages and it’s a fictionalized re-telling of the infamous “Columbia murder that gave birth to the Beats” and essentially inspired Kerouac, Ginsberg, and Burroughs to start to thoroughly document their times and travels. The murder of David Kammerer by Lucien Carr is a well-documented event in the Beat Generation and for anyone who isn’t familiar with it, you can read about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucien_Carr

Anyways, this is a novel of alternating Kerouac and Burroughs chapters narrating life and the course of events leading up to the murder from their own points of view, which often coincide in the book.

It was written over an entire year between 1944 and 1945 over a decade before either man had ever been published and thus it shows both of them at a time when they still hadn’t really mastered their own styles. It was rejected by a bunch of publishers but Kerouac kept a copy of it around which eventually ended up in the hands of James Grauerholz, the executor of the state of William S. Burroughs, who also became good friends with Carr and promised not to have it published until after his death, so as to not further ruin his name and bring up that part of his life. Carr died in 2005, and this book was eventually published in 2008 so it also comes with a cool ~lost artifact~ story behind it.

I had never read anything by Burroughs prior to reading this, but I really enjoyed the wit and arrogance of his chapters. You can tell through his writing and his fictionalized depiction of himself that he was a lot more well-off and older than many of the Beats he hung around with and that he was also a really shady figure. I now have a definite desire to find a copy of Naked Lunch because I really enjoy his writing style and I’d like to read something of his where he has created more of a definitive voice and style.

The Kerouac chapters were definitely rougher than anything else I’ve read by him which I expected, but I still quite enjoyed them. The primary focus of the book is less on the events of the murder itself and mostly just a look into the daily lives of the authors and their close circle of friends in the weeks leading up to the event.

It’s a good read and I’d recommend it to anyone who is a fan of the Beat Generation because it’s kind of a cool sneak peek at each author long before they’d created their classic literary works, and it also reads pretty well. I wouldn’t suggest it as anyone’s first foray into Beat writing though because it’s definitely a few steps below Kerouac’s [i]On The Road[/i].(less)

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Apr 02, 2012 Simon rated it 4 of 5 stars

And The Hippos Were Boiled In Their Tanks
By William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac.
(Penguin modern classics)

Yes finally after 63 years this "Classic" has
finally been published as finally the embargo on
it is over. The embargo only ended with Lucien
Carr's death in 2005 and a suitable time of
mourning not to upset anyone who knew him after
he got out of jail for the Murder this book is
legendarily about, and no I'm not giving
anything away here as the story has since been
told by among other Ja...more

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Apr 02, 2012 Kyle Shroufe rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-beat-lost

To combine the literal two fathers of the 'Beat Generation' Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs. This was their first novel for each of them and the fact that they wrote it together is just astonoshing to me. If I could pick two authors I would want to collaborate on a Novel, especially in their younger years it would be these two amazing authors. As far as the book goes, the name of it is completely lost on me but other than that strange title, most things about the book are amazing. It has b...more To combine the literal two fathers of the 'Beat Generation' Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs. This was their first novel for each of them and the fact that they wrote it together is just astonoshing to me. If I could pick two authors I would want to collaborate on a Novel, especially in their younger years it would be these two amazing authors. As far as the book goes, the name of it is completely lost on me but other than that strange title, most things about the book are amazing. It has both authors styles artistically composed in a great story, with social relevance and a crime/thriller elemant that you don't see in either of the authors later works (especially Kerouacs). The fact that it is a short book and a quick read is actually a good thing in this case. Although it comes in under 200 pages, that is perfect for this specific Novel/Novella because the story gets told perfectly in the space they have. The characters (who are based on real life characters including Lucien Carr a friend of both) and the story which is also a true story (the murder of their friend after making sexual advances on another friend) are completly fleshed out and the plot could not be more perfect. To blend fiction and truth like this is not easy to do and these two inexperianced authors did it in 1947 (the year my father was born). The work of literature is amazing but even more amazing is the fact that this book was hidden from our eyes until just recently, and it encompasses the early ideas, ideals and literate aperature of the two fathers of the "Beat Generation" in my opinion one of the most important and influencial literary movements of the post war environment. A Must read for anyone that is a fan of important literature. Although this novel seems to be missing most of the cliche and important 'Beat Generation' themes, that makes it most enjoyable for me because it shows that these two authors, especially Kerouac's chapters, can actually achieve writing that is very normalized and not so "Beatnik" in its style or lack there of. Rather than a book of the beat generation, I would call this a post modernist novel. It shows the specific diversity that many people didn't know these authors had, nor did I until I read this piece of work. This is a must read for many reasons, especially because it is a great novel regardless of the social commentary or who wrote it.(less)

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Dec 27, 2011 Sean Meehan rated it 5 of 5 stars

As I read this, I was reminded a lot of The Sun Also Rises, but whereas TSAR exemplified modernism, this book exemplified American postmodernism. I can't think of a more nihilistic or indifferent book that I've read. Whereas much has been made about the post-WWI "lost generation," this book focuses on an equally lost but less publicized subset of the WWII generation, a group that has a lot in common with the WWI lost generation but with a more acute existentialist bent (probably a result of havi...more

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Jun 12, 2011 Susan Emmet rated it 3 of 5 stars

An odd but seminal novel to the Beat Generation, published 60 years after its inception. Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs alternated writing chapters of a novel based on life in Greenwich Village/NYC in 1944, with the main conflict focused on the relationship/murder by Lucien Carr of David Kammerer, which hit the tabloids. While the novel targets the gritty, drug- and alcohol-ridden life of its characters, the Afterword by James Grauerholz, executor of Burroughs' estate, enlightens readers abo...more

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Jul 07, 2010 Katherine rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to Katherine by: Gift from Johanna for my birthday 2009

Beat authors, but the story seems to take place right before the true beat generation. I see them in dirty (perhaps torn) t-shirts, cigarette packages rolled up in the sleeves, butt hanging out of their mouths and a high ball glass with a coupla shots of something that would make a lesser man emit a little gasp after a noisy swig dripping condensation into rivers on the table. Typewriters back to back, they pound out their respective chapters, barely waiting for the other to finish before lighti...more

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Jan 17, 2010 Chelsea Whyte rated it 3 of 5 stars

Overall, this will end up in that category of books I'm glad I read, though I'm not sure how much I liked it.

Burroughs and Kerouac took turns writing chapters from the perspective of the two main characters, Will Dennison and Mike Ryko. Though I didn't know it while I was reading, these were meant to represent themselves. The book tells the story of a murder committed by a friend of theirs while they were young and living in New York.

The story itself ambles slowly through the hot summer in the...more

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Jan 10, 2010 Baiocco rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

This was actually not as bad as I thought it would be, and certainly not as bad as some English Prof friends who have never read it but heard poor things have described it to be. For both a first novel attempt and a combined author attempt And The Hippos is decent. Structurally, Kerouac takes a chapter writing through the character Mike Ryko and William S. Burroughs takes a chapter writing as Will Dennison. They switch on and off until the tale of Lucien Carr (in the book, Phillip) killing preda...more This was actually not as bad as I thought it would be, and certainly not as bad as some English Prof friends who have never read it but heard poor things have described it to be. For both a first novel attempt and a combined author attempt And The Hippos is decent. Structurally, Kerouac takes a chapter writing through the character Mike Ryko and William S. Burroughs takes a chapter writing as Will Dennison. They switch on and off until the tale of Lucien Carr (in the book, Phillip) killing predatory homosexual David Kammerer (Ramsay Allen) in self-defense after the two had a rooftop argument following the obsessive nature of the latter in an effort to court the former. This was an actual event that happened in the social circle of Burroughs and Kerouac and both individuals were taken into custody as accessory to murder (Kerouac, so poor, actually agreed to marry his then girlfriend while in prison so his new father-in-law would bail him out) after Carr came to each and confessed the murder. So by this account, they had right to the story, although they did agree to change the names.

The biggest knock on this book is how poorly written and repetitive it is. It probably would have made a better novella or long short-story but both Burroughs and Kerouac are not very interesting as writers at this point. I always felt Burroughs was better in regards to boldness of subject matter rather than craft, and Kerouac had yet to find his poetic, speed-induced voice yet. Still, it wasn't pretentious, taxing or boring like so many first novels can be, so kudos to that. And it doesn't overexplain the unnecessary, which is refreshing, though as a scandalous story of sexual jealousy, complexity and murder, it pails in comparison to the real life story of Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine, but at least Carr turned himself into authorities with a copy of Keat's tucked under his arm.

Oh, and the title is a reference to a circus fire, though which one is a mystery. Burroughs said he heard a radio broadcast of a fire during a london circus where the tent poles caught flame and the tent flaps caught flame and everyone was trapped inside and, as the radio reporter put it, "The hippos were literally boiled in their tanks." A lot is made of this title, but its good, odd, and could even sum up the themes of innocence and fate in the life of Lucien Carr regarding his murderous action. (less)

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Jan 04, 2010 Christopher Rex rated it 3 of 5 stars

A "lost" novel from the Beat era. This novel hung around for years unpublished for a variety of reasons (all of which are explained in the epilogue) and has now surfaced some 60 years after it was written. Fans of Burroughs and/or Kerouac will find it invaluable in that it was co-written by the two writers before they were "discovered" and demonstrates their exceptional skills even at an early age. The characters are based upon actual people in the 1940s NYC "scene" and an actual (shocking) even...more

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May 05, 2009 Jeff rated it 4 of 5 stars

What a surprise!

A friend surprised me with this books, which I did not know even existed. As a biased Kerouac fan, I was already expectant of a novel that would rank classically with other Beat greats such as On the Road and "Howl"; ATHWBITT is an "archived" novel co-written by Kerouac and William S. Burroughs before either were noteworthy for their more famous novels about an incident that almost implicated both in a murder.

The most startling thing for me reading this and the other Beat works i...more

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May 03, 2009 Ma'ajor rated it 4 of 5 stars

“'And The Hippos’”, “Have you read ‘The Hippos’?”Reading is personal, like music, like socks, like learning..and so sometimes it’s hard to do...but it’s known when it comes into the wake, one should probably read And The Hippos Were Boiled In Their Tanks and make it a personal endeavor. I heard too much friendly “Hippo” talk and prattle about authors William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac to not read it. It’s a subtly, delicately gossiped about book-- a big (not fat), “big-deal” book.

Starting b...more “'And The Hippos’”, “Have you read ‘The Hippos’?”Reading is personal, like music, like socks, like learning..and so sometimes it’s hard to do...but it’s known when it comes into the wake, one should probably read And The Hippos Were Boiled In Their Tanks and make it a personal endeavor. I heard too much friendly “Hippo” talk and prattle about authors William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac to not read it. It’s a subtly, delicately gossiped about book-- a big (not fat), “big-deal” book.

Starting blindly in style of execution, I lifted the cover easily, and read. It was hard; boring. Heavy-on-the-brain and a lot to digest barrenly (“what’s going on? Who’s ‘Cathcart’ again?”), the movement of The Hippos into a place in me that confessed to it, was not a smooth one. It’s hard to stay hooked on it, but maybe just for a theme addict and a development addict, because the novel is purely plot with no implication of implanted theme other than what is already contained between the characters and their interacting conversations. Like“Phillip”, a theorist of his kind discusses (like many of the characters) possible theme, but the authors don’t seem to imply it’s the theme of the novel; “’The artistic man alone will find the New Vision’” (41) Although the embedded discussion is a large clue into the context of the novel, the surrounding importance, it’s all very subtle.

I could’ve finished a book of it’s friendly, non-menacing, classy-menage, “important literature” calibre in about ten hours (ten for a book is not a lot of expense), but instead I found myself tackling layered and persistent, beautifully dictated, plumply characterized plot. Plot, plot, plot. It is down to it’s bare back really a plotted piece of history. And The Hippos Were Boiled In Their Tanks is a challenge to what’s loved about fiction, because it’s so heavy on plot, a lot to “keep up with”, and like I said was rather dry at first. There was no obvious indication of theme in terms of the plot, or what we like to call “meaning” within the story: something to pull out of the pages and reinvent ourselves with, a joust to our thought, perception, room design, wall-collage of “meaningful” quotes. However, as read on, the characters become more and more authentic and although they aren’t per-say “telling you something”, they imagistically (and slowly) create a very vivid and involving personality for the book, telling each-other something-- involving, yet with effort. Aside from the ton of plot, another reason it’s so hard to submerse yourself in is there is no diversity within the plot, no climax. It just treads, but treads beautifully, for the plot somehow enables the characters and the setting to develop gradually, and detailed with artistic detach, and vice-versa.

Half way through, I couldn’t really say I liked the book, or I disliked it, for it wasn’t giving me much other than a recap of elaborate certain people in elaborate certain places. But as I trudged on and finally finished, at the end, upon the murder of “Al” ( “Ramsay Allen”), the main and singular “event” that occurs, the writing takes a turn and feels very good and fetching for a final chapter. I then closed the book (after reading the afterword by James Grauerholz of course), and felt agreed and teetering on blown away...”wow, that was weird...that was an experience”.

And that’s exactly what it is; an experience. A prolonged, developing “wow”, not an immediate one. It’s a shocker and a startler, asking you to prove your commitment and dedication to the dry and cycling plot, then rewards you at the finish with a beautifully short fiasco that makes and turns the as-of-old fifteen chapters, one-hundred-and-sixty pages, worth the while. The end, if you make it, portrays the book as a lot better than you’d been led on, worth it, incredibly smart and validating of all the “Hippo talk”.

As the story is told from alternating perspectives of Burroughs and Kerouac, alternating their characters of “Will Dennison” and “Mike Ryko”, the two come closer together and it’s sure something grand-scale is about to happen, but the novel continues to lead you on and still “nothing” happens...until the finish, where the writing style, plot confusion on the behalf of the two writers, two characters, and two perceptions, all become very effective in twisting the book into one you can actually give a consensus on. It is carefully crafted and thankfully deceiving. Will Dennison (Burroughs), in chapter sixteen, after a whole book of something, something, something (mostly nothing):
“It was about seven o’clock Monday morning when my buzzer rang and woke me up...I opened the door and Phillip slid in quick...’Here’ he said, ‘have the last cigarette’. He held out a pack of Lucky Strikes smeared with blood. There was one cigarette left in the pack. ‘I just killed Al and through the body off a warehouse’. I took the cigarette and held it in my hand. Then I went and sat on the couch and motioned him to a chair opposite me. I said, ‘sit down and tell me all about it.’”(160)

With the turnover and go-away-ending, the repetition of the characters’ dragged on daily affairs, interests and anti-climatic relationships, seem neccessary, if not brilliant, and conquered as well as conquering (your intellect).

I’m sure possible consensus vary based on an understanding of it’s context and of the writers because the afterword may stand beyond essential in gaining one’s respect for the book. As I mentioned and as many are evidently aware of, it’s a witty and grand piece of history, that is finalized in the afterword by its confirmation of the importance of it to itself, the world of literature, the world (here comes theme!), and the writers.

It is a true story depicting a monumental segment of Burroughs’ and Kerouac’s involvement in a murder case, a case that ties in many of the great writers of their circle, from Ginsberg to Capote, highlighting some of their style back in Beat Generation days. They wrote the book very fragmentally in a time where the case was too hot to be written about, and so it was not published, hidden in suspended literary hyper-space. Written in 1945, it was finally published and released in 2008, once the writers had become distinctive and famed through their latter works--an interesting and important episode. It depicts their early writing, still identifying themselves, as a resurrection from all the rumor, a missing piece, a secret of literature, that would have not done nearly as well had it been released then, and that could be looked at as it’s greatest adornment. This information has got to be more intriguing than the actual content of the book in itself. However the knowledge also aids the book, makes it so much more interesting and unveils its brilliance as a very carefully and well-disguised true story of a vivid segment in their history, an important piece in the development of brilliant writers--but maybe it disables it from speaking for itself. I conclude that for all the confusion, the book is very worth it if you are interested in Burroughs and Kerouac and chitter-chatter, but if you are not, as well as not a fan of drinking, sea-stories, and great homoerotic relationships, you won’t make it.

“’I think I’ll go down there tonight and climb into his room’...’well’, I said ‘that’s taking the bull by the horns’...But Al was serious. He said ‘No, I’m just going to go into his room while he’s asleep and watch him for a while’...’And suppose he should wake up? He’ll think it’s some vampire hovering over him’...’Oh no’, said Al in resigned tones, ‘he’ll just tell me to get out. This has happened before’... ‘What do you do...do you just stand there’...’yes’, he said. ‘I just get as close to him as I can without waking him up, and stand there till dawn.’” (51)

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Apr 15, 2009 Nate Jordon rated it 5 of 5 stars

Presented for the first time, this legendary book chronicles the misadventures of the early founders of the Beat Generation nearly a decade before any of them acquired fame and notoriety. Here is Kerouac and Burroughs at their most raw and cockiest, characteristics that subsequently transmogrified to more gentle natures due to alcoholism, divorce, drug abuse, poverty, wanderlust, love, loss, failure, and success in the years to follow. There are many passages that illustrate this in the book, b...more

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Nov 30, 2009 Everett rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book was interesting because it was one of the first writing efforts by Kerouac and Burroughs. The story wasn't really anything profound; but I'm a Kerouac fan so I found it interesting nonetheless. Perhaps most interesting to me about this book (at least initially), was how poorly written it was. For example, almost to the point of being ponderous there is a constant dialogue format of the following:

I said, "I want pizza for dinner."
Then he said, "well I want steak."
So then I said, "What a...more

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Feb 17, 2013 Beth. rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I read this book based off of a recommendation of a friend, and because of the authors. Going into it, I knew it was based off of real events, however I knew minimal details of the actual crime story. I enjoy that it reads as if one of your friends is recounting events to you. It's very fitting of the styles of both authors, and it kept the pace up having the switch back and forth between them. If you're a fan at all of either author, you won't be able to pass it up. Upon finishing it, I had to...more

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Jan 03, 2011 Joe Hartigan rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This book is a fictionalized account of the murder that is legendary among fans of the Beat Generation, often referred to as "The Columbia Murder that Gave Birth to the Beats." The story is centered on a grim incident that occured within the circle of rebellious intellectuals living in Greenwich Village near the end of World War II -- namely Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, and Lucien Carr -- a full decade before three of the four men achieved international literary fame. The...more This book is a fictionalized account of the murder that is legendary among fans of the Beat Generation, often referred to as "The Columbia Murder that Gave Birth to the Beats." The story is centered on a grim incident that occured within the circle of rebellious intellectuals living in Greenwich Village near the end of World War II -- namely Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, and Lucien Carr -- a full decade before three of the four men achieved international literary fame. The book was written in 1945 by both Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs in alternating chapters.

In 1944, Lucien Carr was a freshman at Columbia University; his roommate was Allen Ginsberg, and the two spent most of their time drinking, smoking, taking drugs, and philosophising with the slightly older Jack Kerouac and the thirty-year-old William S. Burroughs. In the shadows of this group was thirty-three-year-old David Kammerer, who had met Carr seven years prior, when Carr was 12 and Kammerer was in his middle twenties. From the moment the two met, Kammerer developed an obsessive sexual and emotional desire for Carr, and he followed Carr and his family across countries and continents. Though the two were essentially friends -- Kammerer was considered a friend to both the Carr family and the group of young intellectuals Carr had begun spending time with -- the relationship might best be described as a passive and friendly stalking and teasing.

The relationship ended abruptly one night when, on a walk together, Kammerer made yet another sexual pass at Carr. As the story goes, Carr refused Kammerer's advances; however, this time, Kammerer did not stop, forcing himself on Carr. Carr defended himself with an old Swiss Army knife, stabbing Kamemrer twice in the stomach and chest and killing Kammerer. Carr then weighted Kammerer's body down with rocks and dumped it into the river before going to Burroughs and Kerouac for help.

Burroughs and Kerouac were both eventually questioned about the murder, and Kerouac spent a short time in jail for assisting Carr in the disposal of some evidence of the murder of their friend. Carr pled guilty to a charge of first degree manslaughter, spent two years in a correctional facility; after his release, he eventually married, had a family, and had a long and highly dignified career as a journalist while his friends lived the lives of literary gods.

This book is not for everyone. Specifically, this book is for people who are familiar with the Beat Generation and are specifically fans of Kerouac and Burroughs. Though the book is admittedly not very well written -- it will not grip the unfamiliar reader who is looking to get caught up in a dark thriller -- for fans of the Beat Generation, it provides an invaluable insight into the early minds, methods, and lives of Kerouac, Burroughs, Ginsberg, and Carr, and it pulls back the veil -- if not all the way -- on the most infamous and shrouded event in the lives of all the Beats. (less)

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Jun 06, 2012 Adrienna rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone who is into the beat writers

Since this book was written before either writer found their voice, it is best read as a piece of history. Burroughs and Kerouac switch back and forth between chapters in this somewhat fictional story about the real life murder of David Kammerer commited by Lucien Carr. Both victims were friends and both Burroughs and Kerouac learned about the murder before it was reported to the police. The book was written at least 10 years before Howl was published, but some believe this event was a turning p...more

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Aug 26, 2009 Caris rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: beat-generation, 2009

The afterword in this book would have me change my feelings about the novel. It appeals to the adoration I have for the two gents responsible for composing this work and completely detracts from its merit.

Hippos is a middle of the road work. It brings nothing new and, to be honest, isn't written well enough to warrant mention. It was probably a fun book to write and it's a terribly fun book to read, but only if you're the sort of person who is really into Beat mythology.

I can see why Hippos is...more

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Jan 04, 2009 Bill rated it 3 of 5 stars

I stumbled across this on the new releases shelf at the public library and was immediately intrigued by the title. Also I have read and enjoyed other works by both Kerouac and Burroughs, so I had to bring it home and check it out. It's a previously unpublished account in novel form of a notorious murder in the mid-40s that happened in the beat crowd that Burroughs and Kerouac hung around with, ans both of them got involved when the killer confessed to each one separately before turning himself i...more

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Oct 31, 2011 Michelle rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, biographical, books-i-own, fiction, mysterious, post-modernism

I've never been that into the Beat Generation. I admit, I've never read Naked Lunch or On The Road, not out of active dislike, more just because I get busy and I have other books all over my house to be read, all I've done is read some Allen Ginsberg. Anyway, I'm a big fan of the sort of pulp detective novels of the Raymond Chandler variety, so I decided that maybe this would be a good introduction to Beat novels for me. After all, the cover of And The Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks includes...more

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Aug 02, 2011 M. Cornelis van der Weele IV rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book is probably better suited to purists and completists than the casual reader or new initiate. Essentially you're looking at the reproduction of a manuscript hovering somewhere around second draft quality (out of three or four). The piece echoes a call-and-response format, with each author providing his own individual chapters and protagonists in which to frame them. An answer key to who wrote what hangs on to the beginning of the novel, but astute readers should be able to tell who's re...more This book is probably better suited to purists and completists than the casual reader or new initiate. Essentially you're looking at the reproduction of a manuscript hovering somewhere around second draft quality (out of three or four). The piece echoes a call-and-response format, with each author providing his own individual chapters and protagonists in which to frame them. An answer key to who wrote what hangs on to the beginning of the novel, but astute readers should be able to tell who's responsible for which section without much of a problem.

Of the two authors, it's obvious Kerouac is, at this point at least, the superior writer. His prose, while still in development, possesses the seed of a certain stark energy which will be more readily on display some years later in "The Town and the Country," and more perfectly development even further on in his penultimate work, "On the Road." On the other hand, fans of Burroughs--especially the frantic nihilism of his "Naked Lunch" period--will probably be disappointed by the lackluster efforts of their literary hero. It's no secret that his earliest endeavors were more encouraged by Ginsberg than an inner impulse, and that amateur's voice--deadpan, a bit *too* dry and disinterested sounding, is the dominant tone of his chapters.

The subject matter is somewhat sensationalist in nature, taking the standard (but not yet standard) Beat tack of semi-autobiography. Everything in these pages is real--sort of--and if the events aren't 100% attached to fact, you can guarantee the characters were real people with the names all switched around. Even the authors choose to use pseudonyms at this point. Either way, based on that alone the plot needs little explaining--because how do you comment on something that mostly actually happened? At best you could say they handled it accurately as a piece of fiction, believably, even if it does come off a bit terse, but again you're only really looking at technique.

If you're looking into reading the book, though, you probably already know what the plot's all about, in which case discussing it is still moot.

Is it a *good* book? Well . . . it kept me interested, and there are books that haven't even done that. I thought it moved along nicely enough for what it was--which was an exercise. An attempt at making something that capitalized upon a certain moment at a certain time and the circumstances that threw those things together. Like I said, it's not for beginners in the Kerouac/Burroughs canon, but perhaps after a couple books--definitely on the Kerouac side--you can pull out the gems buried within.(less)

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Dec 27, 2009 Audrey rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book was above all else an interesting bit of literary history. It was written in the mid 1940s, almost a full ten years before Kerouac and Burroughs became famous. It is written from the perspective of two characters, Dennison and Ryko, written by Burroughs and Kerouac respectively. It is fascinating to read their early work, and to see their styles play off one another. It is a fictionalized version of their experiences with the Kammerer murder by Lucien Carr, and they do it justice. In t...more

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Jul 12, 2010 Richard rated it 2 of 5 stars

The introduction to this book mentions that "Hippos" existed for years in manuscript form, buried under floor boards. Could be apocryphal, as most "lost art" stories are. Dear estates of the late Messrs Kerouac and Burroughs: should've left this manuscript under the floorboards. Or maybe ran it past an editor?

My big problem with "Hippos" was that I couldn't feel sympathy for any of the characters. They had "no form or beauty that we should desire them." The protagonists spend the entirety of the...more

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About William S. Burroughs

William Seward Burroughs Jnr. always looked like the straight man among the Beat Generation, but his writing - violent, satirical, scatological, pornographic - makes the others look tame.
Burroughs was born into middle-class respectability and after studying English at Harvard and medicine in Vienna, trained as a glider pilot with the American military but was discharged as unfit for service in 194...more

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“I began to get a feeling (...) of being the only sane man in a nut house. It doesn't make you feel superior but depressed and scared, because there is nobody you can contact.” — 20 people liked it

“All over America, people were pulling credentials out of their pockets and sticking them under someone else's nose to prove they had been somewhere or done something. And I thought someday everyone in America will suddenly jump up and say, 'I don't take any shit!' and start pushing and cursing and clawing at the man next to him.” — 10 people liked it

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