Bushman Lives!

Neddie & Friends #4

by Daniel Pinkwater

“What Pinkwater does is magic, and I’m grateful for it.” --Neil Gaiman (about The Neddiad )
 
Is Bushman the gorilla alive? According to the papers, he died a long time ago. Why is he so important to the high school senior and aspiring Great Artist Harold Knishke? It’s a hot summer in 1960s Chicago, and people are on the streets late at night, including the Chicken Man and Molly the dwerg. While reading this hilarious young adult novel (with illustrations by Calef Brown!) teens will ask themselves, “Why am I reading this?” and “Is Harold about to embark on a voyage of great adventure?” He is.

Genres: Young Adult, Humor, Fantasy, Art, Fiction, Childrens, Coming Of Age

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Daniel Manus Pinkwater is an author of mostly children's books and is an occasional commentator on National Public Radio. He attended Bard College. Well-known books include Lizard Music, The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death, Fat Men from Space, Borgel, and the picture book The Big Orange Splot. Pinkwater has also illustrated many of his books in the past, although for more recent works that task has passed to his wife Jill Pinkwater.

Reviews

[Melki · Rating 3 out of 5]

This serves as a great example of how NOT to read a book. I read this for free online, serialized, one chapter a week, starting 9/12/11 and finishing 1/14/13. Each chapter consists of a few paragraphs (or less!), so it was pretty hard to become deeply involved in the story, as one week seemed to be just the amont of time needed to forget the previous week's paragraph. Then again...perhaps if the story had been a bit more involving...

The plot, such as it is, meanders all about the place, but it's something about gorillas, becoming an art student, and inviting the homeless over for pancakes.


Then suddenly, PACHOOIE!, it was over. I'm so glad the author had the sense to write the words "the end," 'cos otherwise, I never would have known.

[Jenne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I imagine the conversation went something like this:

Publisher: O Mr Pinkwater we are ever so looking forward to your new novel suitable for juvenile children with animals in it

Pinkwater: SIR I SHALL WRITE THE BOOK THAT I PLEASE AND THERE SHALL BE ANIMALS IN IT AND ARTISTS AND JAMES JOYCE QUOTATIONALS ALSO BEER AND TITS AND YOU MAY PUT IT IN WHATEVERLY SECTION OF THE LIBRARY YOU SO DESIRE. AIN'T GIVE A DAMN.

[Sarah Booth · Rating 4 out of 5]

another fascinating Pinkwater journey

This series is fascinating. Each book gives you a story about a person and interconnects them in either small or large ways. They're character studies who have adventures but it is the things they learn and the people they meet that keep me reading. I really enjoy his work but often find I want more info at the end and that the story should keep going but since I am a book or two short of finishing the series, I've read them out of order and my
Memory is crap, I really shouldn't be critical. Plus they're just so damn engaging!

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zany - check
Qwirky - check
Eclectic - check
Set in either New Jersey or Chicago - check
Artists - check
Poets - check
References to smoking, drinking, drugs & sex all without talking down to kids or lecturing kids (this book is not about any of those things, they are just part of the story) - check
Lack of plot - check
Funny as hell - check
Written by the greatest writer ever (not the greatest author, the greatest writer) - check

Very very good book - it would be a masterpiece if it was written by anyone else but to be honest this did not measure up to the "greats" of Pinkwater like Borgel, Snarkout Boys, The Last Guru etc.

Still highly recommended

[Fuzzy Gerdes · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a certified Daniel Pinkwater fanatic. And when I started Bushman Lives I was thinking that I've read this same Pinkwater book a half—dozen times before–young misfit travels through underground Chicago in the 50s or 60s and meets a bunch of weirdos—but that that was OK. I think I could read that same book another half-dozen times, Pinkwater does it so well. But at the end, I was vaguely unsatisfied. This feels to me more like the sketch of a start of a Pinkwater book. There are still plenty of sections that have that great Pinkwater magic, but I'm not sure the book holds up overall and I definitely wouldn't hand it to someone as their first Pinkwater read.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this one would have been even more enjoyable if I had read some of Pinkwater's other works. Still, this is a fun read, with strong doses of absurdity and art history thrown in for good measure.

[Madeline · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bushman Lives! was an unexpected miss for me. I've loved every other book in Pinkwater's Neddie & Friends series, but this one just lacked the magic and whimsy that makes the other stories so special. As such, it was kind of boring and very average—not words I thought I'd ever apply to Pinkwater. Can't win 'em all, I guess!

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is hard for me to review -- I want to give it between 3 and 4 stars. The tough thing about this book is it is really two stories:

The first is the story of Harold Knishke, a youth disconnected from normal high-school student culture, but connected to a cast of other characters through a prophetic ballad, the story of a legendary gorilla named Bushman, and circumstance. It also borrows liberally and directly from Lizard Music, recasting characters and recycling the main Surrealist idee fixe. Ultimately, this story is a McGuffin for the second, and is unsatisfying.

As another reviewer points out, Bushman Lives! is also about the many aspects of art. Readers familiar with Pinkwater's autobiographical essays will recognize characters, situations, and themes from his own life. This is mainly what Bushman Lives! is about, in that, this is the story that begins, develops, and ends within its pages.

So I'm left thinking if this story could be cleansed of its Neddiad and Lizard Music connections this would be a most excellent story about the pursuit of art. But not only is this first story unsatisfying in Bushman Lives!, it feels like a wasted opportunity. Perhaps this storyline will continue in the future, and it will make more sense in hindsight.

[Debbie Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a breath of fresh air to read a book without dead parents or someone suffering from illness/trauma/heartbreak etc. Wonderful feel for Chicago of late 60's, great for independent-minded reader (with artistic bent?). Other reviews comment on relationship to past Pinkwater novels which I am sadly not familiar with so must defer to them.

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amusingly weird, but the ending was too abrupt for my taste.

[Emily Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this book! I read it with my teenagers 18 and 13 who both loved it. It's technically for YA, but there is not much "adult" about it. The main character drinks some beer (not to excess) and wants to kiss a girl. The book is set in Chicago, and high-schooler Harold Knishke sets out on an adventure to learn more about life and art. Both are weird.
Through this book, the reader learns about Chicago, beatnik culture, some strange characters from other Pinkwater books, and art. Harold is pursuing a career in art, and everyone around him is pursuing something just as meaningful and elusive. In a way, this book (and many Pinkwater books) reminded me of Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City--without the sex and drugs but overflowing with the quirky characters and with the city of Chicago playing a quirky character of its own.
My sons and I were not impressed with the suspiciously endingless ending. But the book might be worth another read to see if we were wrong.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel doesn't have much of a plot, but so what? It has the strange situations and quirky characters that I love in any Pinkwater book. This is the story of Harold Knishke, a teenager living in Chicago in the 1960s. He is taking flute lessons, but he sucks at flute playing, and so he switches to visual arts, where he meets some truly bizarre people -- beatniks, Bohemians, wacky girls, and an animal known only as The Wolluf. And who is Bushman? He is a dead gorilla who is not even in this book except in spirit. This book won't be to everyone's taste, but I love it and think that Daniel Pinkwater is a national treasure.

[Ellice · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel doesn't really have a plot.

This doesn't matter.

Daniel Pinkwater is consistently a delight, plot or no. This book follows young Harold Knishke through a series of interconnected adventures with the stranger (and possibly more extraterrestrial) denizens of Chicago. There are threads started and continued, threads begun and abandoned, and a conclusion that will not please those who like everything tied in a nice, neat bow.

Pinkwater draws his characters so well, though that it's a charming, addictive story, and well worth a read.

[Dan Blackley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a fan of Mr. Pinkwater. I have read many of his books. This one is a strange departure for him. Besides using profane language, it is a "Catcher in the rye" type of adventure for the main character. He drinks, talks about breasts, and degrades education.
I have to say, this isn't the Pinkwater of Lizard Music/Borgel/Larry. I almost felt like Pinkwater was angry about the type of books kids were reading and wrote this for them. I thought that it was weird and humorous, but it didn't have the flair that his other books have.

[Mike · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book started out promising, with some quirky characters and funny exchanges, but it devolved into vignettes with no real purpose, and the character arc was not compelling. A definite pass.

[Mary T · Rating 2 out of 5]

A disappointment.

[Justin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A compelling and breezy bit of young-adult-beatnik-surrealism. It's nowhere in the vicinity of coherent, but the ending is somehow extremely satisfying.

[Barbara Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember the first time I visited the Chicago Art Institute. It was a blistering hot summer day and my mother and I had just spent several hours searching for inexpensive parking (which does not exist in the Loop.) We had made the trip down from Grand Rapids to take a tour of the school located near and in the Art Institute. To me, this was the epitome of what I wanted to be after high school, a coffee drinking, Wicker Park living, city dweller with a canvas strapped to my back as I sneered and tourists who crowded MY streets as I was trying to get to class.


Thankfully, this is did not happen. I ended up at a liberal arts college studying painting with professors who did not see me as a potential threat to their own careers. But I always wondered what my life would have been like if I had chosen that path. Would I be a different person? Would I still live in Chicago? Would I be a successful artist by now (this would probably still be a no)?!?

If my life turned out like Harold Knishke’s, I think I may have enjoyed my life in Chicago.

Harold Knishke wanders around downtown Chicago one summer day after being told my his flute instructor that he was the worst flute player ever. THE WORST. His tutor even offers to buy Harold’s flute off of him so he is never tempted to pick up his instrument again. As Harold walks, he recalls last night when his friend Geets crawls through his window, bringing him Guinness and a banana, in honor of the dead gorilla named Bushman. In a chance meeting, a beatnik girl sitting on the steps of the Art Institute tells him that he needs to look at a painting inside. “It does things,” she claims. Harold does indeed stare at the painting and as he does he is transformed. The world to him looks a little bit off; better, but off. Through more chance meetings Harold enrolls in a life drawing class and decided that he wants to be an artist, he just isn’t sure if he knows what one is yet.

Surprisingly deep for a children’s novel, Bushman Lives! covers some pretty complex themes. Ranging from political systems like socialism, to the philosophies of art, these concepts were handled in a simplistic and understandable way. Harold contemplates what art is and what makes a great artist. (Sad to say, but sometimes I don’t even know what great art is.)

In the end, we never learn if Harold decided to be an artist. But what we do know is that Harold made a decision that changed the course of his life.

If I learned anything from art school, this is the kind of painting I want to create; with or without a Chicago Art Institute Education.

[Erica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have you ever played a musical instrument? Are you musically talented? Harold Knishke isn't. He is terrible in fact. So terrible that one summer day his flute teacher asks him to quit, and even offers to buy his instrument off him. With money in his pocket and new-found free time Harold hits the streets of Chicago in search of some entertainment. He ends up at the Art Institute where he decides to become an artist. Chicago in the 1960's is an exciting time for aspiring artists and Harold soon blends in with the beatnik crowd where he learns that not everyone is as crazy as they first seem, and some are even crazier.

This book is full of a wonderful, dry humor and a strong absurdist sensibility. Harold wanders around Chicago running into one bizarre character after another. They're not entirely realistic but they are highly entertaining and they teach him real lessons in art and acceptance. To get a sense of the playful tone of the novel, read this excerpt from a book that Harold receives entitled Modern Art, An Invention of the Devil?:

"The reader will no doubt be aware that the Impressionists were nothing but a bunch of unwashed wine-swilling Frenchmen who sat around in cafes or pursued dirty women at the end of the nineteenth century...The activities of these parasites and degenerates give rise to Cubism, Fauvism, Futurism, Pointillism, Constructivism, Orphism, Surrealism, Dada, and also Impossibleism, Supersurrealism, Dynamic Double-Dog Realism, Ishkabibbleism, and Mama, which is like Dada only nicer."

Of course our protagonist Harold soon sees that the author "was a raving lunatic and a nutbar. But that did not mean it was not a useful book." Indeed Harold learns many things from people who fit that description. The idea that everyone has something to teach you is an important theme in the novel, and Pinkwater shows that in the most delightful way. On a more personal note, the Gorilla has long been my favorite animal, so I appreciated the sympathetic view of them in the novel.

There wasn't much of a story arc. It felt like the narrative just meandered along the streets of Chicago with Harold and then, eventually got tired and stopped. Even though this annoyed me a bit it matched the tone of the story well.

I'd give this to fans of comedy and art 7th grade and up who are willing to suspend disbelief. A lot of the novel doesn't exactly make sense so if that would bother you, then this is not the book you are looking for. But if you're willing to follow Harold's lead and just accept things as they come then you're in for an entertaining and ultimately touching ride.

[Benjamin]

Bushman Lives! is both an exemplary and an exceptional Daniel Pinkwater novel. Structurally, it is as wacky, winding, and wonderful as the lovely books that came before. Characters come and go, ranging from 1970s throwbacks to 2012 originals. Amazing people, places, and things are everywhere, and Pinkwater's steady syntax and graceful pacing let us appreciate all those amazing things. His dialogue is absolutely airtight: Chapter 27 of this book is one of the best chapters he ever wrote, and will turn any reader into a Pinkwater fan. And Calef Brown's illustrations are back in a big way: he captures Pinkwater's tone, humor, and characterization beautifully, and I hope they go on to do many more books together.

If you enjoyed anything Pinkwater ever wrote, you'll enjoy Bushman Lives! as well. That's not why I gave it five stars, though.

Unlike the other three Pinkwater books I've read (The Neddiad, The Yggyssey, and Adventures of a Cat-Whiskered Girl), Bushman Lives! is more than an adventure. Don't get me wrong, I love Neddie and Yggdrasil and Audrey, and theirs are some of the most enjoyable (if disjointed) sagas I've read recently. But where their stories have goals or objectives, Bushman Lives! has a beautiful theme: the pursuit of art.

Despite its title being a monkey-promoting mantra, Bushman Lives! is an honest, earnest meditation on the practice and purpose of art in all its forms. Harold Knishke is more than merely a receptacle for the narrative: he is a budding artist who practices his craft, researches new subjects, interacts with masters and other novices, is subjected to different art forms, and most importantly, is surrounded constantly by inspiring experiences. Pinkwater uses him to ask and answer fundamental questions about art as a practice, a skill, a lifestyle, and an occupation.

After reading about Neddie, Iggy, and Audrey, I was prepared for another young person's weird adventures, possibly in the U.S. in the 50s, possibly in an alternate dimension. What I wasn't prepared for was a really sweet treatise on art. I mean, you get weird adventures, too. But you also get an amazing, heartfelt love letter to the arts. What's not to love? This book is a deep dreamboat! Bushman lives!

[Monica Zepeda]

This review was originally posted on The Librarian Writer blog.

Bushman Lives! is the latest book by Daniel Pinkwater and in case you've missed it, he's been serializing the novel for the past year, one chapter a week. But if you want to read the entire novel at once, it's slated to be published next month.

Bushman Lives! takes place in 1960's Chicago, but except for the lack of cell phones and the Internet, it doesn't read as a historical piece. It does, however, read as a quirky piece, which one would expect from Daniel Pinkwater.

Harold Knishke and his friend Geets are fans of the dearly departed gorilla known as Bushman. They greet each other with "Bushman lives!", sort as a secret code to each other and to people that they meet. It's the start of summer vacation and Harold has no real plans for the summer. But then he stumbles into a museum one day and decides he wants to be an artist.

The novel almost reads as a picaresque novel with Harold having odd adventures that sort of connect to each other and meeting odd people who sort of connect to each other as Harold learns how to be an artist.

But there's no real plot to the novel, which I was fine with because I enjoyed having adventures with Harold. But there's also no real ending, either. Just as it seemed that all the adventures and characters were coming together to actually have a point, it just ends.

And I'm like .... wha ...?

I hope that this is the first of a series because I dug Harold and want to have more adventures with him. And because I really, really want to know how this book ends.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Bushman Lives!" is my first journey into the world of Daniel Pinkwater, and I had no idea what to expect. Pinkwater had been recommended to me by friends who knew that I loved Christopher Moore ("Sacre Bleu," "The Stupidest Angel") and Neil Gaiman ("The Graveyard Book," "American Gods"), so I figured what the heck.

After the first twenty pages, I was wondering what my friends had gotten me into, as I could not make heads or tails of the story of young Harold Knishke, a Chicago teenager who has the luxury of being able to leave school for extended periods of time due to his role as a hall monitor. Pinkwater does not follow a strict plot - rather, "Bushman Lives!" is a strange odyssey for young Harold as he first puts a toe into the water of fine art (he quits flute lessons) and gradually takes deeper and deeper steps into his passion.

Along the way, Harold's life path becomes intertwined with a dizzying cast of characters both real and fantastical. Perhaps it's because he's a teenager, but Harold has a great capacity to take things as they are; he's a master at going with the flow. But along the way he begins to discover what makes him tick and why, which makes "Bushman Lives!" a terrific book for young people. This is a highly original journey of discovery.

I do recommend that you give this to older readers, as the lack of a clear plot may frustrate younger readers who need things to be a bit more literal. Once I got into the spirit of the thing, "Bushman Lives!" came alive for me and demanded an immedaite re-read. It is a short book, and for me it ends a bit on a semicolon rather than an exclamation point, but that's a minor quibble.

Bushman Lives! Indeed.

[Chumbert Squurls · Rating 3 out of 5]

Always excited to get my hands on the new Pinkwater tome. Recently he's been scoring zinger after zinger (Adventures of a Cat-Whiskered Girl, The Yggyssey, The Neddiad...) Pinkwater nails his usual tropes with a seasoned hand at writing his own genre. The Pinkwater checklist is unrolled as follows: First person narrator (Harold Knishke) unpopular in school with Idiosyncratic best friend(Geets Hildebrand), Clueless parents with specific quirks(rented apartment kept at sub 50 degrees to play bridge), thorough descriptions of food(hot Dogs), oodles of characters, bizarre element of science fiction(Small white house, with an interior the size of a football field conserved by shady creeps wrapped in gauze), descriptions of cool, old neighborhoods inhabited by goofy artists and weirdos visited by the protagonist late at night, references to old pop culture specifically classic movies(King Kong), references to other Pinkwater books and of course everyone has catchy names. Unlike his previous 5 or so books there is no plot what so ever. Pinkwater pulls the same tricks with out a plot to structure his rambling prose. The ending is abrupt and many unsolved mysteries lay hanging to tease the reader. That would be alright if this was the point, but I don't think it is. The ending in which the protagonist embarks on a voyage to a mythical island somewhere in Lake Michigan isn't suspenseful enough to be a cliff hanger, so it almost seems like Pinkwater just got fed up with the book and sent it away to be published. A disappointment from the Pynchon of children's literature.

[Joshua Gross · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, I'm a big Pinkwater fan, though I haven't read all of his books, particularly his more recent ones, but I did read the Neddiad and the Yggysey. This one was meant for an older teen reader and had some surprises. I think it's the first time I've read the f-word in a Pinkwater book. He also delightfully scorns the public education system, belief in God, and capitalism, while providing readers with an education on art and art history, and a view of Pinkwater's particular version of Chicago. There's a lot we've seen before from Pinkwater, notably the Chicken Man, lizard people, Napoleans at the cafeteria, etc. but this just added to the Pinkwaterness of it all instead of sounding like recycled material, because the story itself was interesting and compelling, and all coming together to one big finale..................that we never get! It all comes together for something that sounded really neat and harkened back to Lizard Music days, but then it just stops. Out of nowhere. I have to confess, I was kind of disappointed, but I'm sure Pinkwater was making a point or having a good joke. Who knows, maybe all will be revealed in a later book. Then again, maybe not....

[Rocky Sonnek Soller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh lord. I don't know where to start with this book. Does my beloved DMP have a degenerative brain disorder (please g -d no)? Was he being rushed by his publisher or agent to continue the, no doubt, wildly popular Neddy- Yggy - Cat Eyed Girl - Molly series?

I pretty much loved most of this book. But then it starts tying into Lizard Music, and other books in his early canon. Maybe Lizard Music takes place in an alternate universe, but when Victor shows up, it takes a lot of goodwill to try to fit him in to this book. The timelines do not match up. And then when it ends so abruptly, it feels like a betrayal. Also, there was a freaky little bit of plagiarism. I don't know how it happened. I am sure it was an oversight. Call me on FB Mr. P, if you want to talk about it. I will always love you no matter what.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Daniel Pinkwater is so strange,but I like it. I liked this book for the period (50's? 60's?) Chicago details.It's aJ bookat mylibrary but I reallythink it would do better in YA. For one thing, the main character is a junior in high school and gets into age-typical situations. For another, the book is about how one becomes an artist and I think a YA audience would be more receptive. It has a weird ending: they all sail of in a trireme. This may be the cue for the next in a series. I found it oddly like the end of Fellini Satyricon where the protagonist sails off to parts unknown with a similar sense of optimism. That movie is also about being an artist. And giant heads appear from time to time...

[Bryce · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quirky. Quiet. Quaint.

It feels like Wes Anderson a bit, not as good, but sharing a similar feel. It's charmingly weird, but it seems more focused on being odd than actually telling a story or doing anything all that interesting.

[sort-of spoiler] Despite the information on it in the beginning, the title's namesake ends up as just an odd running joke, and absolutely nothing happens with that little detail. It gets more annoying when a new detail about Bushman's location is introduced, and then the most that comes from that is the vague implication of the boat traveling there at the end. [End of sort-of spoiler]

It's got the character types and humor down, it just needs an actual story.

[Becky Shaknovich · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a top-notch book. Ideal for lovers of art or anyone who enjoys weird. I have not read nearly enough Daniel Pinkwater. When I get my hands on some more of his books, I may feel some of the relative disappointment that other readers mention in their reviews. My only problem with this book was in the title (and catchphrase, which is the same as the title). While I understand that Bushman was the name of a real gorilla in the Zoo, I am disappointed with the use of this offensive term, particularly offensive when applied to a gorilla. The author or editor could have added a bit to explain why the word is offensive and what led them to choose to use it anyway

[Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bushman Lives! is a book for teens about art. It's set in Chicago in the 50's and it's got beatniks, lizard men, possible aliens, great sandwiches, opera, a regal gorilla, mystery, adventure, wry social commentary, sublime metaphysical truths, and a rollicking good time. It increased my enthusiasm for living in Chicago specifically and for living in the world generally. I'm a huge Pinkwater fan and he has really outdone himself this time. I anxiously await the sequel!

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, let me just say that I love this author. He has a beautifully strange sense of humor. He wants every kid to be able to appreciate things that they do not understand.

This novel explores art and art appreciation. This novel is in the juvenile section, but caution: for younger readers the main character is 17 and does drink alcohol and smoke cigarettes.