Drop City

When you look at the front cover of this book, with its bold pink lettering (matches the spine of the book you know - not one you're going to lose easily) and its picture of two hippies in the grass, you could instantly expect a tale of flower power, free loving and and things hippy. And for the first few chapters you'd be right. But as the bulldozers threaten the closure of the commune, the story takes a turn and starts to become interesting...

Drop City is a commune in California where anyone and everyone is welcome. Men, women, couples, families - no one is turned away. Though this policy seems to be the beginning of the end for the commune. When a few less pleasant incidents occur and the authorities start to take more of an interest in the goings on within the boundaries of Drop City, the founder, Norm, decides to relocate to Boynton, Alaska.

Once the community of Boynton has been introduced to the reader, the bulk of the story centres on the relocation of Drop City, and the integration of the two communities. In my opinion this was when the book really came into its own. The early section was a nice portrayal of the commune life, and pleasantly wasn't a pure exercise in propaganda for a time now passed. However, the later part of the book seemed to have a better flow, and really keeps you reading - you'll promise yourself that you'll go and do the washing up at the end of the chapter you're reading, and find yourself still sat there three chapters later.

The characters are well written, if not always likeable and the dialogue rings true. Some of the descriptions of places and event jump off the page at you. This book has a bit too much going on to be a good beach or train read, it's definitely not chick lit but is definitely worth making the time for, especially if you enjoyed books by authors like Alex Garland and Tom Wolfe. [Jenni Nock]

Drop City - T.C Boyle (from £1.05 new or 85p used)

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