The Electric Koolaid Acid Test Feed the Hungry Bee

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 · 318 ratings  · 17 reviews

Start your review of The Electric Kool-aid Acid Test/The Kandy Kolored Tangerine Flake Streamline Baby/Radical Chic & Mau Mauing the Flak Catchers

The author wrote much of this as a tripping stream of conscience narrative. Much of it is therefore incomprehensible unless you've partaken of the splendid electric koolaid yourself. It's fun, and a romp through a slice of history that not many have made an effort to document. It's dreamlike madness and dayglo adventures that like a dream dissipate with the morning sun. I hate to give it a poor 3 stars but I could only truly grok about 3/5's of it anyway and I had to let the rest pour over me li The author wrote much of this as a tripping stream of conscience narrative. Much of it is therefore incomprehensible unless you've partaken of the splendid electric koolaid yourself. It's fun, and a romp through a slice of history that not many have made an effort to document. It's dreamlike madness and dayglo adventures that like a dream dissipate with the morning sun. I hate to give it a poor 3 stars but I could only truly grok about 3/5's of it anyway and I had to let the rest pour over me like a DFW epic tome of semi-sensical gags and disjointed observations.

Look, you simply can't describe some things with mere words. LSD is one of those things. I think he did a fine job writing a 3/5's readable tale. Do I recommend it? Yes and no. You old heads out there know you need to read it....the rest of you shouldn't bother unless you found Proust and Joyce easy literary mountains to climb and understand. Maybe you masochists will make it to 5/5? Namaste.

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Read stoned and "america' will finaĺly make sence Read stoned and "america' will finaĺly make sence ...more

The Unspoken Thing; Kesey's role and the whole direction the Pranksters were taking-all the pranksters were conscious of it, but none of them put it into words, as I say. They made a point of not putting it into words. that in itself was one of the unspoken rules. If you label it this, then it can't be that....Kesey took great pains not to make his role explicit. he wasn't the authority, somebody else was: "Babbs says...." "Page says...." he wasn't the leader, he was the "non-navigator."

Quotes f

The Unspoken Thing; Kesey's role and the whole direction the Pranksters were taking-all the pranksters were conscious of it, but none of them put it into words, as I say. They made a point of not putting it into words. that in itself was one of the unspoken rules. If you label it this, then it can't be that....Kesey took great pains not to make his role explicit. he wasn't the authority, somebody else was: "Babbs says...." "Page says...." he wasn't the leader, he was the "non-navigator."

Quotes from Kesey that I enjoyed:

"You're either on the bus or off the bus."

"feed the hungry bee,"

"Nothing lasts,"

"See with your ears and hear with your eyes,"

"Put your good where it will do the most,"

"What did the mirror say? It's done with people."

The in inscrutable koans, in which the ovice says, "what is the secret of Zen?" and the Hui-neng the master says, "What did your face look like before your parents begat you?"

"On the the face of it there was just a group of people who had shared an unusal psychological state, the LSD experience-
They all began with an overwhelming new experience, what Joachim Wach called the experience of the holy," and Max Weber, "possession of the deity," the sense o being a vessel of the divine, of the All-one.

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Feb 20, 2008 Greg rated it it was amazing

I've only read "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" and not the others, but it was a breath of fresh air even though it was written in the 60's. It seemed to really capture the feel of experience that they had, and it felt like a mental documentary to me (that is that all documentaries are based upon a perspective, and this clearly had a perspective). It's amazing what was being done at that time culturally and literally. I've only read "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" and not the others, but it was a breath of fresh air even though it was written in the 60's. It seemed to really capture the feel of experience that they had, and it felt like a mental documentary to me (that is that all documentaries are based upon a perspective, and this clearly had a perspective). It's amazing what was being done at that time culturally and literally. ...more

Nov 06, 2007 Kimberly rated it it was amazing

I think your opinion of a book depends on who you are when you read it. I read this in college, and it opened my eyes. It was my #1 favorite for a while. Not sure how I woudl feel about it if I read it now. I'm not quite as liberal. I think your opinion of a book depends on who you are when you read it. I read this in college, and it opened my eyes. It was my #1 favorite for a while. Not sure how I woudl feel about it if I read it now. I'm not quite as liberal. ...more

Jan 24, 2008 J marked it as to-read

I didn't finish the acid test because I tried reading this while at a residential job where I could be (and was) interrupted frequently which didn't really work with the attention this story requires. Someday I want to pick it up again and give it another shot. I didn't finish the acid test because I tried reading this while at a residential job where I could be (and was) interrupted frequently which didn't really work with the attention this story requires. Someday I want to pick it up again and give it another shot. ...more

Oct 31, 2014 Carmen rated it liked it

I would recommend to: folks that lived through this generation (you're about 60-70 years old now), and especially folks that didn't--just to get a "his"torical point of view regarding what was happening when Kesey's groupies intersected a few bonafide history making events of the '60s. I would recommend to: folks that lived through this generation (you're about 60-70 years old now), and especially folks that didn't--just to get a "his"torical point of view regarding what was happening when Kesey's groupies intersected a few bonafide history making events of the '60s. ...more

Aug 03, 2012 Holly rated it it was amazing

I love this mind bending kaleidoscopic hippy trip book!!!

I read this in (probably) high school. I should pick it up again and refresh myself.

Mar 29, 2007 Jerry rated it liked it

Required reading in some intro college level (or high school lit) classes. As it should be. Clever.

[the cover is silver with black type -- thick because it has the book along with several essays] his style really grabbed me and i proceeded to read the rest of his books.

Aug 18, 2007 Jodi Lu rated it it was ok

acid test is of course fun but the other two are unbearable. really. just too frantic and no payoff.

Wolfe was educated at Washington and Lee Universities and also at Yale, where he received a PhD in American studies.

Tom Wolfe spent his early days as a Washington Post beat reporter, where his free-association, onomatopoetic style would later become the trademark of New Journalism. In books such as The Electric Koolaid Acid Test, The Right Stuff, and The Bonfire of the Vanities, Wolfe delves into

Wolfe was educated at Washington and Lee Universities and also at Yale, where he received a PhD in American studies.

Tom Wolfe spent his early days as a Washington Post beat reporter, where his free-association, onomatopoetic style would later become the trademark of New Journalism. In books such as The Electric Koolaid Acid Test, The Right Stuff, and The Bonfire of the Vanities, Wolfe delves into the inner workings of the mind, writing about the unconscious decisions people make in their lives. His attention to eccentricities of human behavior and language and to questions of social status are considered unparalleled in the American literary canon.

He is one of the founders of the New Journalism movement of the 1960s and 1970s.

Tom Wolfe is also famous for coining and defining the term fiction-absolute .

http://us.macmillan.com/author/tomwolfe

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