Will Heron's Review of Demon Box by Ken Kesey
Fascinated to see what the man at the heart of the Merry Pranksters is all about, but not quite ready to get into One Flew Over The Cuckoo Nest yet, Demon Box seemed the obvious choice. It’s a collection of short stories ranging massively in topics, themes and style.
The best parts for me were the ones about Kesey (well his alter ego, Devlin) and his life post Pranksters on his farm with his family. Old friends drop in to remind him of the scene he has mostly left behind as do fans, hippies, bikers - all wanting to connect with the famous acid tester Kesey. He takes a trip (in more than just a physical sense) to England to meet the Beatles as some kind of freak power delegate. He visits Egypt to write a piece for a magazine about the pyramids and is soon up to his eyeballs in strong hash and shady locals. His writing is powerful, his prose is strong and his simple tales of friends and family are entangled in his mind and his writing with bigger questions.
There are also some great examples of what an amazing writer he is. One story takes the perspective of his grandmother, from her childhood near-death experience to a party Devlin and the rest of her family throw her on his farm. The writing style and pace changing as she ages. It’s quite the piece of literary work.
His tale of the local animals outwitting and occasionally getting eaten by a hungry bear became a children's book in itself and is likely a great piece of writing. It’s mischievous and childishly brilliant.
I got a bit lost in his visit to China, it had some great parts but it just didn’t connect quite as well for some reason.
All in all a great read from a true original pioneer of acid culture and the freak lifestyle, as well as a staggeringly brilliant author.
Fascinated to see what the man at the heart of the Merry Pranksters is all about, but not quite ready to get into One Flew Over The Cuckoo Nest yet, Demon Box seemed the obvious choice. It’s a collection of short stories ranging massively in topics, themes and style.
The best parts for me were the ones about Kesey (well his alter ego, Devlin) and his life post Pranksters on his farm with his family. Old friends drop in to remind him of the scene he has mostly left behind as do fans, hippies, bikers - all wanting to connect with the famous acid tester Kesey. He takes a trip (in more than just a physical sense) to England to meet the Beatles as some kind of freak power delegate. He visits Egypt to write a piece for a magazine about the pyramids and is soon up to his eyeballs in strong hash and shady locals. His writing is powerful, his prose is strong and his simple tales of friends and family are entangled in his mind and his writing with bigger questions.
There are also some great examples of what an amazing writer he is. One story takes the perspective of his grandmother, from her childhood near-death experience to a party Devlin and the rest of her family throw her on his farm. The writing style and pace changing as she ages. It’s quite the piece of literary work.
His tale of the local animals outwitting and occasionally getting eaten by a hungry bear became a children's book in itself and is likely a great piece of writing. It’s mischievous and childishly brilliant.
I got a bit lost in his visit to China, it had some great parts but it just didn’t connect quite as well for some reason.
All in all a great read from a true original pioneer of acid culture and the freak lifestyle, as well as a staggeringly brilliant author.