In Watermelon Sugar

by Richard Brautigan | Literature & Fiction |
ISBN: Global Overview for this book
Registered by Vasha of Ithaca, New York USA on 10/23/2010
Buy from one of these Booksellers:
Amazon.com | Amazon UK | Amazon CA | Amazon DE | Amazon FR | Amazon IT | Bol.com
6 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by Vasha from Ithaca, New York USA on Saturday, October 23, 2010
To be in watermelon sugar is a state of mind. Or a state of grace. Or a hallucination. Most people in watermelon sugar live in iDEATH, a village that is constantly reshaping itself. It is a place full of statues (there is one of a potato, another of grass), where the sun shines a different color every day, and where everyone has a job (whether it be writing a book about clouds, tending the watermelon fields, or simply planting flowers). And everything in iDEATH is made out of watermelon sugar, pine, and stones. Or trout. There were once tigers in iDEATH, who spoke beautifully, but had to eat people or die. They were very pleasant about it. They even helped the young narrator with his arithmetic as they ate his parents. But there is a disturbance in watermelon sugar. Margaret has fallen under the influence of inBOIL, a disgruntled alcoholic who left iDEATH and started making whiskey. He and his band of like-minded drunkards mean to prove to those in watermelon sugar that they do not know what iDEATH really means.......... Brautigan’s language casts a spell. Repetitive and hypnotic, his guileless prose is a transcendental mantra. Gradually, painlessly, the reader soon finds himself in watermelon sugar. More than just a document of the 1960s, it is a passport to revisiting that time. — Garth Twa in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die

Journal Entry 2 by 1001-library at Helsinki, Uusimaa / Nyland Finland on Monday, November 8, 2010

Thanks so much for your donation Vasha!

This book is now part of the 1001-library. If you want to take this book from the library but don't know how to proceed, please refer to the 1001-library bookshelf.

Journal Entry 3 by Vasha at Ithaca, New York USA on Wednesday, January 12, 2011
I read this little tale in one sitting. It is unusual; I'm not sure what to make of it. A fantasy utopia, a reflection on gentleness. Would you get bored in a life with no violence at all? Is there such a thing as death without violence? Some of the people who live at iDEATH are a bit restless; but Pauline, whose hands have been made strong by the practice of gentleness, makes it seem like it works. Mind you, if you read this book as a love story, it starts to seem sexist. But luckily that isn't the only way to read it.

Journal Entry 4 by Vasha at Ithaca, New York USA on Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Released 13 yrs ago (1/12/2011 UTC) at Ithaca, New York USA

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

In transit.

Journal Entry 5 by mafarrimond at Hawarden, Wales United Kingdom on Friday, January 21, 2011
The book has arrived safely and I am looking forward to reading it. Thank you.

Journal Entry 6 by mafarrimond at Hawarden, Wales United Kingdom on Saturday, February 26, 2011
A strange and beguiling read. Very thought provoking. Both my husband and I have read the book and our perspectives varied about its meaning.

Another to tick off the 1001 books to read before I die list.

Journal Entry 7 by mafarrimond at Hawarden, Wales United Kingdom on Sunday, March 13, 2011

Released 13 yrs ago (3/13/2011 UTC) at Hawarden, Wales United Kingdom

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Adding to the 1001 book box.

Journal Entry 8 by bookowl1000 at Chepstow, Wales United Kingdom on Sunday, May 8, 2011
Selected from the bookbox.

Journal Entry 9 by bookowl1000 at Chepstow, Wales United Kingdom on Monday, June 27, 2011
I am moving to China - hence why not a lot of time to read recently.

This book will be in a box being picked up tomorrow, and hopefully I will see it again in about 3 months time on the other side of the world.

Journal Entry 10 by bookowl1000 at Foshan 佛山, Guangdong China on Saturday, August 27, 2011
This book has survived its ocean voyage in a container ship and has successfully met up with me here in China - much sooner than expected. Now it will be sitting in its new home waiting to be read. Starting a new life and job in China means I am not getting much time to rea dat the moment, but it will not be forgotten.

Journal Entry 11 by bookowl1000 at Foshan 佛山, Guangdong China on Sunday, October 16, 2011
The book definitely was not forgotten, and I have finally got around to reading it. As it is a quick read, finished in one afternoon, I probably should have put it higher on my TBR list.

It is a very odd book; often when reading it I would be thinking "What the...?" Throughout I was somewhat puzzled by the world in which they lived, some questions were answered while others were now. Was this a small isolated commune, the way the entire world was, or an example of post apocalyptic survival? I have also wondered if the tigers were tigers as we know them or just another group of people.

This is a book that is thought provoking and leaves you wondering...an excellent alternative to a formulaic plot line. That said, while the world is a very unusual place there are some issues that are universal/timeless, difficulties in a break up and a woman rejected. I did not think of this as a love story.

I would get very bored living in this world. Maybe that is what happened to iBOIL and his followers.

I had never heard of this bok before pulling it out of the box, thus showing the beauty of the 1001 list, it shows us new and different.

This is a small book; 138 pages, with many pages having only a few paragraphs thus is a good option for those wanting to quickly knock off titles from the 1001 list.

Journal Entry 12 by 1001-library at Helsinki, Uusimaa / Nyland Finland on Sunday, October 16, 2011
This book is now back on the 1001 library bookshelf and can be borrowed by PMing bookowl1000:)

If you want to take this book from the library but don't know how to proceed, please refer to the library bookshelf.

Journal Entry 13 by bookowl1000 at Foshan 佛山, Guangdong China on Monday, October 17, 2011
Today the book was posted to perryfran in the US who requested it while I was making a library book request from him.

In China even air mail is slow so could take a month to get there.

Journal Entry 14 by wingperryfranwing at North Ogden, Utah USA on Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Wow this got here in about a week from China! Thanks bookowl - hopefully "War with the Newts" will get to you soon.

Journal Entry 15 by wingperryfranwing at North Ogden, Utah USA on Tuesday, November 22, 2011
What a very strange and bizarre little book! I think Brautigan was tripping when he wrote this back in the 60s. I'm sure there are all sorts of hidden meanings in the text and it probably has been interpreted in many ways. It seems to me like the group of people were living in a commune of sorts with iDEATH as their main social center. Then the "forgotten works" seemed to be a vast city that fell into decay after some kind of apocalyptic event. Not sure what to think of inBOIL and his crew and what their message could have been about iDEATH. Or what the significance of the tigers and trout were?? Anyway, this was a short novel that I read in two sittings and I believe it reflected the hippie culture of the 60s. I read another Brautigan novel a while back - "Willard and His Bowling Trophies" that I enjoyed more but I would still mildly recommend "Watermelon Sugar."

This book is now available for another 1001-library member.

Journal Entry 16 by 1001-library at Helsinki, Uusimaa / Nyland Finland on Tuesday, November 22, 2011


This book is now back on the 1001 library bookshelf and can be borrowed by PMing perryfran:)

If you want to take this book from the library but don't know how to proceed, please refer to the library bookshelf.

Journal Entry 17 by wingperryfranwing at Shoreline, Washington USA on Thursday, July 19, 2012

Released 11 yrs ago (7/19/2012 UTC) at Shoreline, Washington USA

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Sending to dicentragirl - a 1001 library request. Enjoy!

USPS DC# 0310 3490 0000 1692 0280

Journal Entry 18 by dicentragirl at Shoreline, Washington USA on Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Wow! This little book has traveled a bit, hasn't it? I'm looking forward to reading it.

Journal Entry 19 by dicentragirl at Shoreline, Washington USA on Friday, February 8, 2013
A quick little read. What a weird little book. The author is a local (Tacoma) but the book was written in the San Francisco area.

I think he might have been on acid when he wrote it. Had he taken more time and put in more detail, it could have been so much better.

Surreal hippy fantasy land where the landscape is always changing. Tigers that sing and eat people, statures of vegetables. It's like falling down the rabbit hole.

The gender of the narrator is ambiguous. Male or female? No name. No identifying characteristics - that might be the point though. It really doesn't matter.

The whole book is like a bizarre dream where the characters and surroundings are familiar, but when you wake up, none of it makes sense.

(review x-posted to Goodreads) - This is currently being offered in my 1001 BTRBYD book box. See the thread on the forums if interested.

Are you sure you want to delete this item? It cannot be undone.