There comes a time, as a reviewer, when you will cross paths with a book that strikes a dissonant chord with you. On one hand, you can recognize the mastery in the writing, the plot, and characters. Yet, on the other, the damn thing is your antithesis. For me 1969: A Brief and Beautiful Trip Back is just such a book. I am not its target audience. But I can still admire the craft.
Bad decisions. Drugs. And of course, Rock and Roll. It is 1999 and Rhiannon is a throwback to the 60’s music she loves. She’s a drummer who dreams of making it big. And her dreams lead her to – time traveling drugs? It isn’t as silly as it sounds, and what follows is a fantasy-esque jaunt back to 1969, and forward to adulthood.
What Sea Gudinski has created here is a well plotted coming of age story, with masterfully crafted characters. This is a deep take on the counterculture, with a surprising fidelity of research. Rhiannon is awkwardly arrogant, and yet also vulnerable – a poignant mix that just screams teenager but carried forward in a way that is authentic. The rest of the cast is equally realized. The nuisance at play between a supportive but enabling father, a protective yet smothering mother, and her gaggle of old (and newly adopted friends and associates) is excellent. Furthermore, the yin-yang celebration of 60’s culture and simultaneous condemnation of its worst elements grounds the book. This is a believable tale, that doesn’t over indulge or glorify. It meets the right sort of balance.
Yet, the novel is at times overlong. Even monotonous in the areas you would expect (i.e., the middle chapters). Further, I can’t relate to any of the cast, personally. I generally find them gross, their habits despicable, and/or mentality rather alien. That is not something I can knock the book for, though, and it is just a reality of my personal experience. After all, how likely would it be for a guy from Alabama born and raised on Southern values to relate too well with Hippie culture? Not likely. Not likely at all mon amie.
For everyone else, though, I am sure they will find 1969: A Brief and Beautiful Trip Back by Sea Gudinsky at least a half-truth. It certainly is a beautifully written piece of work, which I am sure many will love. Yet, this ain’t brief, yall.
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