Janet Maslin is take by surprise by (and gives a rave review in the New York Times to) Lauren Groff's new novel. Groff visits this coming Tuesday, March 27th.
Lauren Groff’s “Arcadia” is so immersed in the life of a hippie commune that patchouli ought to waft off its pages. It’s a novel of the 1960s and ’70s in which acid is dropped, groats are served, “Froggie Went A Courtin’ ” is sung, a cult leader is worshiped and somebody literally hugs a tree. An outhouse at Arcadia smells like wet muskrat. Children are reared in a Kid Herd. This does not sound like everyone’s cup of rose-hip tea.
So the transporting magic of “Arcadia” comes as a surprise. Ms. Groff has taken a quaint, easily caricatured community and given it true universality, not just the knee-jerk kind that Arcadian platitudes espoused. Even more unexpectedly, she has expanded this period piece so that it stretches from 1965 to 2018, coaxing forth a remarkable amount of suspense from the way her characters change over time. And a book that might have been small, dated and insular winds up feeling timeless and vast. Full article.
Showing posts with label commune. Show all posts
Showing posts with label commune. Show all posts
Friday, March 23, 2012
"Stunningly Sensual and Visceral"-- Groff's Arcadia
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Utopia in the New York Forests
"In the fields and forests of western New York State in the late 1960s, several dozen idealists set out to live off the land, founding what becomes a famous commune centered on the grounds of a decaying mansion called Arcadia House. Arcadia follows this lyrical, rollicking, tragic, and exquisite utopian dream from its hopeful start through its heyday and beyond."
Read reviews of Lauren Groff's Arcadia on her website.
Lauren visits Tuesday, March 27th.
Picture: Pine Forest by art photographer Justine Kurland
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)