Bongwater

By Michael Hornburg

Book Overview

Bongwater is a novel that wavers along the solar eclipse of the American Dream, a neo-Beat, grungeoisie love story that has all the authenticity and none of the pretension of its forerunners, a book that will be for the slacker generation of the nineties what Bright Lights, Big City was for the wannabe eighties. Young, rebellious, and vulnerable, Michael Hornburg's unforgettable characters trace the subtle outlines of a misunderstood generation. Moving from Portland to New York City and back again, and written in precise, startlingly original prose, Bongwater is in the tradition of the Beat classics The Subterraneans and The Dharma Bums.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802134564
• ISBN13: 9780802134561
• Release Date: May 1996
• Publisher: Grove Press
• Length: 189 Pages
• Weight: 0.59 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Amusing

Bongwater is a great book if you are looking for an easy read with feather-light humor. Drugs and alcohol, gotta love both.

the end justifies the means.

I thought this book was horrifically bad and pointless when I first read it. Not particularly drug-centric. Not particularly angsty. Not particularly anything. Almost a year later, while bored senseless and completely apathetic, I picked it up again simply so I would have something to do. It came as a shock to me how beautifully written and profound it is. Perhaps the feelings expressed aren't quite as apparent as they are in most books of this ilk, they are, however, very much an intrinsic part of the story. Its romantic in a way that is honest and realistic. Not in the high-flown over-emoted style that most people write in. The ending, for example, is so tender and sweet that it justifies the rest of the novel. It may be titled bongwater but pot had little to do with it. The characters (esp. courtney and david) are so well thought out that I, at least, could easily relate to them. Its a great book, but certainly not for everyone. If you're looking for cheap thrills and stoned laughs I suggest you look elsewhere.

Shea's Review On BongWater

Bongwater was a wonderful book. Its Tells you how life really is and doesnt hide the facts. It shows how hard life can be at times. I loved the novel. Michael Hornburg is a genius!! ~Shea

Riveting!

This is a fast read filled with witty dialogue, clear prose, believable characters, and a charmingly humblehearted narrator-persona. And not without its poignant moments. Some if the chapter endings, in particular, give pause. An example is when Jennifer, in an effort to calm her friend Courtney from her fear of plane-travel, says the view from the plane is like "the viewpoint of God." Courtney tells her not to say that, and when Jennifer asks why, Courtney says, "Because I don't see any people down there." Hornburg tackles-and more notably, articulates-the larger, timeless, ageless, genderless questions that fill up not only Jennifer and Courtney, but also each and every one of us-one moment with awe, the next moment with terror-as we stare out our "small plastic window[s], lean forward and look back" at the complicated, unpredictable roadways of our lives. Hornburg helps us make sense of it all. Bravo!

one of the best books i've read yet!

the book entrapped me and i read it in one night, then my friends saw it and i ended up lending it to about 15 diffrent people who all loved it, and who all finished it in a day because they couldn't put it down. I had an english teacher read the first three pages to the class because of how well written it was. She read it to the class talking about the desciption, etc. (She didn't know what bongwater was.) I can relate and I loved how at the end it wasn't "they lived happily ever after" You know they have a story that goes on, I think it brings more life to the characters. They weren't amazing people, they weren't even entirely buetiful, they were just people. I could relate to the entire book, and I had lost hope that I could find a book like that. So congratulations to Michael Hornburg for being real and writing about normal life.