Boonville: A Novel

by Robert Mailer Anderson

Book Overview

Surrounded by misfits, rednecks, and counterculture burnouts, John Gibson--the reluctant heir of an alcoholic grandmother--and Sarah McKay--a commune-reared "hippie-by-association"--search for self... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060516216
• Release Date: January 2003
• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Best novel I've read in years

Captures the essence of Northern Cal coastal towns -- at least as they were in the 80s when I toured the area. The only other book I've read in recent years in the same league is The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen. But the subject matter of The Corrections (senile dementia) was painful, so The Corrections left me satiated but drained. Boonville left me satiated and energized.

I read this book in one day!

All books seem to be so cliche lately. If I see another book on a young adult all of a sudden thrust into the fabulous life of a Manhattan socialite I'm going to scream. This book was different. I laughed out loud as I read the way that the main character tried to just exist in his new life nestled closely between the red necks and the hippies. This book is honest and funny...my words can't give it justice. Just read it!

Courageous

I feel compelled to give this book 5 stars not because it is a perfect book--indeed, it does have faults--but because so many Boonville troglodytes have mercilessly and unfairly panned it. No doubt shocked by their depictions into crawling from their patchouli scented passion pits and wacky-tabacky caves over to the local library-welfare-line for their alotted fifteen minutes of free Internet, these Northern California acid casualties have seriously and pathetically skewed the rating on this book.For the truth is that this book is genuinely funny and engagingly written. It needs the attention of an editor in places, but that is no fault of the writer, and even in the places where the author allows himself to rant he manages to do so in a still entertaining way. If you take the time to read the book objectively, the author's love for his characters readily shows through.So for those of you who have never heard of Boonville, I say that this book will serve as an excellent introduction. And for those of you from Boonville aghast at your depiction in the book, I say, "pound sand," because you are being a bunch of jerks. This is a work of fiction, and as such any similarity to persons living or dead is probably not entirely unintentionally intentional. So rather than complain about it's artistic merits I would encourage you instead to think of the book as your one and only chance at immortality, the last twenty years of your drug hazed vegetarian lives recorded for future generations of meat eaters.Get Some!!

Devilshly Funny, yet intimately deep

I live near to Boonville and can relate intensely with the dark humor of small towns. This book's language itself is something of a genius creation. I think we will see Robert Mailer Anderson become one of the greatest authors of the new millennium!

Funny, poignant, and funny again!

Boonville is like Carl Hiaasen crossed with Updike's Rabbit stories. Hilarious! A page turner. Energy in each sentence. Dark in it's humor, the funniest passages ring absolutely true, dealing with the human condition and the big question of why we exist. I can't remember a better first novel, maybe Portnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth.