The Tokyo-Montana Express

by Richard Brautigan

Book Overview

First published in 1980 (special Targ edition published 1979), The Tokyo-Montana Express, a collection of one hundred and thirty-one "stations" inspired by memories of Japan and Montana, January-July... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0440087708
• ISBN13: 9780440087700
• Release Date: January 1980
• Publisher: Delacorte Press
• Length: 258 Pages
• Weight: 2.20 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Richard Brautigan still at his best

Some of his later works have been slammed by the media in the past, but for me, I loved this book! There is no one who can write like Mr.Brautigan. He can take the most simple things, and turn them into such witty, and touching tales. His imagination knows no bounds. I keep this book at hand for whenever I want a quick pick-me-up, and or, insight. I couldn't recommend it more.

Essential For Survival

If I ever were, in fact, stranded on a desert Island, I could be content if I had in my possesion the following four, ok, maybe five items: 1. A copy of Dr. Seuss's, "Green Eggs and Ham." 2 & 3. Tom Waits, "Nighthawks at the Diner" Nighthawks at the Diner (my LP copy, along with my wind up Victrola). 4. Coffee/Ciggarettes (counts as one item). 5. A copy of Richard Brautigan's collection of very short stories, "The Tokyo-Montana Express". Anyone, who can pen a five sentance short story about a drowned Japanese boy that leaves you so completely shattered at the end, must have been genius. This is truly essential reading. Whether you like the book or not, it's a wonderful study in the transference of weight through the sparest of prose. If you love the book, it's one you can visit again and again; a revelation every time.

a must have brautigan book

one of my most treasured books. If you are a Brautigan fan you must have this book.It is funny and insightful short stories and one pagers.It is timeless the way Brautigans eyes saw his world around him and how unique his visions were.

Pure Brautigan, undoubtedly one of his wisest works

Short stories loosely grouped to form a novel about the time Brautigan spent traveling back and forth between, as the title implies, Tokyo and Montana, this stands as one of the author's best, and undeservedly underrated works. Chapters such as "Old Man Working in the Rain" and "Very Good Dead Friends" will leave Brautigan fans, as well as those just getting to know his work, breathless with emotion. A work that in some places containts evidence of Brautigan's growing depression and dissatisfaction with life as age sets in, it is also one of his most personal, mature, and reflective creations. It is well worth searching for, but unfortunately hard to find.

you'll know when you've found one of these stations

if you picked up this book because you've read brautigan before, skip this review, you don't need it. However, if you have no clue as to who could this guy envisioning an express between Tokyo and Montana, and you also think its a futile, impossible task, you're in for quite a treat. This book unfolds like an artichoke's flower, bursting out in strange but remarkably possible colors. Brautigan was someone who felt he had to write, you can tell by how he treats his words, with the utmost care and flippant caresses: How to explain an earthquake to a retarded child? try telling him wind is blowing through the ground, page whatever. Need i say more? Probably, but the pleasure is in discovery, not recognition.