Bohemia: Where Art, Angst, Love, and Strong Coffee Meet

I'll admit, I was a little lost at first because Gold had the tendency to provide long lists of names of writers, musicians, artists, actors, etc. that all contributed to the Bohemian culture; sometimes I didn't know whether they were famous or not. Fortunately, with my computer by my side, this book became a huge learning tool. "Bohemia" doesn't go into extensive detail about one particular place, rather, Gold writes about many places, such as: Paris, North Beach, La Jolla, Greenwich Village/Chelsea, Chapel Hill, Charleston, Cincinnati, Miami.. even Israel, to show that Bohemia is not an ethnicity or class, rather a personal aura or lifestyle that can be carried anywhere in the world. Gold wrote "Bohemia" like a journal providing many of his personal opinions of these people or places in a descriptive language. Much of the text is focused toward California and New York starting from the 1950s; he revisits some of the places in the 90's where he describes how things have changed: people actually had a traditional career change, or died, a new generation of devotees took over the town or a jem of a cafe or bookstore closed down. Overall, Gold has a nice balance in storytelling, dialogue, narrative and facts about Bohemia. If you're really curious, I think it could be used as a guide for future travel or exploration in literature revolving around the Bohemian theme.

Herbert Gold has provided us with a history of Bohemia. He deals with Greenwich Village, San Francisco, Berkeley and any other place where the Bohemia mentality reigns supreme. This is a grand exploration of great artists, poets, thinkers, anarchists and dreamers. He presents the argument that Bohemia is ultimately a state of mind. You may be in Paris or Chapel Hill or Prague but you can descend into your own private Bohemia. There is discussion of the Beats and hippies, of course, but also of Paris in the twenties. He discusses Israeli bohemain Haim Hefer and French chanteur Serge Gainsbourg. ( I obtained a longtime fondness for Gainsbourg music from curiosity after reading this book. There are many unheralded madmen and women that get their fifteen minutes of fame in this book. It is a thrilling ride through a state of mind that ought to be more prevalent than it is. I felt excited to be alive after reading this book. The exaltation with life intensifies everytime I browse through this book. It goes well with ginseng tea, espresso, whiskey or beer. It is a great companion on bus rides and train ventures and it reads well on the beach. Herbert Gold finally gives due credit to the fine art of lazing around and dreaming away.

Reading a passage of this book is like sitting down to coffee with a wry, friendly time-traveler who has seen everything and is excited to espouse the good parts. Gold's style of prose is jaunty and deliberate- there are sentences that glow with creative genious. It seems that Gold has found the perfect balance between historical descriptive narrative and philosophical meandering. He never strays too far from his story. In the middle, there is a devastating passage where he takes his girlfriend up to William S. Burrough's hotel room. There are other writers up there and it is a hilarious scene. I won't ruin it for you. The best aspect of this book is the intimacy Gold has with the great writers. He has hung out with James Baldwin and Burroughs and Miller and Ginsberg. He also describes scenes with Anais Nin(not that she is one of the greats) and Henry Rollins (but he keep referring to him as Henry ROBBINS when it is obvious he's talking about Rollins, I don't get it) and thereby invites you into this fascinating world of artists and anarchists that entices and beguiles. I was both enticed and beguiled. There are so many great quotes in this book you'd better have a pencil and notebook handy- there is stuff a writer can really learn from- by Saroyan, Ferlinghetti, Dylan Thomas, painters, musicians, beautiful bohemian women. The point of narration moves from San Fransisco to Jerusalem, from Paris to South Florida, from the east village in New York to the furthest reaches of nowhere. I discovered that BOHEMIA is not the amorphous idea I thought it was- but a vast physical entity which has no boundaries at all but lives on forever in ever-changing pockets of earth. This book is quite the thrilling ride.