Harold and Maude

What a beautiful story, where the old cliche, "it made me laugh, it made me cry" is realized. The writing style is simple and straightforward, the dialogue is enlightening, and the dramatic turns are both heartbreaking and uplifting at the same time. Harold and Maude, the novel, begged to made into a movie, and the author, Colin Higgins, must have had dramatic aspirations when he wrote this. So they made a movie out of this, one of the greatest movies of all time. The power and basically everything worthwhile in the film comes from this book (not negating the acting of Ruth Gordon, Bud Cort, or Vivian Pickles, who are all fantastic), from which Higgins later culled his screenplay. If anything, the experience of reading the novel may have some advantages over watching the film. It is quick and to the point, nothing is drawn out, and any extemporaneous extractions of theme or mood are left to the reader. Read the novel, see the movie, read or watch a staging of the play. Colin Higgins will be remembered for writing Harold and Maude the movie, but his great contribution to literature and mankind was first writing the book. This life-affirming novel needs to be in stock. Especially when there is so much other garbage overflowing the bookstore shelves.

This is one of the most original, entertaining works I've ever read. As a companion piece to the movie, it's a real find.

That a novel like this should be out of print is inexcusable. Before I read the book, I thought that the Harold and Maude universe began and terminated at the movie. Oh, so wrong! This book, as mistreated as it has been, still gleams with useful life lessons and scintillating humor. Opining on the subjects of love and death, yet never allowing his vision to degenerate into cheap pathos, Collin Higgins created an evocative debut novel with exuberant characters, and (almost overabundant) humor. I am awaiting more from this man, with or without Harold (though the prospect of the "Further Adventures of Harold Chasen" does illicit pleasured giggles from this reviewer) . Mr. Higgins: WE DEMAND ANOTHER!

If e'er there was a script that could serve as a litany for the development of human thought and the slow evolution of the human spirit, this is it. Harold and Maude manages to capture and encapsulate the ultimate arguement of modern man, the individual versus institutions.....does society exist to serve the individual or are we all pawns of the society we have created? And are we obliged to subscribe?