I See by My Outfit

Simple concept . . . author Peter Beagle and his frind Phil travel New York to San Francisco on a pair of scooters. In 1961. A couple of prototype hippies. I'm not sure I cared much for their world view, and several times detected hypocrisy. But Beagle is a smart guy and keen observer of things and interpreter of people. A nice balance between the chain of interesting and generally good people that encountered, and the experience of riding a motor scooter coast to coast (sum it up -- COLD). Great treatment of both the individuality and quirks of people, and the quirks and nuances of the scooters. I was struck by how timeless the story seems. It almost could have been written this year. There seems to be too much to say to squeeze into a review. I'll just say its an easy read, always interesting, and closes fairly satisfying. Easy to read in short sittings and was never hard to put down after a brief session.

This is one of the most charming books I've read in ages. Two fuzzy-faced little guys, two dorky motor scooters, one mission: New York to California in 1965. The way Peter S. Beagle writes, it's easy to see why everyone he and his friend Phil encounter wants to adopt them. He is kind, witty, and genuine. There's no attempt to be hip (how hip can you pretend to be on a motor scooter?) He not only observes the physical and emotional landscape, he also describes what he sees with such freshness that it took my breath away.

Beagle paints a vivid picture of the motor scooter journey he and a friend, Phil, took from New York City to California in the early 60s. These are characters you quickly learn to care about. This is a book you want to hurry through to discover what adventure lies over the next hill while at the same time you want to read slowly to savor every paragraph. My only complaint is that the book is too short.

When I ran across I see by my outfit at a used bookstore i was I only pickecd it up becuse it wasa P.S. Beagle book I didn't have. It was a simple eonough plot to follow, two college student's, two mopeds, and a goal of leaving their city. What was capticating was the way the story unfolded. The journey that continued every day for the author is put down on paper so we may look into a world of magic realism. The flow of the story is amazingly even, as events are dotted along the road side which come up and pass like highway signs. The flaw the book has comes from trying to be too personel straight from the start. From the first chapter onward there are words from secrest languages that encode the content of the writng making it sometimes incomprehensable. Still somthing of the book lingers in one's mind, like a residue left from seawater. Sotries and characters stay with you, simply becuse you feel you've met them before.

I bought this book in the late sixties and it sat on my shelf until the early nineties. At 16 or 17 it would have been wasted on me. Now it was a revelation. This is not Beagle writing about somewhere and somebody, which he does well enough. This is about him, young, uncertain, riding across America; writing to save his life, figure it out, find himself. It doesn't quite end like a novel. But it ends as a memoir should (especially when written very soon after the facts) as a gift of sharing the wisdom thus far.