Revenge of the Lawn

Richard Brautigan is one of the most original voices in American fiction that we have had. Easily dismissed as lightweight by those who think tediously long sentences betoken great intellectual acumen, he is the antidote to Hemingway. In fact, one story is titled "Ernest Hemingway's Typist." Often whimsical, his wry wit cuts sharply. His images are intensely original & creative as demonstrated by this brief quote from "A Short History of Religion in California," "...so I hugged my arms around a tree and my cheek sailed to the sweet bark & floated there for a few gentle moments in the calm." This collection of short stories from 1962-1970 is a mix of the unusual, the humorous, the profound & the nutty. One of my favorites is what must be the shortest short story I've ever read, "The Scarlatti Tilt." Like a prose poem, in two quick sentences he paints an entire relationship. "The Betrayed Kingdom" is another jewel about a woman who invites guys home & then makes them sleep on the floor. The story has great momentum until Brautigan gets serious in the last paragraph and pulls the plug. "Halloween In Denver" is another hilarious nugget about a couple who prepares for trick-or-treaters and waits all night for some to show up; then as soon as they go to bed comes the knock at the door. I'm not sure what the point of "A Short Story About Contemporary Life In California" is, but it builds to a tremendous climax and is a great demonstration of control of rhythm. The title story about the still & the ducks had me in stitches. (Reviewer's note: I was reading this book last week when my father passed away. I wondered if I'd remember that this was the book that I was reading when Dad took leave of this world. Then I got to the last line of the book, "Your father passed away this afternoon." So I think I may have some added psychic connection to "Revenge of the Lawn." If my daughter reads it, I'll want her to do it very quickly!) Brautigan's style is so sweet that you just want to pull his books off the shelf every so often and re-read them. They stay with you like an old friend. This is a worthy part of this master author's work! Enjoy!

A friend introduced me to the works of Brautigan quite recently. I hadn't heard of him before, to my shame. I wasn't sure what to expect. I was surprised, pleasantly. It's not something that I'd have picked up on a whim. It's not something that I'd have thought that I'd enjoy. I was wrong.Some of the stories in this collection are achingly beautiful. Some are very short, but evoke a level of emotion that I'd not have thought possible. The brevity and the intensity of his use of language is astonishing.This is a volume I think that I'll eventually read again and again. I've nothing else in my extensive collection that has the ability to make me laugh one moment, and have me on the verge of tears the next. How could I recommend this more highly ??

To my mind this is Brautigan's best book, and his finest work is the one-sentence Scarlatti Tilt. He manages to get a whole novel into one sentence. That sentence should be something that every college student reads.I feel sad that so few will.

There is (was) no one quite like Richard Brautigan. I've been reading his stuff for more than 25 years and his writing never fails to make me smile or take me to new emotional depths. This classic collection of Brautigan short stories is the master at the height of his creative powers. What a range of creativity on display, from the pathos of "The World War I Los Angeles Airplane" (Winner of the 1969 Best Short Story of the Year) to the whimsical "1/3. 1/3, 1/3". I used to be a teacher. When my students stumbled into my office, all depressed and angst-ridden, I always sent them home with a Brautigan. They never failed to come back with a smile and deep appreciation.Richard Brautigan was a complicated man, pursued by demons he could never control. We lost him far too early in life, but thankfully, we have books like "Revenge of the Lawn" to read and treasure over and over again.

While, indeed, Richard Brautigan may "ramble" and this anthology may not seem to possess a central theme, it is still classic Brautigan, an assemblage of previously published short stories, many reflecting the brilliance that was Brautigan. Certainly it shows his creativity and originality and his hold on the "flavor" of what was the late-Sixties in California! Brautigan, while having some shorter novels with success, still seems to be more in control of the short stories. He writes a mean poem, too.In "Revenge of the Lawn," the emotions he evokes range from the absurd to the poignant--he seems to capture the gamut! The title story is superb, of course, but "Halloween" is hard to beat, as well. The touching revelation of sensitivity in "Corporal" is also unmatched. And who can overlook the brilliance of "1/3, 1/3, 1/3"! The author is able to present a deftness that even Hemingway couldn't achieve! His surreal writing certainly won him many readers' hearts. With him and Lawrence Ferlingetti, the San Francisco scene couldn't have been more representative in literature. Granted, some of his "stuff" is easily dismissable, but when Brautigan was good, he was very good! ([email protected])