Opinions of a Wolf

Summary:
Lisa Miller can’t believe she’s off chasing after her fraternal twin sister, Millie, yet again.  After her sister ran away to join the hippie commune, Lovestock, she thought it was out of her system.  But a hippie named Beast from Millie’s past shows up in town, and together they head off for Montana following The Two who claim to be in contact with the Twellorasians who will soon arrive to whisk away their followers.  Along the way, they pick up a junkie jazz trumpeter and his drummer and get tailed by the drug dealer the junkie stole heroin from.

Review:
I kept reading this book thinking, “I should be finding this funny.  I should be enjoying this story. I should be lost in this world,” but I never once laughed and glanced at the clock more times than I can count.  I think I’m really just not the intended audience for this book.

The storyline is definitely unique and zany without being unbelievable.  The split of the camp into the hippies who follow The Two and the hippies who follow the jazz trumpeter was a great move and added depth to the story.  The characters are easily differentiated and fairly well-rounded.  There are two bisexual characters presented in a positive light, which was nice.  The dialogue is snappy.

There is a serial rapist element to the story that some might find triggering.  I, personally, don’t think it’s played for laughs and Davies handles both male and female rape well.  But readers wary of that content should be aware it is in the book.

I think three elements really made the book a miss for me.  The humor is not my style.  It’s composed of a lot of similes and tongue-in-cheek references to 1960s culture (like the Beatles and stoners) that I just personally don’t find funny.  Second, the story is set in the 1960s in the middle of hippie culture, and that’s the sort of setting that takes an amazing storyline to leave me satisfied.  Third, I disliked the ending, but I know some people will love it.

Overall, although this book didn’t do it for me, it is well-written, and I believe it will appeal to those with a vested interest in the 1960s and hippie culture.

3 out of 5 stars

Source: Kindle copy from the author in exchange for my honest review

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