Customer Reviews

Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo

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I heard about Oscar'Zeta' Acosta basically from reading Hunter S. Thompson's book but became quickly fascinated by Dr. Gonzo and wanted to know more about him. I was pleased to find out he had also written some books and was even more pleased to find out he was(is?) a very good writer. Truly an inspiration to anyone who has ever felt their identity as an american is something that they have had to come to grips with. Apart from that serious subtext, it also a very entertaining and amusing story that rolls along, introducing some interesting and memorable characters and situations. A passionate human being wrote this book and it is filled with all the honesty and humanity of someone bearing his soul to achieve a greater sense of genuine self which for Oscar Acosta means being "A Brown Buffalo"

Acosta's Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo is a journey through the most desperate six months of his life which happen to be right in the middle of the psychadelic "drop-out" sixties. This is the story of a man whose pain is made real, whose roots are in question, and whose society seems fragmented.

We travel with him from town to town from San Francisco to Mexico in all sorts of environments. In each town he is confronted by another contact zone filled with racism, surrealism and rootlessness.

Acosta is brutally honest with himself. He calls himself the Brown Buffalo. Him and his people, killed not out of necessity but for excess. Their skins became coats and their heads were mounted on walls. They were a people used, abused and driven from their lands. Acosta ends his book where his life actually begins as Zeta, a leader to the Chicano people, the Brown Buffalos.

This book is crude and drug-addled, but there's a lot of truth in it. Acosta opens a window into his tormented soul, and the brutality with which he examines his own life is refreshing. In a strange way, this book imparts a message of hope to the reader. It's a classic. If you dig Hunter Thompson, check it out.

By reading this book before watching the movie, you will see what Dr. Gonzo's life was like right before he decides to become a lawyer. If you have ever felt alienated by American ideals, regardless of your race, you will relate to this book. Acosta's writing is good and he does a great job of describing what the character is feeling when he encounters life, drugs, and ulcers.

To finally learn who the inspriation behind H.S. Thompson's Gonzo attorney was a treat. This book is a must read for anyone who desired the guts to quit their job and hit the road and discover life on the 'other' side of life. Every American should graze where the Buffalo once roamed.

Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo is a powerful book that takes the reader on Acosta's unique journey from the brown and beaten to the brown and bruised. He is a magnificent story teller and it is shines a lot of light on the struggles of the non white in this country. The writting stands alone from his fellow gonzo HST, and is equally refreshing and challenging.

Once one gets past the multiple occurences of multi-hued vomit and the daily self-love in the shower... As autobiography, one would do well to read this with some skepticism; Acosta makes himself into an icon of the 60s and 70s, and less a faithful recorder of that time. However, the book can also function as a wonderful novel read in the tradition of pulp novels of the 70s such as Valley of the Dolls. The last chapter shifts from the searching bravado and life on the edge quality into a moving testimony of who Acosta is, and what he is. The book has become one of the important books in the growing recognition of Chicano literature, and Oscar's papers are in a collection open to the public at the University of California. There's a 60 minute videotape of him, 10 of which are Acosta reading from this book. I wonder if his virtual voice is as wild and rich as the voice of the author in print?

This book is one of the most memorable I have read in many years. Oscar lived an incredible life, and his ability to render it in this book is consistently amazing. I've read this book about three times, and I reflect on the trajectory of Oscar's life often.

This book was a bit of a surprize to me because I thought it would be a bit more crazy. You would think that Oscar would act more like he does in Fear and loathing in Las Vegas. He does not. Acosta is a different man than Thompson portreys him to be. This book should shed light on the true Oscar Acosta and not the "300 pound Somoan" that appeared in Fear and Loathing. If you are interested in the real Oscar Acosta you should read this book.