Bongwater [Paperback]

Michael Hornburg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1996

A group of young, disaffected hedonists--among them an unsuccessful filmmaker, a flamboyant gay couple, a paranoid rock star, and an adventuresome stripper--move between Portland, Oregon, and New York, indulging in fractious romances, drugs, and local intrigue.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Set in coffee-cluttered Portland, Ore., and New York City's East Village, this first novel palpably vies for the honor of generational mouthpiece as it observes a handful of 20-something Americans looking for meaning, or at least for epiphanies?so they can talk about meaning. David, a not particularly committed filmmaker, narrates the Portland segments. He is a romantic, aimless fellow, and his scattershot affections land him in several beds. The New York sections, written in the third person, concern Courtney, David's former girlfriend. Her adventures include a move into an abandoned building, a visit from friend Jennifer and a dangerous party in Brooklyn. Back in Portland, while chasing the same Jennifer and falling in with a stripper named Mary, David remembers Courtney from time to time. But his memories rarely wax romantic: he dwells on the fact that Courtney let his house burn down before she left. In what must be the novel's central scene, David visits his childhood friend Phil, who grows pot in the mountains. On a naked dip in an edenic glen, possible meaning surfaces when Mary the stripper posits that "a man who leaves his natural state lives with darkness forever." The novel has no dramatic conflict but, like its characters, is content to amble stylishly along without much sense of progress or satisfaction.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Bongwater is one of the coolest books of the year. Hornburg explodes the whole grunge mythos by taking it out of the realm of the flash photo spread and giving us the seamy, unimaginative days upon days of fear and helplessness." -Alternative Press

"Michael Hornburg's Bongwater is a swift, exhilarating read, and beneath all its interesting surface decadence is a surprisingly sweet-natured love story." -Madison Smartt Bell

"An empathetic tour of lives on the edge. Michael Hornburg's evident affection for the strung-out makes Bongwater an unlikely but successful fusion of cynicism and good-heartedness. An esthetic appreciation, unexpectedly charming."-Ted Conover

"Hornburg rewinds back through the wreckage of the 90s grungeoisie to spin this smart, wistful tale of small town indie redemption."-ID Magazine (UK)

"No one writing today walks the line between glamour and pathos better than Michael Homburg. Being young and lost in America has never looked so good, or so terrifying. Bongwater is at once gorgeous, witty and sad." -Karen Karbo

"Ridiculously well written, a roller coaster ride through slacker sleaze and druggy romance, which is never less than riveting. Touching poetic stuff." -New Musical Express (UK)

"Michael Hornburg's first novel is more exciting and heartfelt than the preachy and clumsy work of some youthful contemporaries. Fast, funny, bold, and very well-written."-Portland Tonic

"This is no grunge bodice-ripper, it sticks close to the theory that life is never simple and people always suck. Bongwater is written from first-hand experience, simple prose touched with just enough writerly embroidery to seize the imagination. The music is peripheral, the real sound is a silent scream." -SeattIe Weekly

"Ministers of Disco in search of Ambassadors of Love, the 'heavy drapery' of Portland, Oregon, the mannerisms and malaise of the flippantly hip-in Bongwater, Michael Hornburg nails it with wit, ver...

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press (May 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802134564
• ISBN-13: 978-0802134561
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,793,248 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the end justifies the means., June 23, 2005

By 

No One Special - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bongwater (Paperback)

I thought this book was horrifically bad and pointless when I first read it. Not particularly drug-centric. Not particularly angsty. Not particularly anything.

Almost a year later, while bored senseless and completely apathetic, I picked it up again simply so I would have something to do. It came as a shock to me how beautifully written and profound it is. Perhaps the feelings expressed aren't quite as apparent as they are in most books of this ilk, they are, however, very much an intrinsic part of the story.
Its romantic in a way that is honest and realistic. Not in the high-flown over-emoted style that most people write in. The ending, for example, is so tender and sweet that it justifies the rest of the novel.

It may be titled bongwater but pot had little to do with it. The characters (esp. courtney and david) are so well thought out that I, at least, could easily relate to them.

Its a great book, but certainly not for everyone. If you're looking for cheap thrills and stoned laughs I suggest you look elsewhere.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good read!, June 26, 2002

By 

stevehiker (Metairie, LA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bongwater (Paperback)

Not only is this book fun, it's very well written. It flows. I almost read it in one night. The key is, it's very realistic about young people's lives and relationships. The sex, the longing for intimacy, the drugs, the ambling through early adulthood.

Read it, you won't be disappointed.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amusing, September 11, 2005

By 

Kara "K" (Colorado, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bongwater (Paperback)

Bongwater is a great book if you are looking for an easy read with feather-light humor. Drugs and alcohol, gotta love both.