Customer Reviews

And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks [Library Binding]

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First off, the release of this book is nothing short of a literary event: two literary icons known for their convention breaking novels collaborating in fiction and basing their book on a real life murder that happened within their circle of friends. "...HIPPOS..." is not as amazing as Kerouac publicly recalled it being, nor is it really the "minor work" that Burroughs dismissed it as. 64 years after it was written, this book takes on a new importance outside of it's literary merits. The work is instantly fascinating to me (as I think it will be to any fans of these writers) because it is an important early step in these artist's development. We can really get a sense of the early Beats relationships in the book, their wild energy and their literary fascinations.

Kerouac and Burroughs wrote this book from two points of view. The Kerouac is the character Mike Ryko and Burroughs character is Will Dennison. For those of you aquainted with the circle of the Beats, Lucien Carr is the character Philip Tourian, David Kammerer is Al Ramsay, Edie Parker is Janie and Celine Young is Barbara....and so on.

A note to the Kerouac fans....This was written before TOWN & THE CITY and has neither TCs sweeping Wolfean images or ON THE ROAD's spontanious bop prose. One can barely detect Jack's love for words in this book. His writing at times is a little whispy (which hints at his Wolfean tastes) but Jack never dives into the full breadth of nostalgia of which all Kerouac fans know he's capable. His writing is more clipped and economic. In fact one can imagine William Burroughs looking over Jack's pages and telling him, "Less literary, deary" In a rare moment of abandon, Jack does let his character Mike Ryko recount (at length) his wild experiences at sea but that monologue goes on a bit too long and disrupts the clipped flow of what is essentially a dime store crime novel.

Bill's pages resemble his later though commonly dubbed "first book", JUNKY - a novel which I very much enjoyed for the same reason as I enjoyed this. It's early Burroughs, who writes his prose like an anthropologist or a police officer writes on his notepad, "Just the facts"
****But one should keep in mind when reading this book that THESE ARE NOT THE FACTS about what happened with the Carr/Kammerer murder case. Jack and Bill are intentionally creating fictionalized account. Their creative embellishments sometimes reveal their personal interests or preoccupations so it becomes hard to decipher what in the book is fact and what is fiction - much like most of Jack's novels.

Critical Readers Be Warned: I think the reader should curve their expectations accordingly, with respect to the writers youth and inexperience. Though indeed an interesting work, "...Hippos.." is not in the vein of their groundbreaking work. it's a good and quick read, though the book ends abruptly. It seems that Kerouac and Burroughs either lost interest in writing it or were discouraged by Lucien's wishes for them not to continue the book. It was due to Lucien's influence that the book has remained so long out of the public's hands for 60 years. It was only published after Lucien passed in 2005 - RIP.

If it's facts about the real events you want I'd suggest reading one of the many Kerouac or Burroughs biographies available - though many have contradicting information. It should be mentioned that James Grauerholtz's Afterward for the book will be quite helpful for those unaware of the true facts of the case. And we should all give a big thank you to Mr. Grauerholtz, executive of the Burroughs estate for publishing this book at long last. It really is a gift.

"And The Hippos Were Boiled In Their Tanks," by Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs, with forward by James Grauerholz (220 pgs., 1945, 2008). This is the first novel written by members of what became known as the Beat Generation. It was written by Kerouac & Burroughs near the end of World War Two & was never published. They each wrote alternating chapters.
The novel is closely based on the murder of one of their circle of friends by another of their circle of friends. In real life, Lucien Carr IV, then 19, stabbed to death David Eames Kammerer.
David & Lucien met in St. Louis, MO when David was 25 & Lucien was 11. A strange mentorship grew between them. David & Burroughs were friends since they were just 9 & had met in elementary school in St. Louis. Kerouac met them when he was a freshman at Columbia University in NYC. This book is about the normal day-to-day meanderings of a group of young men & young women seemingly just hanging out.
Kerouac keeps waiting to ship out on the merchant marine vessel, but never does. Burroughs is the only one with a job. Women are always around. They are all jumping in & out of bed. Yet, in a seemingly chaste sort of way. Kerouac's first wife, Edie Parker is here. All the names have been changed.
There is always tension whenever Lucien & David meet. Lucien wants David out of his life. They still always get together. David loves Lucien in a purely chaste way. Bisexuality is always present in this book. In this novel, Lucien kills David with a hatchet in a drunken stupor. In real life, Lucien stabbed David to death with a knife. Lucien was sent away for a couple of years. Later, he became Louis Carr, the top writer& editor for UPI. This novel was never published. First, because it was rejected by everyone who looked at it & later when the writers became famous, Carr persuaded them not to publish the book for fear of opening old wounds. Both authors promised not to publish the novel until after Carr's death. It's a good first read & a good foreshadowing of where both writers would be headed in their careers.

A very interesting and rarely used approach to the novel. Reading the work of two enormously famous writers from the days before they had even published a poem is a unique experience. All the stripped down glory of on the road with real sense of mystery. You know how it ends, but why does it get there? I wouldn't say this book is perfect, but I would still say it is very worth the read.

"Hippos.." is really for the hard core beat / Kerouac / Burroughs junkie. It's sort of an existentialist day in the beat life in 1940's NYC. Lots of drinking, hanging out with friends, sleeping over, etc. Walk around, go to bar, go to someone's place, etc, etc. Boring stuff. The writing is pretty tame stylistically and you only get a glimpse of Burrough's best writing style. I'd recommend Burrough's "Junkie" or "Queer" for the unitiated, or Keruouac's "On the Road" or "Dharma Bums."

This was great. I completely expected this to be something that was only published because there is a market for these two authors; but it turned out to be a very interesting read.

The half of the book written by Burroughs has a hard boiled detective tone to it - although it does not feature any sort of detection. This doesn't really suggest any of the style found in *Naked Lunch* or other later works - it reads like a "prequel" to *Junkie.*

The Kerouac half was the best part - it is almost like the missing early chapters to *On The Road.*

What is especially interesting is the depiction of that place and time - the way people said things, the way they dressed, etc. One guy is described as looking like a bum because of his shabby suit and tie! (These days nobody wears a suit and tie unless they are a lawyer or have a court or prom date.) Also I imagine a novel about homosexuals or drug users would be fairly shocking back in 1945 - now it could be found in a family sitcom.

A long afterword explains some facts about the infamous Lucien Carr murder (which I was totally unfamiliar with) upon which some of the book is based, as well as adding some beat history and the story of how the book came to be published sixty years after it was written - filler, more or less.

Highly recommended.

Have read some Jack Kerouac, found this to be quite entertaining, and an easy read.

im glad this book was given its chance to be printed after all these years. an amazing story written before the author's days of fame.

This is a great book that provides you insight into the lives of two of America's greatest beat authors. A must read if you enjoy Kerouac and Burroughs.

_And the Hippos were Boiled in Their Tanks_ was co-written by Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs many years before they wrote _On the Road snd _Naked Lunch_. _Hippos_ was just not published until recently. Kerouac and Burroughs were considered a few of the quintessential writers of the Beat Generation.

The book succeeds terifically as a piece about Beat writers and the life styles of their coterie. It captures the essence of Greenwich Village, New York, life in the 1940s. These individuals spent their lives getting drunk, journeying from tavern to tavern, finally reaching the wee hours of the morning, when they became too tired other than going home to sleep it off. _Hippos_ expertly captures the essence of their life styles. When they ran out of money, they might look for work as merchant seamen by shaping up at union halls. They might even get lucky and travel by ship to France, then jump ship, winding up in Paris.

Kerouac and Burroughs capture the essence of the childlike, insoucient quality of the beats. In between, some of them took up writing poetry and other such work.

Throughout the book they write alternating chapters and narrate their experiences as Mike Ryko (Kerouc) and Will Dennison (Burroughs). They are less successful in telling the sad and tragic, but true tale of their young, physically attractive friend, Lucien Carr (Phillip), murdering another, older friend, David Kammerer (Al). I thought that the book would end before this important section of the book was reached. I was very disappointed that the authors barely develop the relationship of Phillip and Al, other than stick to the old stereotypes of homosexuality, painting "the picture (instead)of an old queer harrassing a young boy who was not at all homosexual." Unfortunately, Kerouac and Burroughs were creatures of the attitudes of the time period in which they were writing. The book would have been much stronger had the crime elements been more fully developed. I would urge those who decide to read this book to include the afterword: it will help provide a more complete explanation of the actual murder upon which _Hippos_ is based. While not integrated into the novel, I found it quite interesting and not a little helpful.

It hasn't been available officially for more than sixty years. Burroughs and Kerouac. And the story revolves around sordid details of a murder committed by a friend of theirs. The first book by Burroughs. So it should be important, right? Well, historically it certainly is important and well-nigh legendary. But this book will not enhance the literary reputations of either author. If you are here due to a deep love of beat literature, then you should go ahead and get the book. You'll be happy you did. If you are here looking for a worthy work of literature by Kerouac, look elsewhere, this is thin gruel. If you are here to explore the early works of Mr. WSB, then you'll find more substance in Junky, this work doesn't lead into much else in the Burroughs oeuvre.