Customer Reviews

Red-Dirt Marijuana

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Having read Candy and Blue Movie, I have wanted to read another Terry Southern book for ages. However, it has been almost impossible to obtain his other works. I came across this short-story collection at a store that sells used books and I couldn't resist giving it a whirl. Red-Dirt Marijuana and Other Tastes is full of Southern's signature dark humor and unconventional storylines. Southern has proven that he is a master storyteller with the disarming stories featured in this book. My favorites are "Twirling at Ole Miss," "The Moon-shot Scandal," "You're Too Hip, Baby," "Razor Fight," "I Am Mike Hammer," and "The Blood of a Wig." Those stories blew me away. "The Blood of a Wig" was the best one in the collection. This is the funniest and strangest book I have read in a long time! If you loved Southern's novels, you will love this collection of short stories. I cannot recommend Red-Dirt Marijuana and Other Tastes enough.

This collection of short stories, articles, and interviews
reveals a sharp, brazen, hip, and elegant mind at work.
Southern, best known for his screenplay for "Dr Strangelove,"
here dazzles and beguiles his audience. Southern's early stories,
including the insightful "You're Too Hip, Murray" and the
hilarious "The Road Out of Axotle," are examples of his
elegant writer's craft and artistry; and Esquire pieces such as the
renowned "Twirling at Ole Miss" (ostensibly about a baton-
twirling institute, but also about race relations, moonshine, and Faulkner),
established him as the first "journalist" to take an
idiosyncratic approach to article-writing. The book
is worth buying just for the last story, the famed "Blood of
a Wig," which is the greatest piece on illicit drug use ever written.
Even non-hipsters will dig it.

Screw prose. Screw plot. This book is so damned funny! It reminds me of the war stories of Michael Herr or the drugged ut fantasies of Hunter Thompson. What about the woman who colors her hair blond, only to return home and have her husband mistake her for a mistress. What about the irreverent humor about Hoover trying some neck-crophilia on JFK's body. This is one of the most original collection of stories I've ever read. It's so hard to find stuff like this nowadays.

Terry Southern is probably one of the most creative, off-beat writers of our times. I read this book back in my college days in the early 70's and can't tell you how much this book of short stories changed my outlook on life. Having experienced the 60's as my formative teen years, I didn't think that there could be very much left to the imagination. Boy, was I wrong. Terry's stories sure opened my eyes to a broader world than was dreamed in my philosophy at the time and even now. You've heard of all the "favorites" such as Blood of a Wig, so I won't take up your time with that. But, if you liked any of his other works, be sure to not miss out on this one.

For as much fun as Terry Southern's novels and screenplays represent, this may be his best work. The opening pair of "Red Dirt Marijuana" and "Razor Fight" are about as good as short stories get. Another reviewer referenced "A Clean Well Lighted Place"; I am put in mind of the clean precision of "Hills Like White Elephants." Southern's exploration of the sensibilities of the American South, race relations, friendship, and a weird sort of honor, carve the sort of channels in your consciousness that only the best writing can do.

"You're Too Hip, Baby" is more on race and a deflation of the concept of "hip" by one of its masters.

Although best known for his outrageousness, many of these stories display the sensitivity that was at the core of Southern's greatness.

Should be required reading in beginning English and journalism classes. Book is date sensitive. Readers can explore the historical context and content. A very funny contribution to journalism.

I read this many years ago when it came out. "Mind blowing" I think I would have said at the time. It is hard for me to tell whether the drug culture has become less (ir?) relevant, or if I have just gotten old and it seems far away and somehow sad. In any case the book is a collection of quirky pieces about drugs and wacky antics while on drugs. A must read for anyone interested in being reminded, in a somewhat unpleasant way, of what they were like in the 60's.

Four astonishing pieces highlight this fine collection:

"Razor Fight." That's exactly what the story is about. The dialogue is thrillingly terse.

"You're Too Hip, Baby." When even the alienated find you too alienating.

"Twirlin' at Ole Miss." One of the most famous examples of Gonzo journalism. Hardcore New Yorker (actually, Southern was a Texan) heads south to research the subculture of baton twirling and finds, hilariously, that stereotypes of "The South" are all true!

"Blood of a Wig." One of the most notorious American short stories ever written. Back in the day, a college acquaintance told me what this story was about. I didn't believe him. Turns out he was right. Title refers to a very clandestine type of drug abuse -- injecting yourself with the blood of a schizophrenic. And that's just the beginning.

After Flash and Filigree, this is the second weakest of Southern's books. It does, however, contain a remarkable short story, "Razor Fight," images from which have remained with me for more than a decade. After reading that Joan Didion used to retype Ernest Hemingway's short stories to gain a better understanding of his style, I did the same thing with "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place" and "Razor Fight," and then ran them through the Grammatik grammar checker, which ranks writing according to its succinctness. Both stories were ranked at the third grade level -- no small accomplishment.