Customer Reviews

In Watermelon Sugar

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In Watermelon sugar, for me, has been more than a good read -- it has been an obsession. In college I wrote a twenty-page research paper on the subject... and Brautigan's style in this work particularly has continued to fascinate me. So often Brautigan's name is associted with his first success, "Trout Fishing in America." Critics of his time seemed also to be preoccupied with it, to the detriment of his better work. Brautigan himself seemed at times to flaunt that work as a kind of mantlepiece throughout his life.

Folly, I think; In Watermelon Sugar is clearly his best work -- a book as unique as "Trout Fishing," but with the added touch of a uniquely woven plot, something "Fishing" surely lacks.

Myth and Symbolism are handled by Brautigan with the hand of a child at play in a dream. To truly appreciate the book, Brautigan insists that you yourself become like that dreaming child, reaching back toward a place you thought you had forgotten. For instance, does anyone remember associating days of the week with certain colors? What color was Wednsday?

In "In Watermelon Sugar," the sun shines a different color every day, beckoning us back to the hidden realm of things lost but not forgotten -- a place we will never forget...

I read In Watermelon Sugar on recommendation from a good friend who, like me, is a writer. He simply handed me the slim volume and said, "This is good. Read it." After reading the book, this seems quite an apt introduction. Brautigan deals in exquisite simplicities, spare statements and commands expressing the day-to-day of human life and interaction, and he captures these moments with a striking clarity that leaves no opportunity for disagreement. Yet he frames these details in a world so odd they stand out precisely because of their normalcy. His characters live in a place where everything is made out of watermelon sugar, tigers can talk, and the sun shines a different color every day. Within this odd landscape, Brautigan foregrounds and examines the finer points of human life with a poet's voice and a clever eye. While his words are tender, his wit is sharp and wry, and the combination makes the book a richly textured read, deeply satisfying for anyone with a love of language or life.

I'm 15 years old and I read this book because there was a referance to it in another book I was reading(I Know This Much is True--another 5-star book) and it sounded intriguing.
Being someone who analyzes things to death, I knew right away that this is the kind of book that you will have your own opinions about and no one's opinions are wrong. For example, I think that iDeath was supposed to symoblize Heaven and the Forgotten Works was Earth(what's been "forgotten")
Anyhoo, the book is a rare work of art and one of the most inspiring works of literature to ever be published.

First of all, to the iDON'T reviewer below me, I meant to click YES after your review but accidently clicked NO. Sorry, I thought it was a good review.

In Watermelon Sugar will mean different things to different people. It's how Brautigan intended it, in the same way the speaker's name "depends on you." Ultimately, there can be no key or legend for decoding the book's message. I find it means something a little different to me each day.

But what we can do, and what the book is possibly encouraging us to, is ask ourselves what iDEATH is, what the Forgotten Works are, and why there aren't any tigers anymore, and to share our impressions with one another. To listen to and learn about each other.

inBOIL achieves his goal and there is purpose in his death. But the speaker never finishes his statue and there seems no purpose in his life. And what about Margaret? You tell me. Maybe she's the sane one, after all.

What Brautigan does with language is also worthy of attention. Many of his expressions are violations of pragmatic conventions, that is to say days don't have colors and lanterns aren't tigers or boys. But why not, really? Because we're conditioned to think things aren't that way? Because this is how language restricts the way we conceptualize the world?

Is there a reason iDEATH bears so ominous a name? Maybe, maybe not. You decide. College professors love James Joyce. If you read his stories enough times and peruse all the commentaries written about them, you can truly understand what everything means, what the characters represent, and all the other hidden secrets. That seems to me to be the main reason why Joyce is held in such high esteem. It's also the reason why I don't much appreciate his writing. He knew what he was doing and we're all caught up in a game of solving his riddles. I think it's a lot more interesting when the writer isn't sure what he's doing, when he doesn't have all the answers, even all the questions.

I can't say In Watermelon Sugar is a brilliant piece of work. It's novel for sure, engaging, and well worth the read. Its problem is a lot like what makes it special: there's no bottom line. So is it nonsense or genius? I'd say the question simply doesn't apply.

I read this book in a single one night-long binge while in the midst of a nasty relationship breakup. It hit me right between the eyes, and I still can not explain exactly why. Certain themes resonated strongly with my own circumstances at the time; and for whatever reason this book synergized with my state of mine with an emotional intensity I have never equalled since. I was left heartbroken yet exhilarated, emotionally devastated and yet healed. Fearing that, like the insights gained in travels with Lucy (that seem trivial by the light of day), the effect will be unrepeatable, I have not read the book since.

I think that this is one of those books that people try to overanalyze, which is a shame. This isn't a book that will change you as a person, there are enough of those out there, this is simply a book that will make you appreciate beauty. You feel how beautiful Ideath is, and by extension, you appreciate how beautiful our world is. That seems to be Brautigan's goal throughout all of his novels, and his poetry- simplicity and beauty. It works.

I first read this novel back in high school and didn't really get it, but I liked the vibe. Reading it again in my thirties I got it better and enjoyed it even more. Anyone who lives in the Northwest and enjoys beat poetry with hippie undercurrents should take a big juicy bite out of In Watermelon Sugar--don't even bother spitting out the seeds, they're good too, and who knows what might grow in your tummy.

I read this book in college 29 years ago and have never forgotten it. I've been looking for it so I can share it with my son. Richard Brautigan is a very special writer.

In Watermelon Sugar creates a world so fascinating that I literally couldn't put it down. Brautigan paints a surrealistic picture of a post-apocalyptic world, where strange people do strange things, but still maintains a warmth that is universal. It's incredibly sad to read the book and know that Brautigan took his own life because he felt he would never be appreciated. You'll never want it to end, and you'll want to read all of his books.

I'll start right off by explaining my comparison to Hemingway. This is definitely a book Hemingway would never have written, but the prose style can be said to be similar, in that it is simple, straightforward. That said, nothing else is to be compared to Hemingway.

"In Watermelon Sugar" is a fascinating story which takes place in a no less fascinating environment, where the sun shines a different colour everyday. It's also a place where tigers used to exist, and devour people, even though they were very polite and kind, and just had to eat people because that's what tigers do to survive. It's hard to give you a taste of this novel, but this is my attempt.

Brautigan's novel is divided in 3 books, which are themselves divided in very short chapters (often less than a page). All of this makes for a very easy reading, although you will have to struggle with lots of cryptical deicticism, so to speak; much like in the early pages of a science-fiction novel à la Philip K. Dick. But that's the charm of this book too.

An imaginative story which brings together the best aspects of fairy tales and dreams, horror included.