At seventeen Randy Rhody was a rebellious honor student who left home to live on his own in Lincoln, Nebraska. Even there in the heartland he met like-minded outliers, supporting his own ambitions to write. When Allen Ginsberg visited in 1966, a party for him was held at Rhody’s place. “You shake with a cloud,” Ginsberg said to him. “My hand does not exist.” His remark seemed like a guidepost to some arcane wisdom the youth was already seeking.
Hoping to evade the Vietnam draft, he became a homeless teenage drifter and street dweller in patriotic America—a mendicant who hitchhiked 22,000-miles from city to city, sleeping in crash pads, asking for spare change. His walkabout formed a cross-country story arc of loss, exile, and self-reliance. He became newsworthy once as a vagabond poet.
Even as he achieved minor publishing success, he was moving beyond language. When a satori-like vision unveiled a reality that neither the establishment nor the counterculture had prepared him for, he dropped out of wordly affairs as completely as the escapee from Plato’s allegorical cave.
Assessment:
Idea: Rhody’s narrative recalls his late teenage years as a wanderer seeking truth while hoping to escape the Vietnam draft. The memoir unfolds chronologically, luring readers desiring to see what Rhody comes to learn about himself and the world during the process. At times, the narrative flows along with shining clarity; at other moments, the book presents a dizzying array of escapades and people that can bombard and overwhelm the reader.
Prose/Style: Rhody’s prose is descriptive and often poetic in its impressions. He effectively sets scenes for readers that vividly conjure places, people, and situations through active storytelling.
Originality: Rhody’s memoir is, at times, an immersive and poetic look at his restless youth during the counterculture days. Though a more structured story arc may have benefited the narrative, the author serves as an impassioned witness to a complex era.
Character Development/Execution: Readers gradually come to know Rhody through his travel experiences and his thoughts about his parents, his poetry, the draft, and the counterculture of the day. The memoir includes a broad cast of colorfully described individuals, while public figures such as poet Allen Ginsberg are given interesting notice.
Date Submitted: January 13, 2021
