Home Free
A Novel
Published on 9. February 2016
245 pages
978-1-5040-2621-5 (ISBN)
Description
A slacker hero embarks on a rollicking cross-country journey of love-ins and acid trips in this rich portrait of the 1960s
When his foxy professor/girlfriend kicks him out of her apartment, perennial college student Gene Barrett sets off on a road trip in search of a place he can call home. He ventures from Boston to Maine to Iowa City, ultimately making his way to the "last resort" of California's Venice Beach. Experimenting with LSD, hash, and heroin, and encountering rock stars, draft dodgers, and natural food store proprietors living off the land, Gene zigzags through a cross-section of 1960s American counterculture.
More than a freewheeling jaunt through the sixties, though, Home Free sheds light on the universal desire for love and belonging. Amidst the haze of drugs and free-loving hippies, Gene is forced to look inward and face his deeply human flaws-because eventually, his life will depend on it. With national bestselling author Dan Wakefield's trademark fusion of gritty, journalistic prose and richly evocative language, Gene's story is an engaging, somber meditation on self-awareness, responsibility, and growing up.
When his foxy professor/girlfriend kicks him out of her apartment, perennial college student Gene Barrett sets off on a road trip in search of a place he can call home. He ventures from Boston to Maine to Iowa City, ultimately making his way to the "last resort" of California's Venice Beach. Experimenting with LSD, hash, and heroin, and encountering rock stars, draft dodgers, and natural food store proprietors living off the land, Gene zigzags through a cross-section of 1960s American counterculture.
More than a freewheeling jaunt through the sixties, though, Home Free sheds light on the universal desire for love and belonging. Amidst the haze of drugs and free-loving hippies, Gene is forced to look inward and face his deeply human flaws-because eventually, his life will depend on it. With national bestselling author Dan Wakefield's trademark fusion of gritty, journalistic prose and richly evocative language, Gene's story is an engaging, somber meditation on self-awareness, responsibility, and growing up.
More details
Person
Dan Wakefield (b. 1932) is the author of the bestselling novels
Going All the Way and
Starting Over, which were both adapted into feature films. His memoirs include
New York in the Fifties, which was made into a documentary film of the same name, and
Returning: A Spiritual Journey, praised by Bill Moyers as "one of the most important memoirs of the spirit I have ever read." Wakefield created the NBC prime time series
James at 15, and wrote the screenplay for
Going All the Way, starring Ben Affleck. He edited and wrote the introduction for
Kurt Vonnegut Letters as well as
If This Isn't Nice, What Is?: Vonnegut's Advice to the Young. Visit Wakefield online at www.danwakefield.com and www.vonnegutsoldestlivingfriend.com.
Content
- Cover Page
- Title Page
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- I
- II
- III
- IV
- V
- VI
- About the Author
- Copyright Page
