Difficu
American Karma: Twilight of the Marijuana Gods by Doug Shear
A friend gave me this book, and I only read it for that reason. I owe my friend because otherwise, I wouldn’t have read it. I thank my friend because there is something about this book, something special. I wondered if it was just me, but I suggested it to a fellow writer because I thought she could learn techniques from the author. I was a little nervous about it because she is very different from me, much more conservative, and sees things differently. I asked her what she thought of it and waited. The words she used were the same as I would have used. This book had us seeing things similarly, the same for the first time.
This memoir/novel is the story of a 17-year-old boy trying to find his way in the early 1970s amid drugs and the promise of a phantom hippy Goddess, Mary. He sets out from Miami with his secretly gay best friend to seek her, thinking he will find her. They make every mistake there is to make. The humor and pathos had me rooting for this kid as no other boy’s coming-of-age story has. I have read these stories from the myth of Perseus to the Catcher in the Rye, and they all left me cold. This true story could have been another in that millennia long tradition, but it isn’t. That is exactly how the conservative writer described it.
He gave up on finding Mary after obtaining many physical and emotional bruises and returned home to frustrated parents, but not for long. At the time, the notorious pyramid scheme conman Glenn Turner (a hybrid between Bernie Madoff and Donald Trump) was running out of money, about to be prosecuted, and willing to ‘hire’ anyone. He promised a glorious future if Doug cut his hair and donned a suit. Here is an insider’s account of the fall of a once-successful con. The book is worth reading for the historical content alone.
It was the 1970s, so our young hero also had run-ins at Disney World and with various other savory and not-so-savory characters.
From the Amazon description, bearing the stamp of Doug Shear, “The Marijuana Gods is difficult to believe, but proof exists in the form of letters, objects, and historical evidence. Besides, nobody could make this up.”
I’m not a fan of boy quest stories for many reasons, but partly because they end up self-serving at best. This book is the exception in my experience. It is easy to root for this kid like no other. 17-year-olds are self-involved, but this one also had a true heart. When my writer friend came up with the same description almost to the word, I knew that this was a book with universal appeal.
It is well-written and has a unique touch. The honesty shows what it is like inside a very young man, in a palatable way. He’s trying to do his best, sometimes comically, often sadly. You will be happy to know that our hero got through it all and became a responsible citizen, mostly. I most highly recommend this one.
Unlikeable Female Characters: The Women Pop Culture Wants You to Hate. by Anna Bogutskaya
I was reading The Change when I passed by a library storefront and saw this book in the window. I haven’t read a book like that in many years. I was hoping they weren’t necessary anymore as things have gotten better. In fact, the preface dealt with just that issue. But alas, it is still relevant.
Anna Bogutskaya is well aware of what has changed. I feared reading the book would make me angry (the angry woman being one of the unlikeables) or maybe just too depressed. Neither happened.
What did happen was that things that still needed work were highlighted, but knowing that the work was worth doing because we did have positive results. I read the book at a time when women’s basketball, pro, and college were outselling the men’s game. People were starting to realize that the women’s game was better, even though teams with 7-foot centers could beat the best women’s team, that didn’t mean it played better basketball. Yea. At the same time, The Supreme Court had destroyed Roe V Wade, putting millions of women’s lives at risk not to mention taking away their bodily autonomy, with worse things on the drawing board.
It’s a perfect time to read this book. Yes, it’s about TV and movies, but we can often learn a lot from popular culture. I recommend this book.
Bogutskaya gives us a comprehensive group of unlikeable female characters that is comprehensive, although you might think of another one. The Bitch, The Mean Girl, The Angry Woman, The Slut, The Trainwreck, The Crazy Woman, The Psycho, The Shrew, The Weirdo. The Change is unusual because all three characters qualify under one category, The Angry Woman. I would love to see her discuss this book
The one that hit me the most was “The Shrew.” Her main example was Skylar White in Breaking Bad. Skylar was married to a chemistry teacher turned Meth dealer/murderer. First, she didn’t know what he was doing but tried to keep the family together. When she found out what he was doing she tried to talk him out of it, and when he wouldn’t stop, she helped him to save her family. From this emerged a virtual cottage industry of “we hate Shylar and she should be killed” groups and memes and everything else. It got so bad that the actor who played the part, Anna Gunn (she won awards for this) began getting her own hate network. In the meantime, her husband, the guy who murdered and sold meth to children, was vaunted as a hero. She was a Shrew and should be punished.
I find this galling, but what makes it more important to me is that this is why Donald Trump was president instead of Hillary Clinton. There are way too many examples in our actual lives from the presidency to the lady boss everyone hates.
Someday, these kinds of books will be unnecessary. But until then, this book does a great job pointing out where we were and what is still problematic.
Book Club and Study Groups
- Which category was the most meaningful to you and why?
- How does this work in your life?
- What other movies or TV shows would you place in this category?