Beatniks - Softcover

Toby Litt is the author of Adventures in Capitalism, Beatniks, Corpsing, deadkidsongs, Exhibitionism and Finding Myself. He was named one of Granta's 20 Best of Young British Novelists, 2003.

This is the first U.S. publication of Litt's debut novel. The narrator, a young Englishwoman named Mary, becomes involved with Jack and Neil, who aspire to live in the drug- and sex-filled world of "hipness" defined by the Beat generation. They decide that anything post-Beat era is "unhip," though Mary discovers that Jack and Neil's personal commitment to this canon is not as genuine as they lead her to believe. After Neil disappears following a car accident, Mary and Jack travel to America and trace Kerouac's journey from New York to the West Coast. During this journey, Mary discovers Jack's terror of living and his need to hide behind his charade of a beatnik. When they reach San Francisco, Neil reappears in an odd set of circumstances, and Mary discovers that "sometimes we do things we know we shouldn't do-not just afterwards, but while we're doing them." Although Litt moves the story along effortlessly, he fails to develop the characters enough to provoke the reader's sympathy. The events also seem implausible at times. Not recommended.
David A. Berone, Univ. of New Hampshire Lib., Durham
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