Quick Review- Memoirs of a Beatnik

As soon as the sun starts setting later in the evening and the air gets warmer, I reach for a book by one of the Beats. Something about the change from spring to summer always brings adventures on the road, by the sea, or even in the humid and small apartments of New York City. Memoirs of a Beatnik by Diane di Prima took me on a few adventures-- sexual as well as around and outside of the city. While exploring sexual adventures,"the scene," and what's "cool," we watch di Prima and her friends discover themselves through sexual awakening, discoveries in new arts and new friends, jobs (or lack of), and to some degree their families (ie: what's expected of them). Reading this reminded me of my own self-discovery into adulthood--the joys of your own sexuality, stepping out on your own, and living each day through your art.

Memoirs of a Beatnik is a good read for those who love Beat literature--especially those interested in the era before the term beat was defined. However, it may not be the type of memoir-memoir that some are hoping it to be (just read the various comments on Goodreads). It's also not a PG-13 rated type of book--there is a lot of vividly described sex scenes which perhaps take up about half the book. That being said, it is a quick and vivid read, a feminist account of coming into one's own, and an inside look at the scene before it was really dubbed the scene.