In Watermelon Sugar

In Watermelon Sugar by Richard Brautigan (1968) I was a big fan of Richard Brautigan because I discovered some of his books when I was in high school, including some volumes of poetry. I don’t remember loving this short novel, but I read it—going back to it now, it seems pretty uninteresting in itself—a meandering story of what sounds like people living in some alternative reality—nothing too shocking or disturbing. Actually, what I do like about it is the mundane quality and the very subtle humor. There was something about the sun, in this place, shining in different colors—I liked that, but can’t find it specifically, paging through. A lot about a place called iDEATH—which is no doubt from where Apple stole the names for their dumb products. There is inBOIL and “that gang of his.” The Forgotten Works and the Watermelon Works, etc. The weirder the details are, the less interesting to me. What I like is the goofiness, the humor, and the everyday details, like people being tired of when the guy cooks who only cooks carrots. I guess that’s kind of hippie commune humor, which is the overall vibe. The thing that was most inspiring to me, when younger, is the book itself, one of the Dell Brautigan paperbacks (Third Laurel printing—June 1974—probably when I bought it!) Small and inexpensive, but with great style—bright blue front and back, with a black and white photo of Richard Brautigan and an attractive, young woman on the cover—they could be posing as characters within. I guess this book kind of said to me, “you can write a book,” and for that I’m thankful and still inspired. Of course, it’s not so easy!

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