Richard Brautigan's Trout Fishing in America, The Pill versus The Springhill Mine Disaster, and In Watermelon Sugar

And that's just one story...

Trout Fishing in America is abstract, disjointed, and witty. Excellent excellent stuff, although in a vastly different form than In Watermelon Sugar. And even if you don't like reading poetry, The Pill versus the Springhill Mine Disaster will make you a fan. It's such simple, elegant, writing and it grabs the reader so effectively that you can't not like it.

Any of these three books are easily worth the price of the collection. All of them together is a treasure.


Reissue of an old favorite   January 24, 2004
Peggy Vincent (Oakland, CA)
18 out of 20 found this review helpful

Brautigan's life ended, at his own hand, in 1984, but his memory lingers on. He has become known as the Mark Twain of the 60s, the New Thoreau, and the Zen Trickster. His voice, ebullient, sad, and comic, is pure American. Brautigan's writing straddles the line between prose and poetry as he follows a guy named (trust me here) Trout Fishing In America across his native land in search of Zen enlightenment. The `chapters' are anecdotes that read as fables and continue to delight after multiple re-readings. If you missed this book the first time around, perhaps because you were into other stuff during the 60s, now's your chance.


fishermen, black watermelons, a lost art, and mayonaisse   September 25, 1998
10 out of 10 found this review helpful

I found this book through that strange feeling I'm sure you must have had in a bookstore, when you just look at a book and know it is a part of you. It inspired me to write poetry, through his sense of wonder merged with deep sorrow and the intricate wordplay. Watermelon sugar, in it's entireity, is a masterpiece. One of those books that just seems perfect; it gives you a sense of calm like the tao, moved me to change myself and my reality, and i've passed it on to whomever i love that will give in. It speaks great truths through metaphor and symbolism. You can tell he has been every character. Trout fishing... well, it is one of his best as well, showing the world through two different entities with the same mind and heart; it heals and inspires, and only the laughing buddha, the trickster poet, the sorrowful and heart wrenching character of brautigan could deliver such a treasure to us. It has inspired people to change their names to it's title, in fact. The only thing this anthology needed was more of brautigan's horror stuff in it... check out the other two volumes.


The Brautigan to start with   September 14, 2004
J. Bosiljevac (san fran, ca)
16 out of 18 found this review helpful

This is one of three collections of re-released Brautigan. It's the best of the three. TROUT FISHING is his classic. It's unlike anything I've ever read. I felt like someone showed me a new way to use words. A reviewer suggested calling his works "Brautigans," as they're an original artform.

IN WATERMELON SUGAR is my favorite of the eight or so Brautigan's I've read. At once funny, touching, nostalgic, smart, insightful...good stuff.

And THE PILL VS THE SPRING HILL MINE DISASTER is a collection of his poems. To have a collection of his poetry thrown in here with these two fantastic books is just icing on the cake.

Brautigan has been called the last of the Beats. Perhaps he killed the Beat movement by pushing it as far as it would go.