Kurt Vonnegut, in his introduction to the edition I read, is careful to point out that this is not a book for everybody. "One must understand that in this book Badorties [the Fan Man of the title] is the only judge, and that has to be judge enough, or, again, this book cannot be for you." I'm afraid that this is a cop-out. It might be okay when it comes to the drugs the squalor and the general disconnect/disrespect for normality. However, when it comes to the casual treatment of the attempts to sleep with under age "chicks", the casual racism towards Puerto Ricans and the casual manner of dealing with the rape of one of those under-age girls it is no longer enough to say that the book must be judged (morally at least) within its own terms.
Otherwise the novel is slapstick, occasionally funny but mostly juvenile. Others have dealt with drugs and squalor in a much more interesting and entertaining way. ( )

The great thing about Kotzwinkle is that he tries a bunch of different stuff, making each novel completely different than the next in style and subject matter. Overall, this is a brilliant piece that makes you want to live your life more...spontaneously? It's hard to put down for more than a few minutes. And god forbid you should read it on dorky day. ( )

The great thing about Kotzwinkle is that he tries a bunch of different stuff, making each novel completely different than the next in style and subject matter. Overall, this is a brilliant piece that makes you want to live your life more...spontaneously? It's hard to put down for more than a few minutes. And god forbid you should read it on dorky day. ( )

This book is on the 1001 Books to Read before you Die list and I suppose I can see why it is there. It was written in 1974 but really I would say it dates back to the free love and drug hippy culture of the late 1960s. Horse Badorties, the central character, stands for all the stoned drop outs from mainstream society and he does it marvelously. I can't say I would have wanted to have anything to do with him but he would have been fun to observe from a distance.

Horse lives in New York City and he intends to have a unique musical concert in Tompkins Square with a choir of 15 year old chicks (i.e. young girls), drums, a saxophone player and battery operated fans for everyone. He even talks someone at NBC into filming it. He has other ideas for the concert but some things, like a decrepit school bus, don't make it to the final chapter. T. C. Boyle calls Horse Badorties the Don Quixote of modern time albeit without Sancho Panza and that seems appropriate. Horse may not have windmills to tilt at but other things get in his way.

You just have to laugh out loud at some of the scrapes Horse gets himself into. And other things make you shake your head. I'm glad I read this but I'm also glad that it wasn't any longer than 147 pages. ( )

One of my new favorite books. I like the craziness and insanity and how Horse Badorties does what he wants. The Uncle Skulky and T-Rex faces are two of the best scenes. ( )