Arcadia

I loved this book for its descriptions of a hippie commune, especially given that those descriptions come from the perspective of a child. I'm always interested in books that attempt to tell stories from that kind of perspective. How do you do it without lapsing into the cartoonish?

The latter part of the novel moves forward in time and is also really interesting. There's a pandemic - impressive for a book published in 2012. Plus, there's an interesting discussion of how cities of the 2000s are closer to a 1970s commune than rural spaces. Cities are places where people are together, living communally (often right on top of one another). An interesting idea: maybe rural life in the U.S. is as isolating as isolating urban life? Maybe moreso?

I enjoyed this book. This is the story of what inevitably goes wrong when a bunch of people get together and try to form their own society, making up the rules as they go along. It's about what always goes wrong in society...personalities coming before principles.

This is a story of how this "utopian" society shaped some of the key players in that society. Some in not such bad ways, making them aware of their place in an interrelated natural world, and others who were utterly ruined by their experiences in "freedom" and communal living. It's about family ties and the love that holds everything together.

This book reminds me that life is not about experiences, but it's the people that you experience life with. It was interesting that it went into the past before my life and then into my future. It was cool like a ride in a tourist theme park.