T.C. Boyle's recent book, \Drop City"" takes place in 1970, and the intertwined plots focus on life in a ""free-love"" commune and a young couple sustaining themselves by living in the Alaskan wilderness. When the hippies living on the commune lose their land, they head north to Alaska, where their ""leader"" has inherited some land and a cabin from his uncle.
Once in Alaska, they are faced with some difficult truths; if they don't all work and pull together, they will not be able to survive. However, the young couple working hard to sustain themselves is also plagued by questions-is their way of life really better than that of their new drug-using, free-loving neighbors? What really differentiates them?
The Daily Cardinal recently caught up with Boyle to ask him about his take on hippies and communal living, as well as on writing in general.
What was your influence for ""Drop City?""
My whole life. ""Drop City"" was an outgrowth of a former book of mine called ""Friend of the Earth,"" which actually takes place in the future. [With ""Drop City""] I wanted to go back in time and explore the issues of living sustainably, dropping out of society, going back to nature.
Your descriptions of both the commune life and of sustenance living in Alaska were so accurate. Where did you get such vivid details and insights?
We novelists, if we're good, are supposed to get inside people's heads. I have never been on a commune. For research, I went back and read books on the period. I read ""Communes, USA"" and ""The Hippie Trip, 1965"" that gave me an idea of the philosophy. I also made the pilgrimage to Alaska and observed things. I went for the summer solstice and I loved it.
Were any of your characters modeled after real people?
No, they are all purely invented.
In most depictions of communal living, a writer either makes the commune look like a utopian experience or utter hell. You show what seems to be a much more balanced version of the experience, pointing out the highlights as well as the flaws. How do you have this insight if you have never even lived in a situation like this?
We all have had the experience of living with other people- we all have an idea of how it will go. I was interjecting my own experiences along the line. For this book, I just took it to the wilderness, where if you don't pull your weight, you die.
Without giving the plot away, it seems that you intentionally left this book ending with no closure. Why is this? Do you have a certain formula for ending stories?
Every story finds its own ending. I felt it was more dramatic to end this book with a single gesture. It brings [the reader] back in, and lets them imagine what will happen next.
How long does it take you to write a book?
My big early books took three years each. But I've gotten much faster at writing. Now, 14 to 18 months is about the usual amount of time. ""Drop City"" took four months. My last book, ""The Inner Circle,"" took six-and-a-half. I am writing every day. I write from 11 [a.m.] to 2[a.m]; until I burn out.
Do you have some ultimate goal you hope to achieve with your writing?
No. I have an eagerness to find out what comes next.
