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Title: Lucy in the Sky
Author: John Vorhaus
Narrator: John Vorhaus
Format: Unabridged
Length: 6 hrs and 43 mins
Language: English
Release date: 06-26-17
Publisher: Spoken Word Inc
Genres: Fiction, Historical
Publisher's Summary:
A coming-of-age tale set in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1969, Lucy in the Sky lightly touches on such weighty issues as the meaning of life, the purpose of art, and the existence of God. For those interested in answers to The Big Questions or just keen to revisit a simpler time, Lucy in the Sky promises a fun and compelling trip - and that's trip in every sense of the word.
Gene Steen is an earnest, intelligent, truth-seeking teen stuck in the cultural wasteland of his suburban home. He wants to be a hippie in the worst way, but hippies are scarce on the ground in the forlorn Midwest of Gene's 15th year. Then, propitiously on the summer solstice, his life is turned upside down by the arrival of his lively, lovely, long-lost cousin Lucy. She's hip beyond Gene's wildest dreams and immediately takes him under her wing. Lucy teaches Gene that being a hippie isn't about love beads and peace signs, but about the choices you make and the stands you take. Yet for all her airy insights into religion, philosophy and "the isness of it all", Lucy harbors dark secrets - secrets that will soon put her on the run with Gene by her side.
Lucy in the Sky resonates of such classics as Summer of '42 and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, and invites the listener into a richly detailed vision of the 60s, as realized by Vorhaus's sure-handed prose and authentic sense of place and time. With frank talk about sex and drugs, Vorhaus pulls no punches about the realities of the era, yet delivers an uplifting message about personal power and the path to enlightenment. A rewarding listen for young seekers and old geezers alike.
Members Reviews:
Not Your Father's Coming-of-Age Story
This is not your father's coming of age story, the kind where the wide-eyed protagonist experiences a series of firsts--first kiss, first time getting high, first time having sex. Sure, all of those things happen to young Gene Steen, but John Vorhaus aims to go deeper into the psyche of this 15-year-old boy.
Set in Milwaukee in the summer of 1969 ("at the corner of nowhere and nowhere") the story takes off when Gene's hot, hippy cousin Lucy shows up at his house one day in June. Lucy has a story. Her mom (Gene's mother's sister) has moved to France. Her father has died in Ohio and she needs a place to stay before going off to college in the fall. But, things are not as they seem on the surface and Gene and his two buddies discover her story is a sham. Her real name is Carmen and she is secretive about her backstory.
Gene could easily blow the whistle on Carmen, but he is in love. And Carmen is on the run. And she takes Gene on a wild, dangerous road trip. But I don't want to reveal more details about the story, because this is really a book about a teen-ager's quest for the truth, for the meaning of life.
Like any teen-anger Gene has lots of questions--about religion, about the Vietnam war, about life. And he seeks the answers from Carmen. Early on he calls her a hippy, but she sets him straight. "I'm not a hippy, Gene. I'm a practical person. In this time and this place, it's an easy motif for me, it works. But at the end of the day I'm not anything but me."
Still Gene struggles. He cannot accept his parents' boring middle class life, the war, organized religion.
