Help Identify 70s Counterculture Novel
July 11, 2023 4:17 PM Subscribe
Need help identifying a novel published in the early 70s (possibly very late 60s) with a teenage prep school protagonist.
The novel is set in I believe suburban Connecticut. The main character is a hippie-ish teen from an old money New England family. Hippie teen is very close to his grandfather who lives on the family property and is a retired banker who late in life developed a taste for psychedelics (sort of like R. Gordon Wasson). I encountered the novel in the 80s I think in a university bookstore although I don't know and didn't take whatever class it was assigned for. The book wasn't terrible but I didn't have a very high opinion of the novel at the time. In any event, I have reasons for trying to find it now and my google fu is failing me miserably. Thanks in advance.
The novel is set in I believe suburban Connecticut. The main character is a hippie-ish teen from an old money New England family. Hippie teen is very close to his grandfather who lives on the family property and is a retired banker who late in life developed a taste for psychedelics (sort of like R. Gordon Wasson). I encountered the novel in the 80s I think in a university bookstore although I don't know and didn't take whatever class it was assigned for. The book wasn't terrible but I didn't have a very high opinion of the novel at the time. In any event, I have reasons for trying to find it now and my google fu is failing me miserably. Thanks in advance.
"A Good School" by Richard Yates? It lacks the psychedelic patriarch, but it's a Connecticut prep school novel.
If that's not it, peruse this list of prep school novels. Or this list.
But the lists are not exhaustive. Google: [Connecticut prep school novel "LSD"] and you get things like
Richard Hawley, The Headmaster's papers
posted by beagle at 11:36 AM on July 12, 2023
If that's not it, peruse this list of prep school novels. Or this list.
But the lists are not exhaustive. Google: [Connecticut prep school novel "LSD"] and you get things like
Richard Hawley, The Headmaster's papers
posted by beagle at 11:36 AM on July 12, 2023
It's 100% not A Good School, I'm afraid.
posted by desert outpost at 9:00 PM on July 13, 2023
posted by desert outpost at 9:00 PM on July 13, 2023
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What is this "property"? A summer house, a country estate, just a large home in a commuter suburb? Rural area, coastal?
How old is the teen? Does he attend high school, college? Are his parents around?
Is "psychedelics" just "LSD"? Or do you remember mushrooms, cacti, or anything else being involved? Does anyone actually trip, or witness a trip, in this book? (might help with keywords)
Do you otherwise remember ANY plot points, even if details are fuzzy? Or anything about the cover?
Was this clearly written for adults, or could this have been a crossover book? Or maybe even something that a misguided publisher might label as "juvenile" fiction? (At the time of publication, teenage POVs often straddled marketing lines.)
posted by desert outpost at 1:13 AM on July 12, 2023