Maxine Swann

I highly recommend Maxine Swann's Flower Children. It's a very quick read - less a novel than interlocking short stories about children raised by hippie parents. The narrative voice ranges from chapter to chapter - from the plural (we) to a third person narrator to the voice of one of the daughters, and though this kind of transition usually bugs me, it works here.

The book follows the children through adolescence - each chapter lights on an event or a significant moment. Swann has an elegant spare style that works beautifully in the first and concluding chapters that focus on the children and the landscape surrounding their home, but as she expands her vision to include other family members in the story, she is less sucessful at capturing that sense of the significant moment or important transition. Still, her failures are noble ones. I really admired the way she captured the way images of our younger selves erupt through the gaps of our memories like mountains in a mist.

What I liked best is there is no sense of passing judgement on any character - a lesser sensibility would have made a 'look how my hippie parents neglected me and fucked me up' kind of book. The character of the father, esp, who really is a mess and declines as the story progresses, is drawn humourously and sympathetically.

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Yeah, I've been reluctant to read this ER, frankly because of the cover. Although I wanted to read a book set in Argentina the cover was a complete turnoff. None the less, I finally delved in to this novel to find that Daisy is an American divorcee and has been having unexplained fainting spells. Doctors recommend she gets away for a while and her friend Brian tells her he's able to offer her a grant to study the water works of Buenos Aires, a subject to which she is a complete novice. Upon her arrival she discovers a water problem within her own apartment and meets her first acquaintance in BA, Gabriel, a gigolo who hires himself out to other men. I instantly liked the guy, he tries to be helpful and has the connections to come to Daisy's aid. Second friend is Leonarda, a local who wants to meet a foreigner. She shows Daisy all the excitement and perversity that BA has to offer. Next major character is Isolde an Austrian who tries to fit into BA aristocracy and wishes to work in the arts. A few minor characters include Mario and Nadia, Mario's background is rather vague but Nadia is a solid personality.
With so much going on in BA and with water all around her, flooding, dirty , purified and seeping, Daisy has little time to work on her report yet when she does it's usually info found on her computer.
So what does one take away from this novel? Perhaps it's that Buenos Aires is a cesspool of nationalities trying to meld together. Or, maybe, a foreigner can attempt to fit in but in actuality, can not. I don't know! I don't understand what this story is trying to get across. But it's certainly no travelogue and it doesn't entice me to call my travel agent any time soon Or for that matter read another book written by Maxine Swann.… (more)

I was intrigued by the cover of this book. I grew up during the same era, and the picture of the children playing (in 70's attire) took me back to my childhood. This is a fictionalized account of Swann's childhood growing up with two Harvard-educated hippies as parents. She and her siblings had no discipline, no rules. Their parents grew pot underneath the kitchen sink. A swing hung from the ceiling.
The story follows the four children from early childhood through the middle school years as they begin to come of age. Their parents divorce, subsequent lovers, and visits to their wealthy (and very different) grandparents' homes all add to the children's view of the world and their view of their parents as well.
I enjoyed this book. However, the switching back and forth between first and third person points of view was distracting. I'd love to know what became of the children and their parents in later years. (You know it's a good story when you are left wondering what happened later.)… (more)