Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Ten top books about communes

Ewan Morrison is the author of four novels: Swung, Menage, Distance, and Close Your Eyes, and a collection of short stories.

For the Guardian he tagged his top ten books about communes, including:
Arcadia by Lauren Groff

This story centres around a young boy, Bit, and his confused relationship with the largely naked polygamous, vegan older people who won't quite admit to being his parents. There are sensuous depictions of daily processes, making soy cheese and cake and even a birth which Bit assists in. Arcadia is an example of how you can make a compelling story out of the daily mess of commune living by making something go horribly wrong. Thankfully for novelists (and maybe regretfully for the world) communes usually collapse dramatically.
Read about another novel on the list.

Arcadia is on Jami Attenberg's top ten list of dysfunctional families in literature.

The Page 69 Test: Arcadia.

--Marshal Zeringue