The Thumbnail Book Reviews
by John Q McDonald --- 6 May 2005
by Peter Gould
In general the content of one's own hallucinations, dreams or power visions hold limited interest in the minds of readers. The things seen and experienced might be incredibly compelling to the beholder, holding deep and powerful emotional meaning. But this tends to be unique to the beholder, the images and experiences have meaning, indeed, but are to be interpreted differently by everyone. That is largely the effect of this odd 1971 novel, which originated in the communal life on Vermont farms in an era of personal and social experimentation. There are at least three non-fiction books to come out of this particular milieu (see links below), and the urge to consider this book at least partially autobiographical is strong. But the book reads as a fantasy on one man's transitional moment, in which he discovers something about his upcoming path in life. The Burnt Toast is his name for the power vision that drives this transition. The imagery is intricate, and evokes an Edenic forest and farmland existence within a large extended family. The narrator, who calls himself Silent, speaks also at length about his father, the spiritual guidance he offered, and his death. This seems to be a force behind the novel itself, and that loss is mixed in to the small discoveries Silent makes upon his path through the woods and amongst the woodland dwellers. There is, of course, a surreal or psychedelic quality to the writing. Its intricacies are hard to decipher in a mixture of what must be subjective imagery. Yet it provides a tone and insight to the spiritual searching and new mythology of the young people of that era.
See Also: [What the Trees Said by Stephen Diamond] [Famous Long Ago by Raymond Mungo]