Hawkline Monster

by Richard Brautigan

The time is 1902. The setting, eastern Oregon. Magic Child, a 15-year-old Native American girl, wanders into the wrong whorehouse looking for the right men. She finds Cameron and Greer, two gunmen taking a timeout from the game after an aborted job in Hawaii. Their violent past doesn't concern Magic Child. She wants them to kill a monster for her, one she says lives in the ice caves under the basement of Miss Hawkline's yellow house, and one she says has killed before.

But the more she tells them about the monster, the more her story unravels, until it isn't clear if the monster is even real, or if anything else is.

Richard Brautigan's classic surrealist novel has inspired for decades with its wild, witty, and bizarre encounters with western-themed psychedelia.

Genres: Fiction, Horror, Westerns, Gothic, Fantasy, Humor, Novels

188 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

Richard Brautigan was an American novelist, poet, and short-story writer. Born in Tacoma, Washington, he moved to San Francisco in the 1950s and began publishing poetry in 1957. He started writing novels in 1961 and is probably best known for his early work Trout Fishing in America. He died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in 1984.

Reviews

[Vit Babenco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whatever Richard Brautigan wrote, his writings, despite their deceptive simplicity, possessed some hidden magic. And so it is with a playful gothic tale The Hawkline Monster.
The courageous heroes of the tale are two goodhearted killers for hire…

They did not look tough or mean. They looked like a relaxed essence distilled from these two qualities. They acted as if they were very intimate with something going on that nobody else could see.

And the seat of evil makes blood freeze in their veins…

When they were a hundred yards away from the house, the air suddenly turned cold. The temperature dropped about forty degrees. The drop was as sudden as the motion of a knife.

There is an allusion to Thanatopsis, a mysterious and a little bit mystical poem by William Cullen Bryant in the book:
“Where rolls the Oregon, and hears no sound,   
Save his own dashings – yet the dead are there:   
And millions in those solitudes, since first   
The flight of years began, have laid them down   
In their last sleep – the dead reign there alone.”
Probably it was one of the stimuli to write this unique gothic fable, where everything, right from the start and straight to the end, defies every rule of every genre…
Destiny of monsters, however monstrous they are, is to be slain by chivalrous knights.

[karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

i am willing to give second chances.

even if i am angered or bewildered or heartbroken, i am always willing to take stock of circumstances, offer up the opportunity for redemption, and allow someone back into the warmth of my heart. we should all be as emotionally charitable as me. just don't fuck up a second time.

i read this brautigan novel with trepidation. that motherfucker burned me before.

are you distressed that i have already used variants of the word "fuck" twice in the first fifty or so words?

then you will probably not like richard brautigan. read this instead. (i love the angry southerner's review of this - teehee)

maureen assured me that this was a "good" brautigan book. unlike the brautigan to which i had been exposed in the past. if i had the correct facial muscles, i would have raised a single eyebrow at her, but i cannot do anything cool, so instead i grunted. she was in canada, and so could not hear me.

but i'm game, so i made greg get this for me from the library. (princess neither does her own taxes nor leaves her own library-rental paper trail)

and it was not at all bad.

pretty enjoyable, in fact.

i was doubly concerned before reading, because remember when robert coover wrote his version of a western; Ghost Town? i did not love that book at all. usually, his schtick works for me, but i remember being annoyed by that one. this one also does a sort of western mash-up, decorating the traditional western theme with some furnishings from the gothic genre. big isolated house, subterranean caverns, unnameable force of eeeevil. (well, pretty nameable, actually. it is called the hawkline monster, as a matter of fact)but it's got some ionesco lunacy and a lot of fuckin'. also teenaged prostitutes and a giant butler and an umbrella stand made out of an elephant's foot. also, some fuckin'.

it is a little icky, of course, as artifacts from the seventies will be in the attitudes towards the interchangeability of women as sex partners and icksome group sex.

but it is also a fast and perplexing read, where people suffer memory loss and blend into other people, sort of, and things are all a bit eerie. but funny. i don't know how to explain it. it is like watching a bunch of clowns in cowboy hats and eyeliner having an orgy. who can find the words?

i am going to magnanimously let greg read this book before he returns it to the library.
maybe he will find a better way of describing it.

but for me, i will say - welcome to my heart, brautigan - watch your step...

come to my blog!

[Fergus, Weaver of Autistic Webs · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mrs Hawkline's monster ain't real. That's all I carried home from this book when I tucked that criticism away into my autistic memory in the psychedelic seventies.

And it's true: this one, and ALL my inner monsters have no reality in my current Christian mindset.

Hardly what Poor Richard meant, in his addled encomium to the paraphernalia of a hippie's perpetual high.

And that's the reason he's now added to my discard box, for eventual transport to Value Village!

There was no way I could comprehend his enduring value in my brother's eyes. But I didn't much like "tuning in, turning on and dropping out" overmuch, either.

Freud says monsters (like this one living beneath Mrs Hawkline's house) are real to psychotics. And street drugs' draw for rebellious kids is in their induced temporary psychosis!

No capiche.

I wanted, you see, to permanently Kill my mad monsters, not Encourage them, and so I became Catholic.

We believers believe such monsters are real-life denizens of the Underworld in the next world. Only they carry pitchforks, much to the discomfort of the damned.

Yes, you're right: it's a metaphor. But, whatever they are, they curse our poor attempts to be Free!

Shades of The Exorcist? You're right. My long adult life has been just that. A never-ending Rite of Exorcism.

Faith brings Conviction, and, being convicted I was now carefully and fully conscious. Through conviction I found my true Value!

And at last I know peace from such monsters.

My bipolar disease is now in remission.

Thank Heaven and all the Saints...

And so, Mr Brautigan -

"Tell me if I am not glad," Mrs Hawkline!

[Jakob J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Gothic Western?
Really? What were you Brautigan, one of those writers who said ‘I write so-and-so books, but with a so-and-so twist’? I mean, seriously, give us a bre — oh! Hey, so yeah, a gothic western. Spot on. Who knew one could be so apt in labeling their work. My apologies. Well done.

Having A Go at One of Those Superficially Clever, Show-offy-but-in-reality-rather-hokey-and-stilted-and-at-bottom-irrelevent Mash-up Comparative Descriptions That Critics Tend to Enjoy Implementing:
Imagine if Cormac McCarthy and Kurt Vonnegut travelled back in time to assassinate Jesse James only to find that Mary Shelley had already travelled forward in time and was using his body for scientific experimentation, and Robert Louis Stevenson was… probably somewhere near… like in the basement, with his chemicals… hearing bits and pieces… eh, forget this. It does have in common some of the comic simplicity of Vonnegut, dreary dialogue involving cowboys, sort of like McCarthy, and indeed a science-gone-wild gothic aspect not entirely unlike Frankenstein, but those are just some things that came to my mind viz. it doesn’t smack of a rip-off at all. It’s easy to read, elegant in its lack of verbose adornment, and it is wonderfully entertaining.

Main Characters and About Them:
Cameron counts. Greer fucks. Cameron fucks too though. Cameron and Greer also both kill people. Miss Hawkline fucks. Magic Child fucks. Miss Hawkline and Magic Child also both want to be rid of an evil (or at least highly inconsiderate) entity that dwells beneath their house. Cameron and Greer also both want to kill this entity because they will get paid. But sometimes both Cameron and Greer and both Miss Hawkline and Magic Child would rather fuck or eat than kill the entity.

Cameron counts everything; shots fired, hoof clops clopped, silverware. If there are amounts of things, he’ll count them. When he is counting the amount of times someone does something, he always anticipates it to be done 1 more time. He expects to count to infinity, all the time. There is no expectation of a cut-off point for Cameron, and numbers are everything.

The House, What Surrounds it, and What is Contained Within it:
Multiple chimneys of billowing smoke make the Hawkline house appear as a mini-factory of industrial dread. Frozen ground surrounds it on account of the ‘ice caves’ beneath it. Chemicals-cum-shadow/light-cum-monster inadvertently originated by professor-cum-elephant foot umbrella stand. Seemingly more inconvenient than dangerous, such a creation can cause reality not to fit its definition. In the end, we have confirmation of what we all know already; whiskey solves all problems.

Writing this review is preventing me from getting fucked. I’m going to go get fucked.

[Justin Tate · Rating 3 out of 5]

First published in 1974, this "Gothic Western" endures as an offbeat classic. Tim Burton almost directed a movie adaptation starring Clint Eastwood and Jack Nicholson, but Eastwood backed out and Burton went with Mars Attacks! instead. Smart decision.

The Hawkline Monster is a problematic story that fluctuates between pure spoof and legitimate horror. Most of the comedy comes from witty word choices and bizarre happenings, such as characters with little respect for the dead, human transformation into inanimate objects, and impromptu sex spurred on by supernatural forces.

The horror elements are minimal, yet occasionally there is a sense of unease from the mysterious ongoings about the remote house placed atop ice caves and inhabited by a monster. The title "Monster" is more of a psychological phenomenon than a creature to be feared, however. In that aspect the story reminds me of Jeff VanderMeer's Annihilation, if VanderMeer were writing for laughs.

Fans of Western tropes will no doubt find some hyper-masculine humor peppered throughout. Meanwhile I struggled to spot commentary on Gothic motifs. Others have noticed them, though. Elsa J. Radcliffe, whose bibliography of Gothic novels published in the 1960's and '70s I greatly admire, actually gave this book high marks (she was picky, so this is rare). She described the book as a "naughty, satirical little venture" and predicted "any lover of Gothics who has a sense of humor should enjoy this farce."

I don't disagree with her, but I got my giggles more from the commentary on Westerns than on Gothics. Outside of a remote house with a spooky vibe, I didn’t see any connection to the genre. Anyway, The Hawkline Monster is a novella that can be read quickly and will satisfy a craving for clever writing with immature, over-the-top adventures. As recently as 2020 there's been talk again of adapting it for film. With so much mystical imagery and fascinating juxtaposition it might be crazy enough to work on film. We'll see if it ever happens!

[Melki · Rating 3 out of 5]

"It just howls and pounds on the iron door that's between the ice caves and the laboratory. We've kept the door locked ever since our father disappeared."

"What does it sound like?" Cameron said.

"It sounds like the combination of water being poured into a glass," Miss Hawkline said. "A dog barking and the muttering of a drunk parrot. And very, very loud."

"I think we're going to need the shotgun for this one," Cameron said.

...and maybe a bigger boat while you're at it...

This is a freaky acid trip of a "gothic western," Judging by that description, I should have found it delightful, but mostly I found it pretty damned dreadful.

There is a plot, so there's that.

Two hired guns take on the task of killing a monster that lives under a house. Lots of sex and weird stuff ensues. There's a climax, (well, several, if you count the sex), and an epilogue.

Brautigan's work seems a precursor to Bizarro fiction only it's no where near as good as most of the Bizarro stuff I've read. His dialogue seems stilted and the situations, while imaginative, tend to churn around aimlessly for far too long. There are some funny bits and I never completely lost interest, hence my very weak three-star rating.

But...all of my reading life, Brautigan has been painted as some sort of literary god.

Truthfully, I found him not only ungodlike, but pretty mediocre.

And yet...I will give his fans the benefit of the doubt.

I'll read another.

I have plenty of his books. In hardback, first editions, no less.

You see, my father was a Brautigan fan. Since he is deceased, and I can't ask him why, I asked my husband, who has also read most of Brautigan's books.

Me - "Why?"

Him - "Everybody kept saying what a great writer he was."

Me - "So after the first one, you kept reading them to see which one was the worst...right?"

Him - "Well...I thought they might get better, but they didn't."

There you have it.

Now I understand how we've managed to stay married for 23 years.

[ZaRi]

هیولای هاوکلاین یک روایت است که ماجراهای دو هفت‌تیرکش و قاتل‌ حرفه‌ای به نام‌های "گریر" و "کامرون" را برای مخاطب بازگو می‌کند اما در عین حال هیولای هاوکلاین تنها یک رمان درباره زندگی دو قاتل نیست و در لایه‌های عمیق‌تر تغییر فرهنگ غرب را به سوی مدرنیته بررسی می‌کند.
در همین راستا که دو کاراکتر داستانی از اورگان به شهری دورافتاده سفر می‌کنند و این سفر که برای انجام ماموریتی صورت پذیرفته هست کم‌کم به جست‌وجو در تاریخ غرب تغییر شکل می‌دهد و براتیگان با استفاده از سمبل ها و تمثیل‌های مختلف بخشی از تاریخ ایالات متحده آمریکا را به چالش می‌کشاند.
«هیولایِ هاوکلاین»، یک وسترن گوتیک است که دنیای وسترن را به سخره می گیرد و المان های وحشت و وسترن یک به یک نقض می شوند همان گونه که این موضوع در رمان "رویای بابل" صورت گرفت؛ یک کتاب ضد وسترنی تمام عیار و شاید درست تر یک کتاب نقض کننده وسترنی با تمام المانهای آن.
هیولای هاوکلاین که تلفیقی از رمان وسترن و گوتیک است و بخشی از تمدن آمریکایی را به مخاطب نشان می‌دهد، روایت یک نویسنده است که در بستری از خشونت شکل می‌گیرد و او با زبان تمثیل زندگی دو قاتل را به یک داستان هیجان‌انگیز تبدیل می‌کند که با زبان طنز همراه شده است. در بخشی ابتدایی کتاب، قهرمانان داستان طی ماجراهایی مسخ می‌شوند و این‌گونه کاراکترهای‌ بخش پایانی کتاب شکل می‌گیرند.

[Arthur Graham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just like I always say, whiskey solves everything.

[Gypsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

اگه حال‌وهواتون یه طوریه که یه داستان خل‌خلی و جمع‌وجور می‌خواین اما نه جلف و زرد(حالا از جلدش که بگذریم :دی) هیولای هاوکلاین بی‌اندازه خوبه. بی‌اندازه. هم طنزه، هم داستان داره، هم از نظر ادبی در نوع خودش جالبه و بازی‌های خاصی داره، هم ماجراهاش سرگرم‌کننده‌ن، بعضی دیالوگ‌ها و واکنش‌ها این‌قد عالی‌ان که یه لحظه می‌خوای براتیگان کنارت باشه بزنی روی شونه‌ش بگی ماشالا داداچ. :)))

ریویوی بهداد و عماد هم این‌قد خوب بودن که من فقط اومدم بزنم روی شونه‌هاشون. :همر:

[Nickolas B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Αυτή είναι μία από τις πιο περίεργες και αλλοπρόσαλλες ιστορίες που έχω ποτέ διαβάσει.
Σε δύο επαγγελματίες πιστολάδες ανατίθεται μια πολύ ιδιαίτερη αποστολή. Σύμφωνα με τις οδηγίες μιας Ινδιάνας, θα πρέπει να μεταβούν σε μια απομονωμένη Έπαυλη και να εξουδετερώσουν το τέρας που τη στοιχειώνει, απαλλάσσοντας διαπαντός τις ιδιοκτήτριες από αυτόν τον εφιάλτη,
Η υπόθεση εκ πρώτης όψης μοιάζει απλή και συνηθισμένη. Όμως δεν είναι. Ο Μπρότιγκαν φτιάχνει μια απίθανη ιστορία η οποία αρχικά θυμίζει σπαγγέτι γουέστερν, εν συνεχεία ταινία τρόμου και μέσα από μια μη γραμμική αφήγηση καταλήγει να μοιάζει με ασυνάρτητο όνειρο!
Τίποτε μέσα σε όλη την ιστορία δεν είναι φυσιολογικό. Οι δύο αδελφές Χοκλάιν μοιάζουν σαν δύο σταγόνες νερό, ενώ αρχικά ήταν διαφορετικές, η έπαυλη βρίσκεται πάνω σε κάτι παγοσπηλιές (;;), ενώ το τέρας είναι μια περίεργη οντότητα που άλλοτε έχει μοχθηρές και άλλοτε σκανταλιάρικες διαθέσεις.
Στην όλη ιστορία υπάρχουν και αρκετά στοιχεία σουρεαλισμού. Καταστάσεις οι οποίες δεν μπορούν να ερμηνευτούν με κοινή λογική και απευθύνονται κυρίως στον αναγνώστη που είναι ικανός να κάνει την υπέρβαση και να απολαύσει μια δημιουργία απαλλαγμένη από τα δεσμά της συμβατικότητας.
Τέλος, δεν μου κάνει καθόλου εντύπωση που πολλές φορές προσπάθησαν σκηνοθέτες να το μεταφέρουν στη μεγάλη οθόνη και απέτυχαν παταγωδώς. Μόνο μια σκηνοθετική ευφυΐα θα μπορούσε να μπει στο κόσμο του Μπρότιγκαν και να μετουσιώσει το διήγημα σε ταινία. Γιατί πραγματικά δεν μιλάμε για μεταφορά αλλά μετουσίωση...
Εν τέλει, θα έλεγα πως το βιβλίο αποτελεί μια μοναδική αναγνωστική εμπειρία. Όσοι αποτολμήσουν την ανάγνωση του να είναι σίγουροι πως θα περιπλανηθούν σε ένα αλλόκοτο κόσμο και θα γνωριστούν με έναν ιδιαίτερο δημιουργό!

ΥΓ: Εξαιρετική μετάφραση από τις εκδόσεις Κυψέλη, που έσωσαν το διήγημα από την κακοποίηση της προηγούμενης μετάφρασης των Εκδόσεων Γράμματα, που ούτε τον τίτλο δεν μπόρεσαν να μεταφράσουν σωστά!

[Toby · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Hawkline Monster by Richard Brautigan

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


A Gothic Western

'This sure is a weird place,' Greer said.
'It ain't any weirder that Hawaii,' Cameron said.
As it turned out, Cameron was wrong.

Blurb: It is the beginning of the 20th century. A huge yellow house stands in a field of frost in the Dead Hills of East Oregon. In the basement of the house are The Chemicals.

The Chemicals were Professor Hawkline's lifework - but the Professor has disappeared and his lifework must be completed by his two beautiful daughters...Who lay in bedrooms upstairs with two professional killers, Greer and Cameron. While their beloved giant butler lies dead and ignored on the front hall floor. Meanwhile, in the ice caves below the house, the Hawkline Monster laughs and roars.

Thoughts: I must admit that I have been reading outside my comfort zone with this one. I know nothing of the gothic style of literature and as far as I know I haven't read any previously. My knowledge of the western genre consists of a few interesting movies (my favourite being perhaps McCabe & Mrs Miller) and the general idea of John Wayne and Clint Eastwood that has become synonymous with the genre. So my expectation going in to this was practically zero. The words "gothic western" just appealed to me and the premise of this one equally so. This being my first Brautigan also added to the newness of the experience for me.

Greer and Cameron are instantly likable heroes, interest and sympathy for them created from the very first page with their wise cracking and obvious humanity. The journey to face the Hawkline Monster is interesting and well told in short bursts of anecdotal description that is in turns funny and obtuse. The majority of the chapters are a single page in length with the chapter headings often providing more of the plot movement than the contents, this is a new literary trick for me and I really grew to appreciate it when combined with Brautigans almost picaresque style of storytelling.

It's just a little too bizarre for me to really love it. I couldn't really work out if the "monster" was real, if the entire story was just a metaphor for religion or some such other major literary topic and maybe that is the point of gothic literature? Something tells me it might be but I'm ready and willing to listen to others explanations on the subject (hint hint.)

Although having said that I got the sudden urge to watch The X Files whilst reading this, the behaviour and description of the monster felt like the kind of case Mulder would have dragged Scully to investigate in the late 90s. Does anybody remember the episode How The Ghosts Stole Christmas from season 6? Am I on the right track now?

As my friend from Manchester said of this book, a good, unusual and interesting novel but not great.

Once upon a time Hal Ashby had lined up Jack Nicholson and Jeff Bridges for a film adaptation but it sadly never happened, then Tim Burton also had Jack Nicholson involved in an adaptation but this time with Clint Eastwood, happily this one never got off the ground.

Further viewing suggestions:
McCabe & Mrs Miller
Ride With The Devil
Hombre

Additional reading:
Blood Meridian
Welcome To Hard Times
The Sisters Brothers

Originally posted at blahblahblahgay

[پیمان عَلُو · Rating 5 out of 5]

«ما زنده به آنیم که آرام نگیریم
موجیم که آسودگی ما عدم ماست»

شاید این شعر رو ریچارد براتیگان مینوشت بیشتر بهش میخورد ،براتیگانی که ۷ سال شعر نوشت تا بتونه یک جمله بنویسه چون دوست داشت رمان بنویسه.براتیگانی که یکی از پرچم داران نسل بیت شمرده میشه.

{برای تعریف براتیگان از (امپراطور سلین) مجبورم یک جمله کِش برم،شاید بهتر باشه بگم اگه سلین براتیگان رو معرفی میکرد میگفت ؛آدمی که نُه رديف جرمِ يه رديف ملال}

این کتاب پنجمین کار ریچارد براتیگان شمرده میشه و پنجمین خوانش من، از سومین نویسنده بزرگ زندگیم هم بود.

کتابی که خوانش بسیار روانی داشت ،طوری که راحت میشد روزی پنجاه الی صد صفحه خوند و هضم کرد.
و باز هم سر فصل های دیونه کننده براتیگان که همیشه با خودش تو کتاباش میاره و میبره.

واقعا به منتقدا حق میدم که ندونن براتیگان در چه سبک ادبی جای میگیره ،اگه جنون گاوی داشته باشیم جنون براتیگانی هم هست...
هیولای هاوکلاین،هم مثل دیگر کار های براتیگان پر از طنزه و خیلی جالب بود که شنیدم قرار بوده جک نیکلسون و داستین هافمن در فیلمی نقش گریر و کامرون رو بازیکنن.

هیولای هاوکلاین،برای من کامو مانند عمل کرد،شاید براتیگان میخواست هنر رو در پس زمینه جلو ببره اما یه جاهایی مشخص بود هدف کتاب فقط داستان گریرو کامرون نمیتونه باشه.

اینجاست که مخاطب تیز متوجه میشه براتیگان پشت کتاب با کالیبر نشسته.و در هدف هم نظام ماشینی یا همون مدرنیته آمریکا قرار داره.
یاد شعر آلن گینزبرگ افتادم در طول کتاب:

{ آمریکا کِی ما جنگ با بشریت را تمام میکنیم؟
برو با بمب های اتم ات خودت را بگا !
من حالم خوب نیست مزاحمم نشو }

[Dan Schwent · Rating 3 out of 5]

I grabbed this one because it said Gothic Western on the cover. It was a really odd one. The writing is simplistic but has a bit of a hypnotic quality. I'll read more Brautigan if I happen across them.

[H · Rating 5 out of 5]

A miniscule, oddball masterpiece. Essentially functioning as one extended deadpan joke, "The Hawkline Monster" is a strange story told straightforwardly. Structured in Brautigan's characteristic fragmentary chapters (which average about two pages and sometimes contain little more than one singular thought), the plot begins with contract killers Greer and Cameron being approached by a stranger named Magic Child. She has a job for them: come to Hawkline Manor, a house in eastern Oregon but near nothing of note, and kill the monster that lives in the ice caves below the house. The wholly original voice Brautigan creates depends in large part upon the originality of his story, which, in large part, depends on its weirdness. In the book, this weirdness takes two forms, which alternate: first, the setting and circumstances are inherently weird, as if they have always been that way, and the characters simply accept them for being weird; second, additional weird circumstances pop up along the way and the characters call them out for their weirdness. There's something inherently satisfying about the off-the-wall creations Brautigan comes up with here, but you'll also be reading for their comedic payoff. Some of the laughs come from the audacity of the story's twists and turns, and some come from the ways in which he gets out of the situations he puts his characters in. And though the book can be read in one sitting, I found myself extending it for five days because I didn't want it to end. I can't remember the last time a book made me slow down to finish it. If there's any higher mark of praise you can give a book, I don't know what it would be.

[Ayz · Rating 4 out of 5]

i laughed out loud several times. surreal and hilarious.

don’t take it too seriously; it’s basically a western comedy, with a touch of vonnegut insanity. definitely worth the quick read if you can go for a ride with its offbeat and wild narrative. if it doesn’t connect with you in a few chapters, just skip it. this is for a certain kind person who enjoys bizarre wild stream of consciousness style stories with a sense of humor.

[صان · Rating 5 out of 5]

وقتی شروع شد با خودم گفتم به نظر کار ضعیف‌تری میاد. ولی هرچی جلوتر رفت بیشتر جذبش شدم!
به شدت خلاقانه‌س و فانتزی و جذاب، طوری که اصلن نمی‌تونی حدس بزنی چه اتفاقی داره میفته و گاهی چیزایی توش رخ می‌ده که از شدت سادگی و احمقانگی قهقهه می‌زنی!
عالی!

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

My first experience with Richard Brautigan was not a positive one. I disliked A Confederate General from Big Sur. Karen a similar bad Brautigan reaction to her first book, but she was convinced to give him another try with this book, and I was given the task of taking it out of the library for her. She read it and gave it four stars. Since it's my job to return it to the library, and because she asked me to, I give Brautigan a second chance.

It was ok. I found it enjoyable and it read quickly and I didn't break out in any hives from Brautigan's hip-counter cultureness. There is something very 1970's about the book, and the sex aspects of the book are a little creepy in the way that decade excels in (just the thought of being conceived in that decade makes me feel a little queasy sometimes, no wonder my generation grew up to be stereotypical asexual slackers in the early 90's, too much ickiness back in our formation).

I feel like I've read this book before, though. I can't remember what books it was. But the whole détournement of the Western and the of the myths of the American West, you know the cowboys and indians and shit like that I know I've read before. The only person that I can confidently say I've read who also did this though was Ishmael Reed, but there must have been others. The theme is interesting but not really ground breaking or anything that gets me very excited. I can imagine in the 60's-80's when this theme was worked on quite a bit was a exorcism of sorts for authors and readers who had grown up immersed in the myths of the American West, John Wayne and Gunsmoke. I only know the images, and the scenes in movies about the post-war time but this is a time when little boys wanted to be cowboys and dressed up like cowboys with plastic six shooters. I think these books are in a way the expression of grown-ups still reeling from finding out that their childhood dreams had a different reality then they had believed. I could just be making shit up though.

I liked this book well enough but not enough to make me want to venture into the dangerous, childish nihilism that I imagine most of Brautigan's other books to be seeped in.

---------

Bonus rant:

My own personal favorite détournement of the American West / whitey's relationship with those that were here before we got here comes from the very un-Situationist Rush Limbaugh. He railed against the 'liberal' myths of conquest (you know the killing of in upwards of a million Native American's in the name of Manifest Destiny) on the day before Thanksgiving last year. In a rant that sounded suspiciously like a Holocaust Revisionist saying six million Jews couldn't have been killed and anyone saying that there were that many killed are falling for a Zionist conspiracy, he was ranting and raving about some number that Ward Churchill had for the number of Native Americans killed. Limbaugh ranted about the number being inflated liberal nonsense, and then he had this gem (I wish I had the actual transcript to quote verbatim), even if we had killed (I'm making this number up, I forget what number Churchill stated and Limbaugh disputed) 20 million Indians, that is nothing compared to the number of Americans have killed by the introduction of tobacco to pale faces. He added that he doesn't think that this means the Indians deserved to be killed off, but that they weren't the innocent victims they are made out to be. Ha! What a subversion of narratives for political purposes.

[Rick Slane · Rating 5 out of 5]

How many gothic westerns are there? I read this long ago and remember it fondly.

[Mattia Ravasi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Video review

A postmodern House on the Borderland. If you thought Cortazar's "House Taken Over" was already that, hey you're good, and also, that's intellectual postmodernism; this is the crazy hippy variety.
Guns, laughs, random sex and an actual monster: what else you need?

[Δημήτρης · Rating 5 out of 5]

Χιούμορ, γουέστερν λογοτεχνία και ψήγματα λογοτεχνικού τρόμου με ατμόσφαιρα b-movie. Ο Ρίτσαρντ Μπρότιγκαν ήταν μια πολύ ιδιάζουσα μορφή (μια ματιά στις φωτογραφίες του αρκεί) κάτι που αποτυπώνεται και στην ιστορία αυτή. Το Τέρας των Χόκλαϊν είχε κυκλοφορήσει πριν πολλά χρόνια από τα Γράμματα και το επανέφεραν προσφάτως οι εκδόσεις Κυψέλη.
Η υπόθεση έχει να κάνει με δύο πιστολάδες, πληρωμένους δολοφόνους, στη Δυτική Ακτή των ΗΠΑ στις αρχές του περασμένου αιώνα, όταν τους προσλαμβάνει η δεσποινίς Χόκλαϊν ώστε να βγάλουν ένα τέρας που βρίσκεται στις σπηλιές κάτω από το σπίτι της στη μέση του πουθενά στο Όρεγκον. Η γραφή είναι απλή και κινηματογραφική με άπλετες σουρεαλιστικές σκηνές και άφθονο σαρκασμό.
Σίγουρα πρόκειται για ένα πολύ ευκολοδιάβαστο μυθιστόρημα και σίγουρα όποιος το πιάσει στα χέρια του θα περάσει κάποιες πολύ ευχάριστες ώρες ανάγνωσης. Συστήνεται!

[S̶e̶a̶n̶ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think a big part of Brautigan's genius is how his books feel like they were written in one go, with no edits. There's this free-flowing quality to the prose, like he's just riffing as he goes along and can't be bothered to ever look back. This works better in some books than others and this one didn't work so great for me. But I also might not have been in the best frame of mind to enjoy his style. I'd actually been wanting to read this one for a while and happened to come across a copy in a Little Free Library down the street from my house that features an associated miniature tableau with a tiny gnome and tiny gnome-sized furniture. A lot of my neighbors have these miniature scenes set up in their gardens--little castles and huts and whatnot--it's cool and adds an extra dimension to walking the streets and admiring the houses. Anyway, finding the book was ultimately more exciting than the experience of reading it.

[Miss Ravi · Rating 3 out of 5]

کتاب‌های براتیگان همیشه و بی هیچ دلیل واضحی خوش‍خوانن و احتمالا این به نثر روون کتابهاش و طنز ظریفی که به کار می‌بره برمی‌گرده. شاید این کتاب بهترین اثر براتیگان نباشه و در مواردی خواننده از بی‌اتفاقی و خط داستانی مستقیم و بی‌فراز و نشسیب اون کسل می‌شد اما حرفی برای گفتن داشت و من بدجوری دلم می‌خواد هیولا، سایه و غار یخی رو به موضوعات روانکاوی ربط بدم.

[Maureen · Rating 5 out of 5]

a phenomenal book i keep carrying around with me and dipping into over and over again. i read it twice the first time i read it which is always the hallmark of my great favourites.

the simple story really sort of sketches in a lovely series of scenes that play out in a matter of fact way that always hints at poetry, and engages my imagination so that i can see everything so vividly. i love everything about these characters: they are so real to me, natural and uttterly charming.

though it's supposed to be a gothic western, in some ways i feel very strongly a kinship here to viking sagas or beowulf: fighting, eating, fucking, codes, women, and monsters.

[Kate O'Shea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Where do you start with a Western gothic novel? It's probably Brautigan at his surreal best.

The story is even more peculiar than usual being set around a couple of sisters who employ two gunslingers to rid them of a monster who lives in the basement of their house which has been built over ice caves. To make it more strange they believe it has killed their father who is a scientist working on a formula which may benefit the whole world.

Confused? No, not really. It does develop in the manner of a western novel with the good guys against the bad guys. Its an easy enough story to follow surprisingly. The characters are interesting and engaging. I really enjoyed it.

[Theo Logos · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Hawkline Monster is Richard Brautigan’s long, shaggy dog story of a drunken joke. It starts out mildly amusing, but as this farcical mashup of Western and Gothic moves along with its paired down language, purposeful cliches, and increasingly absurd situations, an odd tension builds, and those little chuckles become more sustained laughs, and may eventually build into a guffaw or two.

Brautigan tells this tale with tongue firmly planted in cheek, and you can almost picture the mischievous twinkle in his eye, and taste the whiskey being passed around as he tells it.

[Goatboy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Richard Brautigan is an underappreciated treasure.
His style is completely his own, but he reminds me...
There's a similar feeling I get...
From Vonnegut or Murakami.
This one is funny and tender and sublime and exciting.
One of my favorite westerns
Because he took a western
And made it 100% absolutely his own.
Bravo, you beautiful freak.

[Ian "Marvin" Graye · Rating 3 out of 5]

"An Early Twentieth Century Picnic"

In 1902, the two Miss Hawklines live in a large Victorian house in eastern Oregon, originally built by their father, a Harvard professor who experimented with chemicals in a laboratory in the basement, which in turn sat on top of an ice cave.

One day, he went downstairs and disappeared. His twin daughters believe he disappeared because of a monster that he inadvertently created with his chemicals, while trying to fabricate something beneficial for all of mankind. Eventually, they enlist two men to kill the Hawkline Monster.

The novel is a Gothic western romance that seems to question blind faith in scientific progressivism:

"The way everybody was sitting it looked as if they were at a picnic but the picnic was of course the burning of a house, the death of the Hawkline Monster and the end of a scientific dream. It was barely the Twentieth Century."

One of the Monster Killers says, "That was quite a batch of stuff you mixed up there, Professor."

"Never again," is the professor's response.

Even in experimental Gothic mode, Brautigan is steadfastly countercultural, a quasi-Luddite Pynchon, the playful and mischievous shadow to Pynchon's more serious and intense light.



VERSE:

The Monstrous Light (Haiku)
[Almost in the Words of Brautigan]

The light can change things,
It can get into your minds,
And fuck them around.

[Peiman · Rating 3 out of 5]

هیولای هاوکلاین یه جورایی عجیب بود راستش، داستان سه فصل داره که فصل اول شبیه داستان های وسترن هست دو تا کابوی مزدور آدم کش و تصویر سازی از اونها و رفتارها و کارهاشون، فصل دوم میرسیم به خواهران هاوکلاین که کاملا شبیه به هم هستن و خونه‌ی عجیب غریبشون که مناسب ژانر وحشته! دو تا خواهری که دو تا کابوی رو استخدام میکنند برای کشتن هیولای هاوکلاین. و فصل سه میریم توی ژانر علمی تخیلی و چیستی هیولای هاوکلاین

[Ben Loory · Rating 5 out of 5]

i can't even really begin to think about understanding why this book is so great. on the one hand, it's simplicity itself; on the other, it's a big shimmering cloud of mystery that floats through your eyes and into your brain and then turns to diamonds when you close the book. so, yeah, i liked it.

[Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read The Hawkline Monster as part of a collection of three of Brautigan's short works, but we're having our book club meeting about this tonight, so I want to put some thoughts down now.

The Hawkline Monster is a book that the enjoyment of which depends a lot on what you read and why. This can be said of a lot of works, sure, but in particular a book like this is going to disappoint or satisfy based on what you come into a book looking for.

When I read, I want to be entertained, first and foremost. This isn't to say that what I read needs to be flashy, just that it needs to hold my interest. I want a good story, and if the story itself is grabbing enough, I'm willing to forgive a lot of other sins or imperfections. If the story is boring, though, see you later, book, I'm out of here (with some rare exceptions).

The Hawkline Monster is a book that entertains. The story of two gunslingers who, upon returning to the contiguous states after a disastrous Hawaii trip, meet a woman nicknamed Magic Child, who implores them to come out to her house and kill a monster that her father created. High jinks ensue.

Brautigan weaves his surreal magic with shots of both absurdist and deadpan humor, and creates a book that feels like the literary equivalent of a Dali painting. He asks the reader to suspend belief and use imagination, and in turn, the reader is rewarded with a story that feels like anything can happen, and is exciting in that Willy Wonka "Where the hell is he taking us?" train ride sort of way (but way less creepy).

So you see, if you want a trajectory that's clearly defined, if your need for order is greater than your appreciation for chaos, then this isn't the kind of thing you're going to dig on.

It's also not necessarily a book that's filled with a ton of deeper meaning, though I don't know that a solely shallow read is entirely fair, either. Brautigan plays a lot with duality - man/man, woman/woman, man/woman, light/dark, good/evil - and subverts some of the traditional concepts at play in those contrasts and comparisons: women as sexual aggressors, light as being bad, etc.

He also toys with traditional concepts in his use of the genres "Gothic Western," in that the standard requirements of each genre is there, but not necessarily in the context that's expected. There's Magic Child, an Indian woman, the setting of the West (specifically Oregon), the gunslingers, talk of hangings and outlaw gangs, but then he takes the vast expanse of the West and stuffs it into the old creepy house of the Gothic, though the house itself isn't particularly medieval or pseudo-medieval, it's just odd and ominous. Ms. Hawkline initially seems like she's set up in the role of the crone with Magic Child as the virtuous (in personality, but not in, uh, the virginal sense so much) woman but then they meld into two versions of the same person, messing with the notion of a division or a contrast of the two. The gunslingers might also be the heroes, with the Hawkline Monster as our villain, and there's even a servant (though he doesn't seem dim-witted in any way). The Hawkline Monster isn't one genre stylized as the other so much as it firmly straddles them, or takes pieces of both and throws them into a blinder.

While I got a serious thrill from reading it, I don't know that I'd recommend it to someone as their first Brautigan experience. I'd still give that honor to Trout Fishing in America. With its vaguely autobiographical bent, it gives a stronger sense of Brautigan's voice and personality. The Hawkline Monster is certainly distinct, but it might take some time for the reader to "get" his intent. So for people looking to delve into his works, I'd suggest starting with Trout... over this one - but that said, if you appreciate a little magic and absurdity, this makes for a fine read any day.