Sleeping Where I Fall: A Chronicle

Rating:
Summary: A great read
Review: I thought this book was a terrific read. It's funny, surprising and moving at times. I must say, i don't quite understand some of the criticisms - I think it's extremely well written. Sure, Coyote has a strong ego, but that's how he survived to tell his story. He doesn't embody all of the hippie new age qualities that one might expect of someone in his situation, but I think that is the reality of those times. There were a lot of mixed up people in impossible situations - and Coyote describes it beautifully.

He is full of contradictions, but that's what makes him interesting. To criticise him for that is sour grapes. At times, he seems genuinely perplexed as what transpired in his life - there are incredibly funny things which obviously did not seem so when they happened. Overall, a winner.

Rating:
Summary: Pretty good read. No bull. Points for honesty.
Review: I was born in 1968 so I can't comment on whether or not Coyote's take on the 60s jives. I can, however, say that it was pretty interesting to read his views on the S.F. Mime troupe and the Diggers. I admire Coyote for having been involved these groups. His recollections of them are insightful and refreshingly honest. I love the fact that Coyote talks about the ups and downs of 60s life. I like that he complains about people from time to time. This makes for a read that is not too "peace and love". So, I guess I like his honesty most. As for this book seeming too egotistical to some readers goes, I disagree. Peter Coyote is funny, handsome and interesting and I liked reading most of what he had to say. I like Coyote's ego just fine. What bored me was when he would go on and on about Olema ranch and mundane domestic stuff which really isn't that interesting to most people. Overall, I feel spent.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful In Spite of It All
Review: I've read other reviewers taking Peter Coyote to task for writing what they seem to think is just a self-congratulatory puff piece to satisfy his own ego. I disagree. Not once in the book did I ever see him claim that the existence he and his friends lived was the 'only' way or the 'best' way, nor did he try to make himself out to be some kind of faultless angel who never made a mistake. He simply told, in as straightforward and unembellished a way as possible, what happened in his own personal experience, good and bad, and described the process that took him from one stage of existence to another. That kind of honesty takes courage few of us can claim to have in any level of our lives.

And anyone who was as heavily into drugs as he was to have survived at all, not to mention completely turning their life around and becoming successful in their own chosen field, should be congratulated. I've known enough people in my own experience who didn't, and I grieve for them to this day.

I, for one, am very glad he wrote this book. In 1964 I was only twelve years old and have always felt a bit cheated that I was just too young to have been a part of what I felt even then to be a special and perhaps irreplaceable time. Reading "Sleeping Where I Fall" has given me a sense of almost having been there myself which I've never gotten from any other work on the era in quite the same way.

Thank you for writing this memoir, Peter. I do sincerely appreciate it.

Rating:
Summary: Too self-absorbed and showoffy.
Review: If he had written more about the world outside his little group of friends and lovers, Coyote could have had an interesting book. As it is, it's mainly a chronicle of living dirt poor and having as much sex as possible, while being surprised that your gorgeous blonde deer-hide tanning girlfriend somehow always catches you cheating. He makes the common mistake that the rest of us care how many women he slept with and under what circumstances. Memoirists be warned: What was most important to you is not what is most important to your readers. He spends relatively little time on much more interesting events such as the prosecution of the San Francisco mime troupe, and the famous people who came to their aid. In fact, he spends very little time on anyone else at all, except to point out that he knew or met them or somehow locate himself there. Disappointing book.

Rating:
Summary: Too self-absorbed and showoffy.
Review: If he had written more about the world outside his little group of friends and lovers, Coyote could have had an interesting book. As it is, it's mainly a chronicle of living dirt poor and having as much sex as possible, while being surprised that your gorgeous blonde deer-hide tanning girlfriend somehow always catches you cheating. He makes the common mistake that the rest of us care how many women he slept with and under what circumstances. Memoirists be warned: What was most important to you is not what is most important to your readers. He spends relatively little time on much more interesting events such as the prosecution of the San Francisco mime troupe, and the famous people who came to their aid. In fact, he spends very little time on anyone else at all, except to point out that he knew or met them or somehow locate himself there. Disappointing book.

Rating:
Summary: For Hippies and ex Hippies
Review: Interesting sneak a peek into Coyote's anything-but-boring life in the never too occur again 60's.

Rating:
Summary: "In search of the lost chord..."
Review: It's difficult for me to rate this book - difficult for me to read it without crying. Although Peter's story wasn't my story, it was close enough for me to take it extremely personally. His time was my time, even though it took us in far different directions professionally.

I thought there were problems with the story: The writing seemed amateurish at times, and there were certain logical conflicts. For instance: I had trouble with why, if the vehicles were so lovingly taken care of, they were always breaking down; or how Peter could descend into a cold-call investment scheme. These things lead me to believe there was more to the story than was being told. Based on what I read, I perceive that Peter didn't (and perhaps doesn't) know himself quite as well as he thought he did.

From the read, it is never clear what kind of world the "Hippies" (for lack of a better word) thought was better. And am I supposed to believe that Heroin was going to make me a better parent? With all the discourse about how this or that action was either for or against the group goals, it's hard for me to justify on any level how drugs could be considered a positive thing. In many ways, Peter and his associates were still tightly attached to the main stream - more resembling a flock of refugees, than delegates of an alternative path. Much like reading Carlos Casteneda's "Teachings of Don Juan," I became very frustrated at times, waiting for Peter to wake up and see what was standing right before his eyes.

What were the positive things this movement had to offer, and how have they influenced, say, my life?

One thing that serves to separate us from the preceding generation is a distrust of the status quo, gained largely due to the Viet Nam debacle. Since that time, I haven't seen or heard one thing that would lead me to believe that those in the high echelons of government are anything other than pathological liars. But it wasn't the Hippie movement per se that set me free. It was books like "The Pentagon Papers", and other literary tidbits from disaffected insiders. And although I found something of an identity from the counter-cultural movements of that time, I never ended up swallowing their view of the universe either. It's easy, though, to imagine that, without the counter-culture, most of this information would never have seen the light of day. Over time, I did come to see that there are many world views, and ultimately this was a vital step on the road to my present philosophy. The environmental issues, so plainly evoked in this book, were representative of the opening skermishes of a paradigm shift that (hopefully) continues to this day. My pet peeve, population, wasn't addressed in this accounting, even though it was a profound discovery of that time as well. I was surprised it wasn't brought out more, although it has occured to me that Peter and his cohorts may not have dealt with it at the time.

Despite all my bemoaning the details, this is a "big" book about a big time. Closest to my heart were the friends and aquaintences that fell by the wayside. I know about that, and I know that reliving those moments was hard for Peter.

My motivation for reading this book is simply that "It was lying in my path." As a result of the reading, I learned that a certain experience I had was not unique. ('Can't tell you what it is, though. The importance of this particular message is not for everyone.)

As an affecting, personal accounting of a troubling time in our nation's history, I am driven to give this book my highest rating. You will have to decide for yourself if you agree with my judgement.

Rating:
Summary: A must-read of Coyote's journey through the Sixties.
Review: Peter Coyote has already made a name for himself as a film actor, political activist and narrator, whose voice can be easily recognized in an infinite amount of commercials, documentaries and audiobooks. Now comes his best and most challenging narrative of all - "Sleeping Where I Fall" - his own story based on the years when he was part of the Sixties counterculture explosion as one of the founders of a radical street group called the Diggers. Peter has taken his memoirs of this anarchic and psychedelic era and woven them into a collection of stories from his life in San Francisco to communes and gypsy years on the road as part of the Free Family. Says Coyote, "We imagined a world in which we could live authentically, without the pressures of economics dictating all personal choices. We made it real by acting it out."

What few people know is that Peter has always thought of himself as a writer first and foremost since his college days pursuing a master's degree in creative writing. Now with the release of this book, he further fulfills a dream by entering the literary world as a gifted writer, evidenced by the reviews of Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, Omnibus, San Francisco Chronicle and many more.

His story is told with great humor, candor and self-critical analysis. Peter is not afraid to reveal himself giving accounts of both his generosity of spirit and his character flaws. Ironically, the very first chapter starts out with "While still an undergraduate at Grinnell College, I had fallen in love with Jessie Benton, a captivating woman I met one summer on Martha's Vineyard." This passage alone is a premonition to his perpetual attraction to women, a beguiling enchantment which could culminate in euphoric days and nights but, also, in broken relationships often bringing hurtful and destructive consequences. There's poetry in his descriptions of nature as witnessed in some of his music - "all the splendors of creation set the marrow trembling! in my bones." (from "Rainbow Woman") His prose has lyrical clarity dotted with clever metaphors and similes that bring his images to life and convey a myriad of experiences and feelings from peyote and heroin highs and camaraderie in communal living to his bitter conflicts with both the mother of his daughter and his overbearing father.

"Sleeping Where I Fall" is an extremely personal account of his search for truth, understanding and wisdom. Though he rode with the Hell's Angels and lived a life of dangerous drugs, you will come away still sensing an innocence about Coyote, a man who wanted to dream the future because, as with all youthful idealism, he believed there was something more to be gained in this world other than materialism.

His accounts of this pursuit of absolute freedom are often seductive, always fascinating. He writes objectively, careful not to romanticize or glorify the times. He's very frank, darn-right earthy as in his example of pearls of wisdom. He shares tales of living with drug-crazed friends whose demons sometimes propelled them to an early death. One comes away with the feeling of having spent time at Red House, Black Bear Ranch or Olema, becoming intimately acquainted with a whole host of colorful characters, such as Moose, Natural Suzanne, Ron Thelin, Sweet William, Nichole, Carla, Rolling Thunder, Chocolate George, as well as their inventive modes of transportation like Dr. Knucklefunky.

There is as much sadness as there is laughter, but it's a book you'll find hard to put down. It's not only entertaining, but a testament to the human spirit and the dreams of that generation, and a tribute to the groundwork it laid for the future. As a masterful storyteller, Peter succeeds in bringing more honest illumination to the Sixties, an historic period in our country that has not always been defined or treated fairly. If any fil! m critic hasn't yet understood the charisma, the complex persona and intelligence that Coyote brings to his screen roles, they should definitely read this book. END

Rating:
Summary: Pretty good read. No bull. Points for honesty.
Review: Peter Coyote was simultaneously a hedonist, voyeur and genuine participant in one wild and wondrous Scene. What amazes me is that he does not succumb to the self-aggrandizing hip/ironic memoir style that comes so easily off the lips of those of us from that era. Nor is there the disengenuous self-deprecating nonsense that is equally omnipresent. Instead, Coyote is simply honest and straightforward and he took the time to truly craft his story. It's extraordinarily well written AND well edited. I'm savoring every page. Jim (aka "Jblu") Higgins

PS: Peter, if you're listening in: How can I purchase a copy of Heartbreakers? I've tried everywhere. You got one to sell?

Rating:
Summary: well written, but an embarrasment to communardss everywhere
Review: This was a well written book of an interesting time. Coyote's honesty was apparent but there is obviously a glamorous, boastful side to it that is not appealing to me. I lived through that time and had parallel adventures. His groups with their dependance on welfare and unemployment checks, their use of heroin and methamphetamines, and their absurd and adolescent macho posturing with guns gave the rest of us honest , hardworking counterculture types a bad name. It is no wonder there are so many victims strewn through the book and it is no wonder that they had so much trouble with neighbors. It was reassuring that he seemed to have learned some lessons from those times.