Are You Experienced? #LeftOnRead

Imagine being a fifteen-year-old teen, laying down half-consciously in a hospital bed, previously diagnosed as flat-brained, while hearing your parents chatting about an event—a big one—happened nearly half a century ago which you, most likely, just attended.

Yes, we are talking about a sweet time-travel story right here. An exceptional one, at least for Rich Barber.

I stumbled upon this novel at Big Bad Wolf Surabaya in 2019, but only managed to beat my reading slump and finish it half a year later. I know, boo me. Some people said that the psychedelic cover is a major turn-off for them, which I disagree because the cover is honestly the reason why I decided to grab it home~

Are You Experienced? by Jordan Sonnenblick

The story revolves back and forth around 2014 and 1969, where the legendary music festival, Woodstock, took place. Young guitarist Rich Barber had never been a rebel since he was a kid. He barely even had a single chance to do so. His parents were ridiculously strict and overprotective to the level where he couldn't even chew gums inside their house. Questions about the nonsense rules his parents made had been roaming about his mind for years. It seemed like his father intentionally made a thin line of seamless boundary between him and his son. Their relationship was clearly not the kind that our ideal society would look up to.

Rich’s life was all boring until he decided to keep his goth girlfriend, Courtney, a company to attend a protest, performed a few random protest-themed songs on stage, and ended up getting arrested. To make things worse, these happened on the anniversary of his uncle, Michael, death from a drug overdose. His dad was mad mad to be fucked up on that one day of the year where he usually spent mourning over his brother. But he never told Rich why. Whenever Rich asked questions about his deceased uncle, his dad shut down. 

Irritated by his dad's silence, Rich broke into his dad's room and eventually found his dad's prized possession: a guitar. More specifically, Jimi Hendrix’s guitar. The one he used to play at Woodstock 1969. 

Little did he know, this guitar is that one kind which could take him places in a blink of an eye. He plugged it into the amplifier and strummed the 'Hendrix's chords'. Fully confident. With that being said, he teleported to the side of Upstate New York, hit by a Cadillac driven by groups of three including his teenage dad and his late uncle, who’s still alive. In 1969, at Woodstock. To spice things up, he eventually joined the band of friends for a ride to the festival where it was packed with hippies came in groups, jamming to their favorite tracks… or whatever was performed on stage, devouring recreational drugs, and basically having fun for full three days. Cool bands, groovy stuff, brotherhood, groovy stuff. The rest of it is indeed: groovy stuff.

IMO, this light semi-fantasy young-adult piece is definitely a worth-to-read for any of us who wanted to know 60’s hippies spirits while exploring the excitement of the legendary Woodstock 1969. Frankly speaking, I have never once heard anything about this festival before I read the book. But nothing is too late when it comes to discovering something new, right? I started to listen to Jimi Hendrix right after since he got the most scenes in the book compared to other musicians (well, obvious thing, duh). The idea of attending the actual event and witnessing the live performances of infamous 60's rock stars sounds quite rad, but just by imagining the packed and muddy situations… I’ll pass.

Besides the festival-related things, the brotherhood between the characters also took an important part in sewing up the plots. The author tried to represent how family plays significant roles in our lives through the heartbreaking story of Michael and his drug problems. The issue of enduring childhood abuse and neglect was also brought for the reader to see how those things shaped someone from time to time. As the author quoted in the welcoming page of the novel:

“You can’t change your past, but you can control your future.”

All in all, what I fancy the most is the way the author describes the situation of Woodstock. It is obvious that he seemed to dig up whole lots of sources in the process of writing. Hence the vivid portrayal of the euphoria where the actual event takes place: bumper-to-bumper traffic during the weekend, skinny-dipping craze, muddy blankets, stormy weather, etc. It is safe to say that is piece is indeed a page-turner.

To catch the blast of the festival more vividly while enjoying the book, I recommend turning your speaker on to listen to this particular playlist of all songs performed at Woodstock 1969. By the time you reached the quarter-end of the book, make sure you don’t skip the Jimi Hendrix' songs to ride the vibes.

Let's get around Woodstock and celebrate the three-day pass, shall we?

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Left On Read is a segment where I amateurishly drop my reviews on what's on my finished reading list. Thoughts and opinions are mine. Words and comments are yours.