T.C. Boyle’s “Outside Looking In”
As you might imagine, Boyle’s story is a page-turner. It would take an absolute hack to write a dull a novel about sex and drugs. That’s not to slight Boyle who captures the period perfectly. He’s done his research on drug research, and he doesn’t fill his characters mouths with a lot of the slang of the day. Sure, there’s the occasional taste of the Beat “hepcat,” “squares,” and “downer,” for verisimilitude, but Boyle nearly apologizes for the vernacular by saying it’s “another descriptor he [Charlie] dug out of his Beat dictionary.”
You can read my Brooklyn Rail review of Boyle’s Outside Looking In by clicking the image below.
You can buy Boyle’s Outside Looking In at Barnes & Noble.
