THE MAKING OF LITTLE HIPPO

by Grace Macouillard ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 1974

The creation not of a zoo baby -- but a rock star, who descends from Duane, Oregon, to San Francisco to make the big time a la benign Janis Joplin. Robbed of her belongings and money Kathy Ketcham (nee Yvonne Connors) is taken by a handsome young black named Barry into the sleazy North Beach club where he works and is introduced to the Orangutangs -- a scroungy but good rock band in desperate need of a lead singer. Hippo (who looks like Mama Cass) starts packing them in, and from there it is an easy coast to stardom -- with only a few detours. She alternately manages to offend and liberate her relatives -- interracial couplings are hardly approved of in Duane, though her rich cousin Lee is inspired to take permanent leave from the wife he acquired along with his Porsche and Bentley. It is hard to find the focus of this interesting if hardly startling modern version of What Makes Sammy Run. It is not so much about the corruptibility of success as the peculiar deadness from which it comes and to which it seems to return; the fashioners of our dreams are, after all, at least as subject to nightmares as the rest of us.

Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1974

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Putnam

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1974

Categories: FICTION