WHAT A TRIP

A novel focuses on the chaotic journey of three friends during the late 1960s and the gritty early ’70s, when flower power wilts under the forces of evil.

High school pals Melissa, Peach, and Fiona are adrift after graduation, but that doesn’t mean their lives lack drama as they search for purpose (and men). It’s the tail end of the ’60s, and the Vietnam War, Woodstock, Apollo 11, Easy Rider, anti-war marches, the abortion issue, the draft, Kent State, and the Kama Sutra all make appearances. To help guide the three to their futures and to prevent them from committing themselves to making decisions, they dabble in tarot cards, which involve a higher power too vague for them to understand yet one they believe in. Thankfully for Fiona, her Roman Catholic parents don’t know anything about this—and that she really likes men. But while Peach finds a boyfriend, Fiona and Melissa are still looking for companionship. Melissa complains about her and Fiona’s bleak situation to Peach: “No matter what we do, it turns to shit. Neither of our lives is working out, especially compared to you. We don’t have boyfriends. Nothing. Right, Fee?” Soon, Fiona and Melissa do have boyfriends. Fiona plans to follow soul mate Reuben to Canada, where he can avoid the draft, but Melissa suffers a harsher fate. Melissa’s belief in the occult is put to rest when Vincent, an older interloper with Satanic aspirations, appears briefly on the scene. He supposedly cut a deal with the devil to become a rock star but needs a willing accomplice to help him. In this ambitious and skillfully written novel, Edwards presents three intriguing protagonists and delivers some rich period details, including about the Vietnam War and abortion laws. But the Vincent subplot does not bolster the narrative even though Melissa (for a time) believes in the guy. In addition, civil rights, one of the era’s most important stories, isn’t meaningfully addressed here. After Peach runs off to San Francisco with an African American man, she hardly enters the story again. In a tale about this tumultuous period, the issue could have been more fully explored. The women’s movement gets short shrift as well. And the author offers a somewhat inconclusive ending.

A well-written but incomplete snapshot of a turbulent time.