Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me (Penguin Twentieth-century Classics) Paperback – May 1, 1996

Richard Farinia wrote this wonderful novel, and composed music and died too young. I read this book in college in the 70’s and it opened my eyes.

As good as any Kerouac, but more readable. Amazing use of language. Just as “The Cather in the Rye” was “about” a kid that gets kicked out of school and heads home, this is like not very much at all. It’s the rich language and nuanced characters that makes it extraordinary. In my top ten. Hell, in my top five.

The singer-songwriter's one and only book, as he died in a motorcycle accident on the very same days as it was published. Richard Farina was married to Joan Baez' sister Mimi, and together they released two beautiful albums with lovely song written by Richard. This book is about his life as a sort of rebel in the early days of the «hippie revolution» of the 60's. You could see it as an self-biography.

The narration jumps from first person to third person, back and forth. Farina was breaking rules and (unwittingly) laying the foundation for what would later be known as Gonzo journalism.I read this in paperback back in the 1960s and again a couple of times since then and most recently last week, when I read the Kindle version. As one might suspect, I've owned several copies, one of which is in the library of my son in Portland, Ore.I'm impressed anew with the breadth of general knowledge and experience Farina acquired in his 29 years.The book is from a vastly different time in American cultural development when college women had to live in dormitories and had curfew hours. It all seems so quaint now, but I was a college student about that time and he captured the zeitgeist pretty well, including the precocious campus activists and student newspaper "journalists."It's an interesting - sometimes engrossing - read that millennial may find challenging and puzzling.

The story was okay, but it seems as if it was written for college students of the early 70's, when it was written. It doesn't speak to anyone other than that age bracket, except perhaps for its historical perspective, although much of the marijuana and mescaline references seem anachronistic. The main character, Gnossus Papadapoulos, is a more of a party person than a conscientious student of the late 50's. Most of the story revolves around him and his drunken or drugged escapades, something like "Animal House", which takes place around the same time period, and also around his interactions with some of his friends, as well as, some bizarre characters that haunt the college area. Eventually, he falls in love with a coed. Having come to this book recently, it reads more like a rehash of other anti-establishment themes that I have already seen is many other novels and films.The writing attempts to raise the story above the mundane; sometimes it succeeds, sometimes not. If a reader is part of the target audience; college-age students, it may be more entertaining.

I'm so sorry to disagree with many of these reviews. If in fact they indeed see life through the eyes of the degenerate protagonist the world is a lot worse, and my fellow humans are more lost than even I, the cynical misanthrope, have realized. This book reads like a vulgar Catcher in the Rye without the redeeming value of learning about alienated adolescents. The book is about young adults in their formative years, presumabley intelligent but preoccupied with the hedonistic degeneracy of criminal underclass. Even their attempts at insight are truncated sojourns into pseudointellectualism and presumption. Hemingway,to be sure,Farina is not. His untimely death by motorcycle (and probably drugs)was a merciful act of God, both for him and the reading world. Take a tape recorder to a detox center or better yet, some skid row flop house and ask the schizoids, dopers and alcoholics to make pontifical statements about the world and their fellow man. Then ask them to review the weak minded and equally marginalized miscreants they have exploited in the last 5 years. That, my poor reader, is essentially the message of this piece of trash. Not uncommon among the addictively and chemically raped the characters and particularly the protagonist, actually see themselves as talented. From that point of view I suppose it would be a good case study in the delusions of addiction, to be read by medical residents in psychiatry and addiction medicine. After you read this you will want your money back and feel a compelling need to take a bath.

Book was in good condition. I read this book back in the 1960's. The re-reading today made the humor and angst like a refreshing breeze. I remember how bad I felt that Farina had died in a motorcycle accident, and at such a young age. And being married to the sister of Joan Baez who was my all out favorite musician, especially after hearing her at Woodstock, well it kind of made Richard Farina seem like a member of my family. I spent a night listening to Richard Farina & Mimi Baez playing recordings of their music. Anyway, to all folks who have fond memories of the era, and even for some who would like to discover a piece of it, this book is great.

I first read this book when it was newly published and I was young. To follow Richard's thoughts again after 40+ years brought back much; memories, hopes, joys and fears. Is it still pertinent to everyday living after all this time? For myself the answer is yes. Perhaps only so because I remember and realise all the things my generation attempted to begin or to change in that world and time. A few at which we succeeded and many at which we failed. But even now I continue to beleive that to attempt something and fail is far better than never attempting at all.

A classic, out of print. Found it in excellent condition at a great price. Perfect service.

This is a hugely disorientating book and quite a journey.Sometimes I didn't feel up to desiophering the language and ongoings but it had me hooked.Enjoy x

Ich bin begeistert - das 50 Jahre nach der ersten Veröffentlichung erschienene Buch ist druckfrisch, neu und sehr gut erhalten.

Tres rzre et c'est un des seuls livres'de'cet auteur contemporain de dylan et condisciple de thomas pynchon ,comme i est mort tres jeune ce livee est devenu un livre culte des sixties,et j'apprecie les recits picaresques

well i bought this book on a recommendation only to find out my fried has had a copy for 20 years, but i look forwardto reading it.