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I Did Inhale: Memoir of a Hippie Chick
"WHEN LIFE WAS USER-FRIENDLY AND THE SKY REALLY WAS THE LIMIT"
(review quote)
In this chronicle about life on the hippie trail, W. M. Raebeck provides a funky flashback to what now seems an easier era. Through her marginal feats and misadventures, you'll always be siding with the bad guy. Questionable conduct here takes a back seat to innocence, naivete, rites of passage, and even desperation. The author's exploits reveal, too, that perennial determination of the young—every generation's instinct to define itself and its time.
In a kaleidoscope of back roads, airplanes, boats, and trains, this is a sometimes funny, sometimes edgy story of a bold young woman finding her way through life and love. Packed with punchy dialogue, outlandish schemes, and eclectic love affairs, this could only be that one breathless moment of history—now fading into our past—that is great fun to revisit.
Boomers will grok these free-wheelin' recollections of long-haired days when hitch-hikers had to wait their turn for space on the on-ramp. And readers of every age will be reminded that the youthful spirit is timeless, and harrowing ordeals are just bends in the road.
Hippie freaks, where are you now?
(review quote)
In this chronicle about life on the hippie trail, W. M. Raebeck provides a funky flashback to what now seems an easier era. Through her marginal feats and misadventures, you'll always be siding with the bad guy. Questionable conduct here takes a back seat to innocence, naivete, rites of passage, and even desperation. The author's exploits reveal, too, that perennial determination of the young—every generation's instinct to define itself and its time.
In a kaleidoscope of back roads, airplanes, boats, and trains, this is a sometimes funny, sometimes edgy story of a bold young woman finding her way through life and love. Packed with punchy dialogue, outlandish schemes, and eclectic love affairs, this could only be that one breathless moment of history—now fading into our past—that is great fun to revisit.
Boomers will grok these free-wheelin' recollections of long-haired days when hitch-hikers had to wait their turn for space on the on-ramp. And readers of every age will be reminded that the youthful spirit is timeless, and harrowing ordeals are just bends in the road.
Hippie freaks, where are you now?
- GenresHistory
356 pages, Paperback
First published December 7, 2015
About the author
W.M. Raebeck
6 books80 followersW. M. Raebeck lives in Hawaii where she adores turquoise waters, her old wooden chair, rural view, cat, and birdsong. Retrieving live creatures from the jowls of White Boy is the worst part of her day (aside from seriously questioning everything about today's America).
Raebeck's books (incl. 'Some Swamis are Fat' under pen-name Ava Greene) are true-life accounts. From the misadventures of a sugar-freak hippie chick, to trekking through the Costa Rican jungle, to teaching yoga in Santa Monica, to war-time journalism in Nicaragua (next book, out in 2022), her tales are laced with old soul insight, spiritual stretching, and constant exits from the comfort zone.
Environmental and animal rights activism are life-long pursuits for this author. And yoga and natural health have been foundations of her life (sugar notwithstanding).
Temporarily out of mischief, W.M. Raebeck recently released "Silence of Islands," a soothing, moving collection of poetry. You will love this book.
Visit "WendyRaebeck.com" for photos, excerpts, blog posts, and to join the email list for occasional news about books and special deals. You'll receive 2 free stories when you join the club!
Raebeck's books (incl. 'Some Swamis are Fat' under pen-name Ava Greene) are true-life accounts. From the misadventures of a sugar-freak hippie chick, to trekking through the Costa Rican jungle, to teaching yoga in Santa Monica, to war-time journalism in Nicaragua (next book, out in 2022), her tales are laced with old soul insight, spiritual stretching, and constant exits from the comfort zone.
Environmental and animal rights activism are life-long pursuits for this author. And yoga and natural health have been foundations of her life (sugar notwithstanding).
Temporarily out of mischief, W.M. Raebeck recently released "Silence of Islands," a soothing, moving collection of poetry. You will love this book.
Visit "WendyRaebeck.com" for photos, excerpts, blog posts, and to join the email list for occasional news about books and special deals. You'll receive 2 free stories when you join the club!
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
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September 14, 2023Ka is a circle. I went to Woodstock for a concert (Summer of 2023) and when I got home I found this book in a Little Library in my town. Fitting. The amount of carefree travel is absolutely stunning. I WISH that was me 19-22. I kept thinking, “Now THIS is a book Reese should add to her book club and make into a female empowering movie.” I will put in another Free Library and hope someone finds the joy in this read, too. ✌️ I enjoyed reading the true story of a traveling hippy.
March 25, 2018
A wonderful piece of writing that bursts with energy and originality. The author has a way with words and expressions. She tosses them around with a fresh ebullience that would have delighted James Joyce.
It’s not exactly full of deep introspection and self-analysis (maybe thankfully so), but there are some acute flashes of insight and observation of the many characters that she comes across in her peregrinations.
Added to this, the author has a skill of telling her stories through the eyes of the insouciant young thing she was at the time, rather than from the standpoint of the mature person she now is. The insouciance of a girl in her early twenties comes over with all that that entails –saying the kind of things that are guaranteed to enrage ones parents - never considering consequences - disastrous relationships - losing tickets/passports/addresses……
For us baby boomers born into the privileged world of the expanding economy of the post war period, it’s very much a story of all our days. And the pace never flags as our heroine falls in love, criss-crosses Europe and America in pursuit of lovers and experience, lives in communes, discovers idyllic islands, takes dope, acts in theatres – and takes her clothes off a lot in the company of various unsuitable partners.
Blessed with a curious nature and a want to explore the world, the author’s relentless determination to see and do as much as she can – and to do things ‘her way’ – takes her on a pursuit of experience and love in a beautifully written book that sweeps the reader along on a wave of enchanting prose.
It’s not exactly full of deep introspection and self-analysis (maybe thankfully so), but there are some acute flashes of insight and observation of the many characters that she comes across in her peregrinations.
Added to this, the author has a skill of telling her stories through the eyes of the insouciant young thing she was at the time, rather than from the standpoint of the mature person she now is. The insouciance of a girl in her early twenties comes over with all that that entails –saying the kind of things that are guaranteed to enrage ones parents - never considering consequences - disastrous relationships - losing tickets/passports/addresses……
For us baby boomers born into the privileged world of the expanding economy of the post war period, it’s very much a story of all our days. And the pace never flags as our heroine falls in love, criss-crosses Europe and America in pursuit of lovers and experience, lives in communes, discovers idyllic islands, takes dope, acts in theatres – and takes her clothes off a lot in the company of various unsuitable partners.
Blessed with a curious nature and a want to explore the world, the author’s relentless determination to see and do as much as she can – and to do things ‘her way’ – takes her on a pursuit of experience and love in a beautifully written book that sweeps the reader along on a wave of enchanting prose.
December 22, 2021
Interesting look back
While I came along guessing about 5 -10 years later, it gave me a good look back to my life during that transition. Grew up in NY city, did some hitch hiking. I guess looking back maybe it sounded dangerous. I’m sure parents today would never let it happen, but most didn’t know it happened.
But looking back, I lived. I learned responsibility.I learned about those different than myself. It wasn’t from a lecture, a book, school, or the news, but experience. Like Wendy and her group, I learned to become resourceful. I wonder if a new generation without that experience, isn’t loosing something.
How do you learn to live looking at a phone, without talking to strangers? So I guess there is a compromise learning how to live
While I came along guessing about 5 -10 years later, it gave me a good look back to my life during that transition. Grew up in NY city, did some hitch hiking. I guess looking back maybe it sounded dangerous. I’m sure parents today would never let it happen, but most didn’t know it happened.
But looking back, I lived. I learned responsibility.I learned about those different than myself. It wasn’t from a lecture, a book, school, or the news, but experience. Like Wendy and her group, I learned to become resourceful. I wonder if a new generation without that experience, isn’t loosing something.
How do you learn to live looking at a phone, without talking to strangers? So I guess there is a compromise learning how to live
May 3, 2024
This book seems kind of ordinary and at first it is like, "what?" There is very little, if anything about inhaling and what any such "trips" might have been about or involved. No description of any "trips," except those we all take by car, plane, walking, etc. So I wonder at the title: I Did Inhale."
The book builds from a life of basically petty crime (shoplifting) and desire to travel with no funds and leaning on/even demanding/expecting others to chip in or make a way, and then being offended/angry at expectations of sexual favors -- in a time of free sex?? Got to wonder what this Hippie chick could have been thinking or not. A bit disappointing on this end but...it is a book about coming of age...and I guess that is what the author did. By the last third or so of the book, there is a sense of the author pulling it together and making her sense of it all. So, a fairly typical coming of age book.
Overall, I found the book a bit disappointing but by the end I was glad to have read it.
The book starts with a Disclaimer, followed by 5 parts divided into chapters, a total of 55 chapters in all, and then a list of other books by the author. The last chapter, Rearview Mirror is particularly interesting with snippets from major players in this history and what they have to say in 2015 so, this seems especially important.
A nice read, if a bit tedious the first half or so of the book. Although, I do not feel this author was really a hippie but rather a spoiled and typical adolescent, I recommend the book for those interested in the times and at least, what some hippies were up to.
The book builds from a life of basically petty crime (shoplifting) and desire to travel with no funds and leaning on/even demanding/expecting others to chip in or make a way, and then being offended/angry at expectations of sexual favors -- in a time of free sex?? Got to wonder what this Hippie chick could have been thinking or not. A bit disappointing on this end but...it is a book about coming of age...and I guess that is what the author did. By the last third or so of the book, there is a sense of the author pulling it together and making her sense of it all. So, a fairly typical coming of age book.
Overall, I found the book a bit disappointing but by the end I was glad to have read it.
The book starts with a Disclaimer, followed by 5 parts divided into chapters, a total of 55 chapters in all, and then a list of other books by the author. The last chapter, Rearview Mirror is particularly interesting with snippets from major players in this history and what they have to say in 2015 so, this seems especially important.
A nice read, if a bit tedious the first half or so of the book. Although, I do not feel this author was really a hippie but rather a spoiled and typical adolescent, I recommend the book for those interested in the times and at least, what some hippies were up to.
May 24, 2017
3.5 stars. A page-turner, but not quite what I expected. Kind of a combination of "The Dud Avocado" and "Eat, Pray, Love," but without the emotional heft and staying power of those two.
The book focuses on three or four years of the author's early adulthood that involved much travelling, several boyfriends, and numerous mishaps. It was difficult for me to empathize with someone who was constantly appropriating what wasn't hers (things and people), constantly courting disaster (yet another lost passport?, yet another dangerous hitchhiking experience?), and constantly trading on her own attractiveness. Yet, as my own twenties weren't nearly so venturesome, I also couldn't help envying Raebeck.
She writes well. What I was missing was some kind of adult perspective on all this youthful stuff. Encounters with one (particularly elusive) boyfriend bracket the beginning and ending of the book, giving it a formal shape, but not a real trajectory. It just wasn't clear why he meant anything to Raebeck in the first place, much less continued to inhabit her mind over the decades.
The book focuses on three or four years of the author's early adulthood that involved much travelling, several boyfriends, and numerous mishaps. It was difficult for me to empathize with someone who was constantly appropriating what wasn't hers (things and people), constantly courting disaster (yet another lost passport?, yet another dangerous hitchhiking experience?), and constantly trading on her own attractiveness. Yet, as my own twenties weren't nearly so venturesome, I also couldn't help envying Raebeck.
She writes well. What I was missing was some kind of adult perspective on all this youthful stuff. Encounters with one (particularly elusive) boyfriend bracket the beginning and ending of the book, giving it a formal shape, but not a real trajectory. It just wasn't clear why he meant anything to Raebeck in the first place, much less continued to inhabit her mind over the decades.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews