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Beat
It’s 1976, and the counterculture has taken a dark turn in San Francisco.
Former ‘60s revolutionary Billy Johnson, now a 27-year-old aspiring writer and small-time drug dealer, sells T-shirts at a Haight-Ashbury shop by day, while reading Camus and Kerouac behind the counter. By night, he sells cocaine and Quaaludes at bars, cafes, and clubs around town. He still drives a psychedelic-painted VW bus and wears his hair long, reflecting the ideals of his past as he faces an uncertain future.
Billy and his best friend Manny – a quick-witted rock journalist – hang out in North Beach coffee houses, hit the nightlife, pursue women, and otherwise compete in an escalating match of one-upmanship. Along the way, they interact with a colorful parade of sexually liberated artists, musicians, scene makers, and hangers-on, led by a vivid cast of female characters: Ti, brash, young and in over her head; Lannie, a secretive self-destructive beauty; Constantina, a sharp-tongued intellectual who holds more than a few secrets of her own; and Delaney, who earns big-time cash acting out sexual fantasies and fetishes for middle-aged men at a high-priced S&M club.
Sex, drugs, and medicated kicks turn to sober reality when Billy’s roommate commits suicide, leaving behind a cache of journals filled with disturbing revelations. Then, Lannie overdoses on drugs. Under suspicion because of his relationship with Lannie, Billy faces police interrogation and the scrutiny of his own conscience, forcing him to question the life he’s leading and where he’s headed. Set against the aftermath of the 1960s, the once-vibrant hippie dream a fading memory, Beat is a provocative and sometimes disturbing novel that explores lost idealism, compromise, and moral crisis through the prism of its anti-hero’s journey.
Set against the aftermath of the 1960s, the once-vibrant hippie dream a fading memory, Beat is a provocative and sometimes disturbing novel that explores lost idealism, compromise, and moral crisis through the prism of its anti-hero’s journey.
Former ‘60s revolutionary Billy Johnson, now a 27-year-old aspiring writer and small-time drug dealer, sells T-shirts at a Haight-Ashbury shop by day, while reading Camus and Kerouac behind the counter. By night, he sells cocaine and Quaaludes at bars, cafes, and clubs around town. He still drives a psychedelic-painted VW bus and wears his hair long, reflecting the ideals of his past as he faces an uncertain future.
Billy and his best friend Manny – a quick-witted rock journalist – hang out in North Beach coffee houses, hit the nightlife, pursue women, and otherwise compete in an escalating match of one-upmanship. Along the way, they interact with a colorful parade of sexually liberated artists, musicians, scene makers, and hangers-on, led by a vivid cast of female characters: Ti, brash, young and in over her head; Lannie, a secretive self-destructive beauty; Constantina, a sharp-tongued intellectual who holds more than a few secrets of her own; and Delaney, who earns big-time cash acting out sexual fantasies and fetishes for middle-aged men at a high-priced S&M club.
Sex, drugs, and medicated kicks turn to sober reality when Billy’s roommate commits suicide, leaving behind a cache of journals filled with disturbing revelations. Then, Lannie overdoses on drugs. Under suspicion because of his relationship with Lannie, Billy faces police interrogation and the scrutiny of his own conscience, forcing him to question the life he’s leading and where he’s headed. Set against the aftermath of the 1960s, the once-vibrant hippie dream a fading memory, Beat is a provocative and sometimes disturbing novel that explores lost idealism, compromise, and moral crisis through the prism of its anti-hero’s journey.
Set against the aftermath of the 1960s, the once-vibrant hippie dream a fading memory, Beat is a provocative and sometimes disturbing novel that explores lost idealism, compromise, and moral crisis through the prism of its anti-hero’s journey.
- GenresHistorical Fiction
260 pages, Paperback
Published January 4, 2022
1 person is currently reading
1785 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 1, 2022
“Beat” by Richard Lewis Mater is a captivating read about life in the late ’70s after the liberation period when certain issues are still hush-hush and unaccepted by the general public despite those who are willing to continue pushing the boundaries.
Billy is an aspiring writer and drug dealer who hangs around sexually liberated artists, only to realize things aren’t as liberated as they seem. There is still wide discontent and judgment from the general public toward those who express their sexual freedoms. Caught up in drugs and the generation-forward feeling, Billy doesn’t begin to realize how much unacceptance people face in society until his friends begin overdosing and his roommate commits suicide. Then Billy begins to question his own path in life and the choices he has made.
“Beat” is a melancholic tale full of nostalgia and suffering. Even though the liberation movement has given people the freedom to express themselves, they still suffer from real issues like drug addiction, poverty, mental illness, etc. There are those who are sexually liberated and still face judgment from the general public, who still feel like they can’t be themselves. It’s no wonder there are a lot of characters in this story who feel their lives are spiraling nowhere after a movement that gave them purpose and hope. Many of these characters are lost, trying to figure out who they are and where they see themselves in this new society.
The characters are incredibly diverse and feel realistic. Their voices and personalities really stand out, pulling the reader into the scene and making them care about the characters (even if some of them are pretty terrible). The rivalry between Billy and his friend Manny is particularly well-done and feels believable. Manny has the career and the charm with girls that Billy desires until a few certain events take place and Billy realizes Manny is wasting his talent. If Billy were to have his writer status, he would push the boundaries and write something of substance that would resonate with the public and perhaps change their close-minded perspectives. Overall, I don’t think Billy is an entirely admirable character but there are moments when he does something or says something that really resonates.
As much as I enjoyed this story and think others will, too, I personally didn’t feel like there was much of a plot. It felt like there was a lot of sex and drugs and talk about relationships and the future, but nothing that was solid. Mater is definitely making a statement with this story and I think if I were to spend a bit more time with the story and do a bit more research about San Francisco in the ’70s, I would have a better understanding. From the synopsis, I thought the suicide of Billy’s roommate would be a little more central to the story, along with Billy’s self-realization about the path he is going down in life.
Overall, the story kept me gripped from start to finish. The events taking place in Billy’s own life and that of his friends kept me invested in the tale. For people who want to know what life was like after the liberation period and how people adjusted to a different society, this is definitely a novel worth picking up. Be sure to keep a lookout for “Beat” by Richard Mater Lewis on its expected publication date of January 4th, 2022.
Thank you to NetGalley and Boulevard 55 Books for providing me with an e-arc copy of this story and the opportunity to share my honest opinion in this review.
Billy is an aspiring writer and drug dealer who hangs around sexually liberated artists, only to realize things aren’t as liberated as they seem. There is still wide discontent and judgment from the general public toward those who express their sexual freedoms. Caught up in drugs and the generation-forward feeling, Billy doesn’t begin to realize how much unacceptance people face in society until his friends begin overdosing and his roommate commits suicide. Then Billy begins to question his own path in life and the choices he has made.
“Beat” is a melancholic tale full of nostalgia and suffering. Even though the liberation movement has given people the freedom to express themselves, they still suffer from real issues like drug addiction, poverty, mental illness, etc. There are those who are sexually liberated and still face judgment from the general public, who still feel like they can’t be themselves. It’s no wonder there are a lot of characters in this story who feel their lives are spiraling nowhere after a movement that gave them purpose and hope. Many of these characters are lost, trying to figure out who they are and where they see themselves in this new society.
The characters are incredibly diverse and feel realistic. Their voices and personalities really stand out, pulling the reader into the scene and making them care about the characters (even if some of them are pretty terrible). The rivalry between Billy and his friend Manny is particularly well-done and feels believable. Manny has the career and the charm with girls that Billy desires until a few certain events take place and Billy realizes Manny is wasting his talent. If Billy were to have his writer status, he would push the boundaries and write something of substance that would resonate with the public and perhaps change their close-minded perspectives. Overall, I don’t think Billy is an entirely admirable character but there are moments when he does something or says something that really resonates.
As much as I enjoyed this story and think others will, too, I personally didn’t feel like there was much of a plot. It felt like there was a lot of sex and drugs and talk about relationships and the future, but nothing that was solid. Mater is definitely making a statement with this story and I think if I were to spend a bit more time with the story and do a bit more research about San Francisco in the ’70s, I would have a better understanding. From the synopsis, I thought the suicide of Billy’s roommate would be a little more central to the story, along with Billy’s self-realization about the path he is going down in life.
Overall, the story kept me gripped from start to finish. The events taking place in Billy’s own life and that of his friends kept me invested in the tale. For people who want to know what life was like after the liberation period and how people adjusted to a different society, this is definitely a novel worth picking up. Be sure to keep a lookout for “Beat” by Richard Mater Lewis on its expected publication date of January 4th, 2022.
Thank you to NetGalley and Boulevard 55 Books for providing me with an e-arc copy of this story and the opportunity to share my honest opinion in this review.
December 28, 2021
Beat by Richard Lewis Mater is a novel set in San Francisco and follows the life of Billy, a drug taker and seller, part-time t-shirt folder and sometimes writer. Along the way we encounter his acquaintances, roommates and conquests. We start off following Billy around the clubs and café’s of the Bay area and slowly get to know him through his wanderings. We are told that everything takes place in the late 1970’s, but there’s timelessness to the novel, much as there is in real time San Francisco where you get a sense of the 60’s in the Haight and so forth. The setting could have been in the 2000’s and it wouldn’t have changed much.
Billy works in a t-shirt store selling Grateful Dead shirts to Deadheads and skims the cash register and pockets the rest. He also uses the store to sell pills to people and have sex with women. His character is borderline sleazy yet there’s something about him that is compelling. Billy is a reader and wants to write; he admires Kerouac and has read all of Herman Hesse’s work. When his writer roommate suddenly is no longer available as a potential mentor, Billy is left with all of his writings and notebooks which he delves into for inspiration.
Being that the book is called Beat and that the main character is an aspiring writer, one would think that there would be more of a reference to actual writing and the beat generation authors, but apart from a few mentions, there is no real connection. Instead the majority of the story is Billy going from club to club selling Quaaludes, trying to juggle several women at once having surface level conversations with different characters along the way who are pretty much interchangeable and not very likable. The women in this book are basically just there for the men’s amusement in every way. When Billy pull together an article on the club scene he reverts back to just floating around aimlessly and we’re just left there wondering, well what now?!
To the author’s credit, I was compelled to finish the book and I did enjoy reading it. Despite everything it was well written.
Billy works in a t-shirt store selling Grateful Dead shirts to Deadheads and skims the cash register and pockets the rest. He also uses the store to sell pills to people and have sex with women. His character is borderline sleazy yet there’s something about him that is compelling. Billy is a reader and wants to write; he admires Kerouac and has read all of Herman Hesse’s work. When his writer roommate suddenly is no longer available as a potential mentor, Billy is left with all of his writings and notebooks which he delves into for inspiration.
Being that the book is called Beat and that the main character is an aspiring writer, one would think that there would be more of a reference to actual writing and the beat generation authors, but apart from a few mentions, there is no real connection. Instead the majority of the story is Billy going from club to club selling Quaaludes, trying to juggle several women at once having surface level conversations with different characters along the way who are pretty much interchangeable and not very likable. The women in this book are basically just there for the men’s amusement in every way. When Billy pull together an article on the club scene he reverts back to just floating around aimlessly and we’re just left there wondering, well what now?!
To the author’s credit, I was compelled to finish the book and I did enjoy reading it. Despite everything it was well written.
February 25, 2022
Mourning the passing of the 50's Beat Generation and the 1967 Haight Ashbury Summer of Love ten years earlier Billy Johnson and a small group of 'Leftovers' subsist in a haze of drugs, poverty and hopelessness.
"Beat" is a nostalgic look at the remnants of a time when the spirit of love, tolerance and hope gave way to disappointment and bewilderment that the promise of that time came to nothing.
This work will appeal to those of us that lived it, and the present underground collective of "Off Griders" and freedom thinkers as a guide on how not to pursue a sustainable Revolution. It's a very well written, unassuming novel with authentic characterisations and valid portrayals of that era.
"Beat" is a nostalgic look at the remnants of a time when the spirit of love, tolerance and hope gave way to disappointment and bewilderment that the promise of that time came to nothing.
This work will appeal to those of us that lived it, and the present underground collective of "Off Griders" and freedom thinkers as a guide on how not to pursue a sustainable Revolution. It's a very well written, unassuming novel with authentic characterisations and valid portrayals of that era.
October 27, 2021
Set against the aftermath of the 1960s, the once-vibrant hippie dream a fading memory, #Beat is a provocative and sometimes disturbing novel that explores lost idealism, compromise, and moral crisis through the prism of its anti-hero’s journey.
#HistoricalFiction #Hippie #1960s
I thoroughly enjoyed reading Beat, recalling the 70s, the cultural revolution, and the remnants of the 60's free love, sex, drugs, and rock n' roll. An intriguing and engaging novel.
#HistoricalFiction #Hippie #1960s
I thoroughly enjoyed reading Beat, recalling the 70s, the cultural revolution, and the remnants of the 60's free love, sex, drugs, and rock n' roll. An intriguing and engaging novel.
March 18, 2022
Thank you Goodreads for this good story. It was an interesting read. To follow billy and his relationships. At the end of the story he started to get his life together after the horrible accident. I liked how the end he was on the sunset strip seeing bands. That would be awesome.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 17, 2022
In his debut novel, Beat, set in San Francisco in 1976, Richard Lewis Mater presents a moving exploration of the adrift lives of several characters in the aftermath of the 1960s counterculture movement.
Driving the story is a twenty-seven-year-old Billy Johnson. His daily life comprises selling drugs to friends and acquaintances, hanging out in bars with his best friend Manny, dancing at a club called “Dance Your Ass Off,” and chasing women. Besides supporting himself as a small-time drug dealer, Billy is a sales clerk in a T-shirt shop called Aquarius Shirts in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco. The shop attracts tourists visiting the area where some well-known hippies lived in the 1960s. When asked where he works, Billy likes to inflate his position and mentions that he is a manager rather than a salesperson at the shop.
His means of transportation is a psychedelic-painted VW bus which he has named Kozmic.
You get the impression that his relationships with women seem to be hinged on his ability to provide them with drugs. There was, however, T-i, who perhaps was more sincere than the others. They both agreed to have an open relationship, yet T-i seems to have wanted more from Billy.
A brutal awakening occurs when Billy’s roommate, Noel, commits suicide. Billy is shocked to discover Noel’s naked body on his roommate’s bed. Noel’s father contacts Billy and instructs him to ship all his son’s possessions.
There is no mention of Noel’s journal that Billy finds among the belongings. The writings’ pretty disturbing revelations come as a shock to Billy. He never really knew Noel other than he was a writer who had some success with the publication Paris Review.
Billy had hoped that Noel would give him some writing pointers, as he had aspirations in pursuing a career as a writer. His hope for a mentor was gone, and because Billy provided him with some drugs, he felt he was complicit in the calamity.
Manny, a savvy quick-witted rock-journalist for the magazine San Francisco Lifestyle, has minimal difficulty attracting women with his daring flirtations. Manny opens the door for Billy in entering the world of writing.
He introduces Billy to his publisher, Ed Bernstein, who agrees to give him a chance to submit an article. Billy writes an article about the dance club scene, and, perhaps you can say it was beginner’s luck, hits pay dirt, and the piece is accepted.
Quite à propos is Mater’s statement on the dedication page. Here we have a tiny glimpse of what is to unfold in the story where Mater states: “This book is dedicated to a time and a place and a group of people who passed through it.” And this is what he accomplishes with this richly textured, intelligent, moving portrait of a now-gone era.
Billy and his friends’ stories wind in and out, merging at times. Their themes continually recur, reflecting their carefree, non-conformist lifestyle that characterized the hippies of the 1960s. Readers are pulled in with Mater’s effortless, conversational style, which is concise and direct, shifting perspectives from character to character. He pulls us in with muddled feelings as we visualize his array of colorful characters. Although, it feels depressing to read about young people that are destroying their lives hooked on narcotics, treading water and living on the ledge.
Follow Here https://1clickurls.com/d7_lVZU To Read Norm's Interview With Richard Lewis Mater
Driving the story is a twenty-seven-year-old Billy Johnson. His daily life comprises selling drugs to friends and acquaintances, hanging out in bars with his best friend Manny, dancing at a club called “Dance Your Ass Off,” and chasing women. Besides supporting himself as a small-time drug dealer, Billy is a sales clerk in a T-shirt shop called Aquarius Shirts in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco. The shop attracts tourists visiting the area where some well-known hippies lived in the 1960s. When asked where he works, Billy likes to inflate his position and mentions that he is a manager rather than a salesperson at the shop.
His means of transportation is a psychedelic-painted VW bus which he has named Kozmic.
You get the impression that his relationships with women seem to be hinged on his ability to provide them with drugs. There was, however, T-i, who perhaps was more sincere than the others. They both agreed to have an open relationship, yet T-i seems to have wanted more from Billy.
A brutal awakening occurs when Billy’s roommate, Noel, commits suicide. Billy is shocked to discover Noel’s naked body on his roommate’s bed. Noel’s father contacts Billy and instructs him to ship all his son’s possessions.
There is no mention of Noel’s journal that Billy finds among the belongings. The writings’ pretty disturbing revelations come as a shock to Billy. He never really knew Noel other than he was a writer who had some success with the publication Paris Review.
Billy had hoped that Noel would give him some writing pointers, as he had aspirations in pursuing a career as a writer. His hope for a mentor was gone, and because Billy provided him with some drugs, he felt he was complicit in the calamity.
Manny, a savvy quick-witted rock-journalist for the magazine San Francisco Lifestyle, has minimal difficulty attracting women with his daring flirtations. Manny opens the door for Billy in entering the world of writing.
He introduces Billy to his publisher, Ed Bernstein, who agrees to give him a chance to submit an article. Billy writes an article about the dance club scene, and, perhaps you can say it was beginner’s luck, hits pay dirt, and the piece is accepted.
Quite à propos is Mater’s statement on the dedication page. Here we have a tiny glimpse of what is to unfold in the story where Mater states: “This book is dedicated to a time and a place and a group of people who passed through it.” And this is what he accomplishes with this richly textured, intelligent, moving portrait of a now-gone era.
Billy and his friends’ stories wind in and out, merging at times. Their themes continually recur, reflecting their carefree, non-conformist lifestyle that characterized the hippies of the 1960s. Readers are pulled in with Mater’s effortless, conversational style, which is concise and direct, shifting perspectives from character to character. He pulls us in with muddled feelings as we visualize his array of colorful characters. Although, it feels depressing to read about young people that are destroying their lives hooked on narcotics, treading water and living on the ledge.
Follow Here https://1clickurls.com/d7_lVZU To Read Norm's Interview With Richard Lewis Mater
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews