1969: A Brief and Beautiful Trip Back by Sea Gudinski

1969: A Brief and Beautiful Trip Back by author Sea Gudinski is an authentic and immersive journey back to the sixties heyday.

When the enigmatic Dave rolls back into town with a legendary stash for sale, Rhiannon Karlson has no idea that her life is about to change forever. Thrown thirty years back in time in the midst of a wild DMT trip, Rhiannon finds herself tuning in, turning on, and dropping out in San Francisco at the peak of the Love Revolution. From Grace Slick buying her a beer to an epic trip to Woodstock ’69, this book is a roller-coaster tribute to the sixties, working both as a vivid work of historical fiction and unadulterated nostalgia.

Considering that San Francisco at the end of the 1960s is one of the most iconic nexuses in cultural and musical history, capturing the energy, pace, and mindset of that space is a tall order for any writer. Gudinski is a rare storyteller who completely immerses readers in world that is vaguely familiar, but also immediate and intimate and kaleidoscopic all at once. As Gudinski is a young author looking back, it gives the book a refreshing perspective free of personal hagiography.

Aside from an impressive level of cultural research, this book is also a love poem to America, blending the tender longing of a road novel with the philosophical, spiritual, and social hedonism of the 60s that still resonates around the world to this day. Meticulously edited, including masterful sections of colloquial speech, this lengthy novel is an engrossing read, even if you feel you know the decade.