Goa Freaks: My Hippie Years in India

click here for more details, find new or used items	Cleo Odzer Used from £54.27 Pages: 336 (Paperback) ISBN: 156201059X Pub: Blue Moon Books Inc Pub date: 1995-08-01 Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 417807

Reader Reviews:

Interesting, but disturbing - From Paradise to Hell, (0/0 people found this helpful)

It is hard to describe this book. The beginning is fascinating, but later, when they all start to be more and more addicted to all sorts of drugs with destroyed health after only few years of that lifestyle, it was very disturbing. To end up in jail was even the best what could happen to Goa freaks!
In a way it describes "the perfect lifestyle":
1. worry-free living in the beach,
2. all night parties,
3. cheap and simple lifestyle in exotic environment, and
4. tight nit freak community,

which was all destroyed by DRUGS (both usage and smuggling for profit). The result was addiction and death in most cases and/or jail sentence.
Without DRUGS it would not be the same, but it would be perfect. The main value of the book is that you really feel that YOU were there with Cleo and other freaks.
They lead extraordinary life, but they paid the price, too. Read this book !!!

Cleo is an egomaniac (1/2 people found this helpful)

I can't understand anyone saying this is a great book or that there is anything admirable about the author. She doesn't seem to reflect on her experiences at all-she is just nostaglic for doing lots and lots of drugs and feeling superior to people who work. This is not a peace and love kind of book-she wants MONEY and STATUS and doesn't question the morality of smuggling heroin, never mind the way she treats India like a playground and has the attitude that it and the people who live there are just there to serve her.

Goa Cleo! (1/1 people found this helpful)

Goa Freaks is a charming read, rife with amusing, if troubled characters. Ms. Odzer has created a real pageturner; a definite "YOU ARE THERE" narrative about India and its denizens. Unforgettable!

Goa Freaks haunts the reader with hedonistic accounts (1/1 people found this helpful)

In reading Goa Freaks, I found myself haunted with the world within the book. Images of the hippie commune at the beach, the simplistic lifestyle, the night-long drug use, the licentious accounts of romance and just the oblivious attitudes of the characters kept resurfacing in my mind, days after reading the book.

The book was a treat to read, more so in its poignant contents than in its literary qualities. The reading of the book gave off a strong setting of imagery, characters and the hard-to-capture atmosphere of the Goa Freaks. To say the book was somewhat atmospheric would be an understatement because the introspective characterizations in the book gave the reader a distinct bridge to empathize with Cleo. As I read the book (I hungrily digested it in three days), I was fascinated by the prevalence of recklessness within the Goa Freaks. How could Cleo be 78 pounds, hospitalized and laughing when some people came to pray for her fight with life? How could the Freaks just risk their lives trafficking drugs in such a wanton manner? I was amazed that Cleo survived doing so much for so long. The fact that she has managed to reflect on those times by capturing it in a book and the fact that she has the courage to present an untainted picture of how reckless and naive the young Cleo was is a hallmark of fine writing. Keep up the good work Cleo!

This book is the best I have ever read ! Cleo is awesome ! (1/2 people found this helpful)

Goa Freaks is my favorite book of all time. I have read books by Stephen King and other famous authors and not one can compare to this book. I have read it about ten times. I like it becuase it is a real story about Cleo's adventures in India and all the places she has been. Whenever I read the book, I feel like I'm in India ! I highly recommend this book to anyone. There are funny parts in the book which make me laugh out loud!The book is well written too. Please read this book, you will enjoy it !

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