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The Optimistic Decade
The Optimistic Decade | Heather Abel
5 posts | 8 read | 6 to read
You say you want a revolution? This energetic and entertaining novel about a utopian summer camp and its charismatic leader asks smart questions about good intentions gone terribly wrong. Framed by the oil shale bust and the real estate boom, by protests against Reagan and against the Gulf War, The Optimistic Decade takes us into the lives of five unforgettable characters, and is a sweeping novel about idealism, love, class, and a piece of land that changes everyone who lives on it. There is Caleb Silver, the beloved founder of the back-to-the-land camp Llamalo, who is determined to teach others to live simply. There are the ranchers, Don and son Donnie, who gave up their land to Caleb, having run out of options after Exxon came and went and left them bankrupt. There is Rebecca Silver, determined to become an activist like her father and undone by the spell of Llamalo and new love; and there is David, a teenager who has turned Llamalo into his personal religion. But situated on a plateau in the heart of the Rockies, Llamalo proves that it might outlast anyones heady plans for it, from the earliest Native American settlers to the latest lovers of the land. Like Meg Wolitzers The Interestings, Heather Abels novel is a brilliant exploration of the bloom and fade of idealism and how it forever changes ones life. Or so we think.
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BookNAround
The Optimistic Decade | Heather Abel
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This cover reminded me of my college graduation present from my parents: a river trip through the Grand Canyon. The journal is the one I took with me on the rafts so I pressed that tamarisk in 1993!

BennettBookworm This makes my heart happy! 6y
86 likes1 comment
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Lauren.Archer
The Optimistic Decade | Heather Abel
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I am not sure about this one, but going to give this at least 50 pages to decide.

91 likes2 stack adds
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Redwritinghood
The Optimistic Decade | Heather Abel
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Mehso-so

Set in the American West in the 1990s, this is a look at idealism, activism, and the feeling that you may not really be making a difference in the world. It‘s been compared to The Interestings a lot, and I can see why people would make that comparison. I felt, however, that the story was somewhat unfocused and that simplifying it may have made this a better book. The audiobook and ebook are available on Hoopla. 3⭐️

66 likes1 stack add
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bookishkai
The Optimistic Decade | Heather Abel
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Ah, the tragedy of poor Charlie. The things one learns at camp: how to tell the difference between Harry Chapin and Cat Stevens, which are the best meals to eat “veggie”, and that Charlie on the MTA was written as a campaign song in Boston for some guy that was running to fight fare increases on the T.

33 likes1 stack add
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bookishkai
The Optimistic Decade | Heather Abel
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I closed my eyes and picked this in my kindle library to read tonight. I attended a camp much like the one described in the summary, during the same time period of the book. I loved my camp; it‘s still around, in a new incarnation as a math camp for Russian kids; no longer the “hippie camp” I cherished, but alums in the know say that a lot of the guiding principles bestowed on our rag tag group are still in play. I think I‘m going to enjoy this.