Oscar Zeta AcostaBesprekingen

I read this back in 2003. Here is what I wrote in my journal at the time:

>>I just finished reading it. The book is a sequel to his previous The Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo, which based on my enjoyment of the one I just finished, I will most definitely try to find the previous book. The book was 262 pages long including an introduction by Hunter S. Thompson and afterword by Acosta's son. The book is set in 1960s Los Angeles during the height of the Chicano civil rights movement. The protagonist, Buffalo Zeta Brown, is a lawyer who at first seems to know little of the movement and wanted to write a story. He soon becomes involved with the movement, defending Chicanos in court as well as leading marches and protests. The pacing of the book is good; it was a fast and engaging read, written in first person point of view. It has humorous moments as well as moving moments. The little blurb on the back of the book calls Zeta a reluctant hero, and he was, but his strength is that when called upon, he did what had to be done, and in the process had a wild ride along the way. I strongly recommend this book.

I really enjoyed this book! One of those rare times when the "sequel" is better! This book is all about Buffalo's time/work with the Chicano Liberation movement, mostly as a lawyer, but also as an active member. His writing really brings alive the struggle, and at times I wanted to jump into the pages and join them! I often wondered if the people who made the movie "My Cousin Vinny" based some of the lawyer character off of the Buffalo! I'm really glad that I read this, and I hope to learn more about Oscar Zeta Acosta!½

"Juarez in the morning, when you have two cents in your pocket and been ordered out of town at gun point, is as depressing a city as you can find."

Can I get an amen? This is a heck of a read, and one I had never heard of! I picked this up because it was mentioned in a book I just finished reading, "There There" by Tommy Orange, and I'm glad that I did! It's really two stories, Oscar's childhood and his adventure after quitting being a Legal Aid lawyer in Oakland and hitting the road to find himself. I didn't really like the childhood pieces, but I thoroughly enjoyed the road trip! Very much like his buddy Hunter S., and just as irreverent! It's also the trip where he first meets Thompson! Lots of drugs, madness, and terrible behavior. He was one bad buffalo, and forever tormented by Procol Harum's - "A Whiter Shade of Pale"!

On a personal note, there are some strange connections between the buffalo and me! We were both born in El Paso, Texas. We were both in Boy Scout Troop 42, though in different cities. And he once got sent to Hamilton Air Force Base - which is here in Novato, my hometown! And we didn't 'meet' until 2018! Mi hermano!½

One of the best autobiographies I have ever read -- not only addresses the issues of racism and poverty, but is laugh out loud funny. Very talented writer, too bad he did not write more books. For readers not familiar with him, he is Hunter Thompson's side kick in the book Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

My first read of 2007...great period piece covering the Brown Power Movement of the late 60s / early 70s.

It's difficult for me to assess the merits of a certain kind of book, and this is one of those. It's a book of the counterculture: the lost, searching, wild, risk-taking counterculture. I think I just have a hard time really anchoring myself into that place, that mindset. I don't necessarily find it easy to make the leap from disillusionment and displacement into drinking too much and taking copious amounts of drugs as an answer.

Oscar Acosta grew up in California in an uncertain racial position as a Mexican. Their place on the social ladder seems to have been determined mostly by whether or not there was anyone around to be below them (usually blacks). In Acosta's town, there wasn't, so he learned that being Mexican was apparently the worst thing possible. The parts about his racial identity and what it means to be Chicano were interesting to me, not only in the parts about his early life, but as a thread throughout the rest as well. Eventually, he gets a law degree and works for Legal Aid in Oakland. After becoming disillusioned with that, he makes an escape on a road trip and meets up with, among other people, Hunter S. Thompson. (He will later be immortalized as Dr. Gonzo accompanying Raoul Duke on a bender of epic proportions.) Somewhere in the midst of this insanity, Acosta discovers that he wants to champion the people, his people, and turns his attention to being a lawyer for activists.

I'm sure it's an important book, and it's a pretty readable book (especially if you have a high tolerance for reading about the details of Acosta's digestive system), but I can't say I connected with it except for its curiosity value as a companion to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

Well, it was blurbed as by Hunter Thompson's lawyer. The tale is surreal, as the effects of taking part in the Chicano social movement quickly demonstrate the depth of the suppression of the people become apparent. It's not a fun read, but pushes the limits in its honesty about the difficulties of fighting the American Racialist system.

Acosta's personality is reflected rather well in his writing style. He's brash, assertive, and self- righteous, even! This little known book is a semi-autobiographical work of fiction that chronicles Acosta's childhood, problems with drugs and alcohol, while becoming an activist Chicano lawyer. Acosta's book deals with identity, race, immigration, coming-of-age and life in the 70's. Acosta is most famously known for his "cameo" in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas as Dr. Gonzo. As a matter of fact, the term "Gonzo Journalism" is based on this character and Acosta's real life adventures with Hunter S. Thomspon. Highly recommended for those seeking a coming of age story based on a Mexican American individual, even if the book is a little rough around the edges, just like the author.

This book is an autobiographical account of a period in Oscar Zeta Acosta's life. It tells of his growing up, becoming a legal services lawyer, quitting & going on a huge drug&alcohol bender, and then heading off to be a journalist. The drug stuff was dull & self-indulgent and, frankly, I thought the rest of it was very self-indulgent as well. In addition, he specifically said some nasty things about Mark Harris, who he took writing classes from in SF, and I think very highly of Mark Harris as a writer. The other thing I noticed is that some of his writing uses a style that Walter Mosley also uses & that is not my favorite aspect of Walter Mosley's writing style (such as, "Did you go to the store, the brown-haired ex-photographer said.")

I didn't want to like it. I thought it was just Hunter Thompson's beaner lawyer druggy buddy. It was just so much more than that.

www.barnesandnoble.com
From the Publisher
The further adventures of "Dr. Gonzo" as he defends the "cucarachas" — the Chicanos of East Los Angeles.
Before his mysterious disappearance and probable death in 1971, Oscar Zeta Acosta was famous as a Robin Hood Chicano lawyer and notorious as the real-life model for Hunter S. Thompson's "Dr. Gonzo" a fat, pugnacious attorney with a gargantuan appetite for food, drugs, and life on the edge.

In this exhilarating sequel to The Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo, Acosta takes us behind the front lines of the militant Chicano movement of the late sixties and early seventies, a movement he served both in the courtroom and on the barricades. Here are the brazen games of "chicken" Acosta played against the Anglo legal establishment; battles fought with bombs as well as writs; and a reluctant hero who faces danger not only from the police but from the vatos locos he champions. What emerges is at once an important political document of a genuine popular uprising and a revealing, hilarious, and moving personal saga.