First EditionBook VG+, DJ Good+/VG
Light bit of shelf wear, bottom corner of cover is minimally bruised. DJ is slightly worn at head and tail and corners and has three very small chips. DJ cover has few scratches but otherwise a great, vibrant cover.
Athenium, 1980
As you can see, I'm working on my copy descriptions and my book grading. Also, thought I'd mix it up and shoot the book with my beautiful cat, Charlie.
So, The Quartzsite Trip. In 1962 a team of teens travel to Arizona for a week of fun in the sun. Deeter Moss comes of age in this tale of growth, camaraderie, false pregnancies, and sex in the desert. I think I owe a good deal of my booklust to a teacher much like P.J. Cooper. My Cooper was actually named Mike Dallas; I'll name him here because I only plan to flatter him. Dallas taught senior lit at the high school I attended in Colorado during the early 90s. He was what I would now call an existential teacher: letting his students drive the discussions, focusing more on the big picture that crappy things like grammar.
Dallas also taught Outdoor Seminar, a philosophy class meant to drive us out of our shells. It was in this class that I first read Zorba the Greek, Bartleby the Scrivener, and a hell of a lot of Herman Hesse. It was also here that I heard about The Quartzsite Trip. Dallas noted once or twice that the book was worth reading, and that he always looked for a copy when in a used bookstore. Funny, but when he said that, I thought he must come across copies quite often. I now have at least two dozen books that I look for every time I enter a used bookstore, including The Quartzsite Trip.
Late into my senior year I found a copy of Dallas's esteemed book. It was in my brother's room, uncovered while I was snooping for contraband of one sort or another. I thought little of finding the book then, but now I think more of the matter.
My brother went through some tough times in high school. I'll leave out the laundry list, but let's just say he was an angry youth. Dallas did what he could for my brother: he tried to turn my brother on to cycling, gave him a bike, signed him up for Ragbri in Idaho. Dallas generally took an interest in my brother and, though my brother said all he did on Ragbri was drink, I think Dallas left his mark. My brother finally came through and still cycles, using exercise as therapy. I can only imagine that Dallas gave my brother this copy of The Quartzsite Trip.
As for me, I went on to become an English teacher myself, hounding high school students about their reading assignments and marking up their work with a a bright red pen. I think of Dallas often, but I don't teach like him. I'm hands-on where he was laid back; I dominate a room and he occupied it and observed.
I've read that The Quartzsite Trip was meant to be another teen reader must, like The Outsiders or The Pigman. Aside from the sex, I wonder why it didn't have more of an impact. I love the beginning, where Hogan lays out the political and social mindset of people during thew early 60s. I'm also fond of the narrative shift between characters. Only thing that rang as partially false was the end, where Deeter runs into that mousy girl and she's turned out the be not only successful and smart, but quite a knockout as well. That alone I could swallow, but coupled with the twist that the girl who entrapped Deeter during the trip ended up falling to her death while attending college the circumstances end up being a bit much. But I won't begrudge Hogan for trying to make the point that high school is not the be-all and end-all of our lives, far from it.
So I was thrilled last April when I went to visit my sister in New York and saw the copy of Hogan's book on her shelf. She and her husband had a lot of books, most of which were book club editions, but she said they were trying to get rid of them and I could have what I wanted. After scouring their shelves, I came away only taking the one book, though now I wish I'd taken more.
