Are You Experienced?

This novel, already a best-seller in England, is an intelligent, funny, and entertaining coming-of-age and road-trip tale. When David Greenford agrees to spend three months backpacking through India with Liz, it's mostly because he's hoping things will progress romantically between them. Once in India, and faced with the intense heat, poor accommodations, questionable food, and Liz's tyrannical personality, Dave begins to wish he had never agreed to go. To make matters worse, Liz meets up with a group of bizarre hippie backpackers and soon runs off with a tantric yoga teacher, abandoning Dave altogether. It turns out, though, that being dumped by Liz is the best thing that could have happened to him. Once free of her, he learns to get by alone, gains an appreciation and understanding of India, and discovers in himself a level of independence and confidence he didn't know he was capable of. A cynical, comical, and candid portrayal of late adolescence, independence, sex, drugs, and backpacking through a Third World country.