Me and Mr. Cigar
Gibby Haynes
Soho Teen
The Butthole Surfers have had an immense influence on me during my formative years, given that they broke the mould with their idiosyncratic melange of punk infused psychedelic, noise and a welcome dose of black humours.
Given my familiarity with their musical emissions, I was intrigued when Gibby Haynes’ Me and Mr. Cigar materialised in front of me.
While there is no knowledge of The Butthole Surfers’ legacy required, it certainly helps to manage expectations. The initiated would not be further surprised that it apart from being centred around a special human-animal relationship and an unhinged road trip, is a psychedelic drug fuelled meandering and seemingly chaotic and deliberately confusing tour de force with a twist, once one learns that drugs have been taken unwillingly for the first time.
Me and Mr. Cigar seemed to have started out as a short story before it evolved to become aimed at teenage audience to acknowledge the craziness of their own world. One can only hope that it will not be dismissed and instead becomes a staple in school library – I for one would have loved something out of the ordinary like this as part of my literary canon at school.
An fun read aimed at a teenage audience that will prove to be enjoyable if the young recipient has a propensity let go of conventions and does not take things too seriously and is prepared to have expectations turned upside down.
