The decade between 1961 and 1971 was a time of tumult; of innocence lost, gained, and lost again. During those years, Ralph Osborne moved from the confusions of being 17 to, briefly, believing that at 27, he knew everything. It is, he says, "my version of the Divine Comedy  more comedic than divine." From Someplace Else is an often hilarious, occasionally tragic account of the exploration of boundaries, inner and outer, through a time of free love and psychedelic adventure. And because the paths between Heaven and Hell, good and bad, and up and down are not linear, this book is necessarily an account of one man’s first trip around the circle. Osborne’s Holy Grail is identity. His quest, in which he sets out to learn "a small piece of the puzzle  one little thing I could know for certain," takes him from a working-class tenement on the east coast, through the privileged confines of Westmount, west to the cleansing air of the prairies, and east again, to the stoned-out beginnings of Toronto-the-hip where he becomes general manager of the infamous Rochdale College. From Someplace Else is a journey driven by the ever-relevant question: to be, or to become? It’s also the slightly surreal description of the thin line between simplicity and squalor.

From Someplace Else

Biographies & Memoirs

Osborne, Ralph

Reference & Collections

a misFit book

<p>A first novel set against a background of corrupt cops, blackmail, marijuana use and bird hunting. Ralph Osborne's darkly comic reappraisal of familial dysfunction begins postmortem. Frank, who has just discovered that he's terminally ill and that his son may not be his, wonders what to do about the body of the bride-to-be. When the doorbell rings, the ensuing chain of events propels him through a fast-paced series of thrilling, terrifying, and hilarious encounters, particularly with local law enforcement officers and his ex-wife. Throughout it all he's assisted by Ray, a gentle giant; hirsute, unwashed, and food-addicted, Ray's the only friend Frank knows he can trust.</p>

Just for Comfort

Literature & Fiction

Literary

Insomniac Pr

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