The premise was interesting. A semi-autobiographical book written by a 99 year old had unlimited potential for me. I loved the literary references, the stream of consciousness writing style, and the historical observations of the the author. The rants did become a bit much but it's to be expected from someone with 99 years of life to reflect on. This book isn't for everyone but if you are a fan of literature, writers writing about writing, and unusual writing styles, you will enjoy this book.

Lawrence Ferlinghetti is an American poet, painter, socialist activist, and the co-founder of City Lights Booksellers & Publishers. At 99 he is one of the last survivors of the Beat generation of poets and writers. Little Boy is semiautobiographical and begins with his childhood shuffling between guardians, service in World War II, and Paris. A long life blends the old and the new. An excellent mix of Google and Barney Google. Facebook gains mention along with the World Wide Web early on in the book. It is an unexpected mixture of ages but rather plain. The reader falls into a routine the begetting in Chronicles. Suddenly the text explodes into a Ginsbergesque rant. He calls on the poets of the past as one would call on the saints. He has anger:

We’re the victors we set the exchange rates the laws the
treaties not worth the paper they are printed on ha-ha we’ll tell you
how to breathe all you fuckers trying to destroy us bombing the Twin
Towers you little creeps with your pajama clothes and weird religions
and who the hell was Mohammed Zoroaster Sufi Buddha-boy Omar
Khayyam Rumi smoking hookahs and kicking back we’ll take care of
you buddy after Twin Towers we’ll generate this huge national
paranoia allowing our guv to abolish liberty in the land of the free with
panic legislation

The words flow smoothly, sometimes violently, but always with meaning and life. The words seem alive. Here is a man, on in his years, not calmly telling his life and experience to grandchildren, but raging refusing to go gently into the night. Here is a man who saw the remains of Nagasaki and wants to remind us it can happen again. Powerful, moving, a lifetime recorded on a hundred pages.

Writing with his characteristic creativity and energy, Lawrence Ferlinghetti gives us a poetic and experimental book that stands as a prime example of his work. If you haven't read Ferlinghetti, or if you are well acquainting with his style, check out this book as soon as you can.