Gault writes a refreshing, uninhibited tale of youth. For those of us who are older, the book can leave you pining for days past. You know - it's the old romantic agony - you want to go back but can not. Some Puritans may find the book sexist and downright dirty, and I even could have done without all the scatalogical references, but hey - it is what it is. A good read.

This has to be my all time favorite book. I first read this book when I was at college, living away from home for the first time, and feeling carefree and invincible. This book encapsulates the narcasstic spirit of youth, and also how reality rears its ugly head.
The prose may be crude, but it is also intelligent and very funny- every sentence is a joy to read.
I have lent this book to virtually everyone I know and found women have enjoyed it just as much as men. In short BUY THIS BOOK!!!

Peter Gault is by far and away one of the greatest, most uncelebrated, authors of our time. Goldenrod is a CLASSIC that will make you wanting more.

Quite possibly the worst book I have read, at least in recent memory. Peter Gault is one of those horrible hacks that somehow slipped his way through the time-tested net of manuscript proofing and out-of-hand rejection. How he managed to get a book deal, much less get a second book published, will go down in history as one of the greatest mysteries of all time.

The most tragic thing about this book is not that it's an outright bum bag of shite, but rather that it actually had potential. The middle of the book is a rather good story about middle-aged identity crises. However, Gault's crippling lack of talent sabotages even that simple narrative as the author breaks away from his story to engage in mind-numbingly silly and poorly-written "mind ramblings" dealing with everything from racism to nationalism. Heavy topics. Too bad the author isn't skilled enough to provide anything new or interesting about them. His tangents remind me a great deal of the similarly pointless ramblings in the disastrously bad movie "The Thin Red Line" - they try so hard to be poetic they are laughable.

Furthermore, Gault's pathetic American-bashing poisons his own words. At one point in the book, the man directly attacks patriotism and nationalism. Yet he, a Canadian, throughout the book engages in infantile and stereotypical attacks on American people, life, and culture.

The end of the book is a pointless cacaphony that undoubtedly arose from the author watching "Easy Rider" too many times, as he attempts to take his character on the journey "out of the mind" promised in the title. What is the journey? The author has the character smoke pot on a pirate ship somewhere in the gulf, then have anal sex with a lion. How prophetic!

A horrible book, a talentless hack of a writer. Surely something only Canada could have created.

Peter Gault writes in a scatalogical, satirical and often hysterically funny way. The premise of the book is that a lawyer chucks it all to sail away on his boat. His adventures and characters are great, especially Sir Charles. What Gault does to the end of the story can only be called derailing. I was laughing out loud through the first two thirds of the book until the author drops acid or decides that the readers are jerks. The ending deserved better treatment especially for so talented a writer. Overall, it is a quick worthwhile read for the few good laughs and insights