This book is about the romantic possibilities of the Green Revolution, which commences...now.
The Campbell Club is a 'Campus Novel' that takes place in a student housing co-op in Eugene, Oregon. The protagonist, 22 year old Robert Gray, aka Sutra, wants normality back in his life after a stint at Rajneeshpuram (the intentional community branded a cult by the Establishment, now defunct.) A friend encourages him to return to school and complete his education as a path back into the world. But it's not so obvious (at least to Sutra) that the world wants him back!
In the "Greed is Good" decade of the 1980s Sutra discovers the Campbell Club is a cultural and spiritual microcosm of the wider world and falls under the spell of a dance major named Cindy Sterling. However, unable satisfy her, he gets some help in matters of the heart from an unlikely source.
We also meet some interesting characters along the way: a quadriplegic who loves to gamble, a gentle giant architecture student who works nights at the infamous gay bar known as the Riviera Club; and Sutra's roommate Connor, who is the self-described king of the Ceramics shop. We get to meet Terry Bradman, the Achilles captain of the Ultimate Frisbee team, and Mike Dix, his erstwhile Patroclus.
But the most important co-op inhabitants, at least from the point of view of Sutra, are the three young women he calls the Trinity: Eva Grindstone, Rachael Day, and Cindy Sterling. These three are the object of his infatuation and the bulk of the narrative explores their personal growth and erotic explorations.
Meanwhile as the terms go by the co-op is changing. New members bring chaos and threaten to disrupt everything The Campbell Club stands for, while old members including Cindy leave. The catalyst of this period of crisis is the mysterious "love drug" Ecstasy: so powerful it can alter personalities forever. Some, perhaps for the better; but there is danger and Sutra and his friends are playing with fire. As the situation spirals out of control, friendships are broken, love lost, and betrayal leads to disaster.
The Campbell Club is a fun read and at 75k words, an easy one. Buy it for a plane ride and have smiles all the way.
This book was written "by hand" not with AI. I wrote every word. (And so errors are also mine).
