About the Book
"Keep THIS Quiet Too!" is "a passionately written memoir that doesn't sit around being fit and proper and straight laced. . . . As a key to the lives of these three writers it is idiosyncratic and in age where blandness is the norm, it is a pleasure to go on her journey and find out a little about what made these men tick and what drove her to them"--Eric Jacobs, "Beat Scene" (UK). "Keep THIS Quiet Too!" takes place in Morocco, Belgium, Switzerland, and the United States as Margaret pits wits with--and learns from--Gonzo creator, Hunter S. Thompson, New York City poet-genius Milton Klonsky, and her eventual husband, Belgian poet Jan Mensaert. At one point, trying desperately to find her, Hunter writes, "Dear Margaret, Where are you and why? I've lost track completely. My last definite word was from a toilet-hole in Algiers." Hunter wants her to work on his next manuscript. This is 1971. Moving from the 1970s (Belgium/Morocco) to 1986 (Switzerland), she has a life-changing spiritual experience at the C. G. Jung Institute Zurich. The book ends up fittingly at Owl Farm. Where else could the last two chapter take place? There, Hunter is in fine form, trying to take the romance to the next level. Actually, they both are intent on it.
About the Author :
Margaret Harrell is the author of "Keep This Quiet!" and eight books in the "Love in Transition: Voyage of Ulysses-Letters to Penelope" nonfiction series, including "Toward a Philosophy of Perception." Also, "Marking Time with Faulkner." She copy edited Hunter Thompson's first book, "Hell's Angels." HST acknowledged her in "Gonzo Letters" 2. in 2011, "Keep This Quiet!" was published to highly receptive reviews. She is also an editor, cloud photographer, and light-body teacher, mentoring people who want to maximize their potential.
Review :
"Margaret A. Harrell has done it again. In her brutally compassionately explicitly honest second autobiography, 'Keep THIS Quiet Too!: More Adventures with Hunter S. Thompson, Milton Klonsky, Jan Mensaert, ' Harrell manages to repeatedly pull the rug out from under the reader. She travels from North Carolina to New York City to Morocco to Belgium to India to Switzerland to Owl Farm, and many other places, ...in search of her self. From depth psychology to dream analysis to hangoutologies to ecstatic love making to out of body astral travels to spirit guides, adventures and misadventures, she is guided and guides herself ever homeward to her own heart and soul. . . . a masterpiece." - Ron Whitehead, poet author of "The Storm Generation Manifesto" "Following on from the whirlwind that was volume one, Margaret Harrell returns with more adventures involving three particular men in her life, Milton Klonsky, Jan Mensaert and Hunter S. Thompson. She was a top editor in her time - she worked on Thompson's Hell's Angels - and this provided the door through which she stepped into the lives of this trio. Or should that be the other way around? . . . It is chaotic, shambolic, impulsive, complete and utter madness at times here. Klonsky is the steadiest, a kind of mentor . . . father figure to Harrell. Mensaert is mercurial, frustruating, and often suicidal and then she marries him. Thompson, perhaps the one writer with the biggest profile in American letters, is, well, Hunter S. Thompson as only he was. Mad as a box of mad things, living for the moment, furiously living and she is drawn to his flame. A passionately written memoir that doesn't sit around being fit and proper and straight laced. . . . As a key to the lives of these threewriters it is idiosyncratic and in an age where blandness is the norm it is a pleasure to go on her journey and find out a little about what made these men tick and what drove her to them." - Eric Jacobs, Beat Scene print magazine # 70, England
Keep THIS Quiet Too! is a real-life saga of living and learning with eyes and ears open. At times adventurous, at times sensual, Keep This Quiet Too! hinges upon the complexities of human relationships, especially the challenges posed by the heart-wrenching feelings of love that may or may not be fully requited. Highly recommended." - Midwest Book Review"An honest and unflinching examination of the choices we make" - San Francisco Book Review"Margaret Harrell baited the hook and I bit. Boy did I bite. . . She used titillation, and a masterful way of revealing herself to build engrossment, starting with ''Keep This Quiet!' ANY thinking, living person will be locked in from the beginning. A knowledge of the three men is not a must. She oozes sexuality, sensuality and I believe these traits go towards interweaving the three men. I believe it to be spellbinding. A hot sweaty tango of words. The bottom line is this. Not many books fulfill my reading needs. By this I mean covering a range of emotion. Keep This Quiet Too! did it for me. I loved it - Martin Flynn, owner of www.hstbooks.org"A book with so many dimensions is a gift with many surprises in it" - Chris Van de Velde, therapeutic coach, Belgium
"With an eye for surprising detail, Harrell conjures a charged and vivid milieu, even as the story she tells is often painful. She recounts time and again striving to salvage her marriage and rescue her husband from his addictions and secure treatment for his mental illness, as she travels to Morocco, Switzerland, New York and her home state of North Carolina. Her continued friendship with Klonsky provides an ongoing wellspring of inspiration . . . . . . A journey with grand destinations throughout the globe and within the author's consciousness." - BookLife Review
