Rating: 
Summary: A MUST READ FOR ANY BEAT BUFF!
Review: A recent appetite for any and all written about Beat Generation(Kerouac, Ginsberg, et al), Ken Kesey and Merry Pranksters led me "Off The Road" while browsing at my local library. I found this book insightful and entertaining and yet knew the downside as Neal's life speeds Furthur and Furthur out of control. I was happy to read of NC's unending love for his three offspring and his true devotion to his friends, even though that comradeship was the foundation for his doomed relationship with Carolyn. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to get a feel for the late 50's and early 60's that altered many lives and lifestyles.
Rating:
Summary: A MUST READ FOR ANY BEAT BUFF!
Review: A recent appetite for any and all written about Beat Generation(Kerouac, Ginsberg, et al), Ken Kesey and Merry Pranksters led me "Off The Road" while browsing at my local library. I found this book insightful and entertaining and yet knew the downside as Neal's life speeds Furthur and Furthur out of control. I was happy to read of NC's unending love for his three offspring and his true devotion to his friends, even though that comradeship was the foundation for his doomed relationship with Carolyn. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to get a feel for the late 50's and early 60's that altered many lives and lifestyles.
Rating:
Summary: A MUST READ FOR ANY BEAT BUFF!
Review: A recent appetite for any and all written about Beat Generation(Kerouac, Ginsberg, et al), Ken Kesey and Merry Pranksters led me "Off The Road" while browsing at my local library. I found this book insightful and entertaining and yet knew the downside as Neal's life speeds Furthur and Furthur out of control. I was happy to read of NC's unending love for his three offspring and his true devotion to his friends, even though that comradeship was the foundation for his doomed relationship with Carolyn. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to get a feel for the late 50's and early 60's that altered many lives and lifestyles.
Rating: 
Summary: A view of the Beats as humans, not deities!!
Review: A welcome slip through a portal into an age overshadowed by the sixties and into the lives of those who were unkowingly shaping an entire genre of literature. Carolyn's account reads honestly while balanced perfectly with letter excerpts to and from Neal, Jack and Allen. No other biography allows the reader into the lives of these characters so seamlessly, making for the most enjoyable peephole into the lives of the individuals' who were later to become known collectively as the Beat Generation. (If you saw the movie, fret not, the book is leaps and bounds better!)
Rating:
Summary: great portrait of cassady and kerouac
Review: As great as the Beat fiction is, and life-changing as On the Road is, we get too caught up with the fictitive personas of the Beats. It's nice to see the side of Kerouac, Cassady, and Ginsberg that didn't make it into the novels. I'm sure Carolyn's viewpoint is skewed a little, but so is what we read in On the Road. Between her work and their work we can get a picture of what they were like, not as legends, but as men. There are times when Carolyn bogs down with too much detail, or too much whining, or patches that just aren't great writing, but all in all it is a good biography, autobiography, and novel. If you want to know more, here is a good place to start, along with these books, though you probably have read them by now: Kerouac's On the Road and The Dharma Bums; Cassady's The First Third; Perry and Babb's On the Bus; Ginsberg's Howl
Rating:
Summary: A "beat" must!
Review: Carolyn Cassady's Off the Road is just as essential to understanding the beat movement as any other book. She writes in a style that is very easy to relate to, and puts events in a never before seen perspective that enlightens the reader. She is honest and heartfelt in her recollections, and you feel as though you have really learned and gotten to know each of her characters. This book is really one of my favorites and one that I am sure I will read again and again.
Rating: 
Summary: a bit pathetic
Review: Carolyn's whole story was the same page after page. Neal and Carolyn have a kid, he leaves her for his other girlfriends, Neal and Carolyn have a kid,...etc...This woman needed a serious clue and I wasn't impressed with her life at all. Talk about low self-esteem! Hanging out with a drunk Jack Kerouac and a psycho pseudo husband is not a great life story. Ah Neal - what a guy... I wish I could have had a chance with him!
Rating:
Summary: Very Enjoyable!
Review: I enjoyed this book immensely. A behind the scenes view of what life was really like for your favorite Beat personas. The book was easy to read and hard to put down.
Rating:
Summary: Very Enjoyable!
Review: I enjoyed this book immensely. A behind the scenes view of what life was really like for your favorite Beat personas. The book was easy to read and hard to put down.
Rating:
Summary: Why don't you whine a little more, Carolyn?
Review: I read near-obsessively, and this is one of the few books from the past four years that I've started and not been able to finish. When Carolyn Cassady isn't attempting to elicit readers' sympathy for her as the poor, neglected wife of beat luminary Neil Cassady, she's trying to claim that Neil's genius excuses said neglect. Ultimately, neither pity nor admiration for Carolyn is possible. I still can't decide whether Carolyn Cassady is simply pathetic or simply trying to cash in on her husband's fame.
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