On the Road

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Summary: My adolescent bible, Kerouac my adolescent deity.
Review: Where to start with an author and book I have so much admiration for? Truman Capote called there writing merely "typing." A traversty! It is a reaction to Kerouac's "kickwriting." However, the story for me meant an allegory of discovery. A wonderous journey. Essentialy, I view the "beat" generation as highly religous - a revolution based on jazz and Buddhism. The story spoke to a whole generation like "Hemingway's A Sun Also Rises." Thus, for their historical significance are worth reading alone. But it is not hyperbole to say, "it spoke volumes for me." I urge you to read it. Kerouac has a sonorous inner voice. A voice with diction and passion manifested in "Sal Paradise." A narrator whom for me was far more moving that F. Sct Fitz's "Nick Carroway" of the Great Gatsby. An important book for "my generation" too. There is nothing like it. It captures the essence of "jazz" and the souls of many beat writers : Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs and Neal Cassady. Neal Cassady is the protagonist and is presented as one of the "Greatest American Heroes of the West" in Dean Moriarty. So, read read read. My words cannot paraphrase a book. This is not a whim, I am talking about a book I truly love. Hence, I may rant, I may rave. But please, the ostensible message, is simple and clear : READ. I will not preach. In the words of William S., "Kerouac opened a million coffee bars and sold a million pairs of Levis to both sexes. Woodstock rises from his pages." I quote (yet again), symptomatic of modern times? "On the Road had above all the extraordinary fortune of finding itself, for an immense number of people, much less a book than a state of vision, a feeling of conciousness, Kerouac's novel offers the chance to go on the road with Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty, two great American 'courage-teachers' - perhaps the last of their tribe. Read, and thankyou. I am honestly impassioned, share my madness. Thankyou for listening. It is sympotmatic that every person of "my generation" - I am under - HAS NOT READ THIS!

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Summary: Road trip
Review: On the Road captures Americana in a stronger and more vivid fashion than John Steinbeck did The Grapes of Wrath. On the Road covers the same route (and more) but doesn't water down the regional flavors with allegory. Instead American from New York to California and all parts in between is shown for its good, bad, rich, poor, and various ethnicities with humor and honesty.

Through Sal's numerous transcontental road trips, Kerouac describes the regional beauty, kirks, culture and geography of every city and state the protagonist passes through. Of the cities I've either lived in or visited that are visited in this book I enjoyed the most--especially his numerous pilgrimages to San Francisco. His first entry into San Francisco is classic: "Over the Oakland Bay Bridge I slept soundly for the first time since Denver; so that I was rudely jolted in the bus station at Market and Fourth... and there she was, Frisco - long, bleak streets with trolle wires all shrouded in fog and whiteness... . Weird bums (Mission and Third) asked me for dimes in the dawn..." This opening paragraph to San Francisco is still apt, if not, perfect.

While the book is an icon of the Beat generation and Sal, the narrator, desires to be among that set, he's abmismal at it. Throughout the book he worships his friend Dean who is the wildly cool womanizing, debauched, drug addicted man Sal wants to be but Sal just can't manage to follow in Dean's footsteps. Whereas Dean will drive over 100 mph, steal cars and delight in getting drunk, Sal will either drive the speed limit or hide in the back when Dean is driving, try to return Dean's joy ridden cars, or want to sleep off the booze he's drunk when around Dean. It's Sal's valient attempts to be like Dean while being unable to follow through that add a delicious irony to the novel.

In the end Sal and Dean and the rest of the gang part ways, having grown apart as they've matured over the course of the two years this book covers. The book ends on a somewhat sad note, looking back across the days of those crazy contiental trips with nostalgia and longing.

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Summary: Please read this. Buy it. Buy a copy for everyone you know!
Review: The discovery of 'On The Road' has (excuse the cliché) changed my life irreversibly. I found it to be the most riveting, energetic, powerful and inspirational work I have ever had the fortune to read. My poor friends, and just about anyone else who has cared to listen, have had to endure my crazed ramblings of passion and attempts to describe the sheer genius and delightful brilliance of Kerouac and his work. I cannot begin to describe how much this book has affected my entire perception of the World and everything within it. Kerouac feeds the itch within anyone who has a rambling soul, leaving the reader craving for their dreams, ultimately, anyone who gets this, anyone who truly appreciates it, I am confident will never be quite the same. Every scene, every pure, brilliant landscape, every character is crafted with such skill and subtle, tactical brilliance; you fall in love with each one. Sparkling, pulsing dialogue, evocative simple depiction, passion, craving; this book is so powerful; combining enigmatic and isolated reflection with irresistible freedom that reflects the ultimate lifestyle of anyone who just cannot stop moving. It is so modest and subtle...Kerouac is a literary God. Please read this. Buy it. Buy a copy for everyone you know! I can't imagine that I could ever have lived without knowing, without ever realising.... This book should be handed out in schools and workplaces and universities and streets all over the world. Please, just read it!!

So, in response to other reviewers, who I can almost believe have never felt the want of freedom, have never felt the exhilarating magic of the road: Can you not see the pure and simple LIFE of this story? I cannot believe anyone could dismiss this. I was devastated to reach the final page; it is so rare to find such a gift. So please, show me a more faultless achievement of a novel, for I would love to read it. But I believe you'll have difficulties- this is as close to perfection as it gets.

And to those who have the soul and the insight into the heart of a real angel of a man, to share in my breathless admiration, there is a poem by William Burroughs that may interest you:

Remembering Jack Kerouac

Writers are, in a way, very powerful indeed. They write the script for the reality film. Kerouac opened a million coffee bars and sold a million pairs of Levis to both sexes. Woodstock rises from his pages. Now if writers could get together into a real tight union, we'd have the world right by the words. We could write our own universes, and they would all be as real as a coffee bar or a pair of Levis, or a prom in the Jazz Age. Writers could take over the reality studio. So they must not be allowed to find out that they can make it happen. Keroac understood this long before I did. Life is a dream, he said.

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Summary: An Exciting, Breathless, Attempt to "Seize the Day!"
Review: Jack Kerouac wrote this novel about several escapades he took across the country in the late 1940's. He used characters from his real life, such as Allen Ginsburg the poet and author; and Neal Cassidy, Kerouac's idol, and changed their names to use in the story.

In "On The Road", Sal Paradise(Kerouac), a young writer from New York City, ventures to cities around the country, staying with old friends, making new friends, and doing everything he can to stay alive and move on. His mentor and friend, Dean Moriarty(Neal Cassidy), often travels with Sal, always talking, laughing, and being his insane self. Now let's stop and take a brief look at the fascinating life of Dean Moriarty: Throughout the story, Dean plays several different women, has 3 wives and 4 children, half of whom he can't account for ever meeting. He was born in Salt Lake City, and grew up going to reform schools and jail. Dean was an infamous hustler in Texas and Denver who was always stealing cars and money, but never for more then $10 or just when he needed a quick ride. He was insane, always laughing and having a great time, and always getting the most he could out of life. Sal and Dean experienced some great high's and low's of travelling together, seeing such cities as Chicago, Denver, San Francisco, and Mexico City. Throughout the book you get to know the fascinating personalities of Sal, Dean, and several other characters.

Just as important as the story and the characters is the STYLE in which the book is written; it's this style, which gives the book its vibrant, breathless, spontaneous intensity. And, yes, this is where the book really earns its legendary status, because few other books are able to convey the exhilaration and excitement and fun of a mad attempt to "seize the day." On The Road is truly a life-affirming, free-wheeling experience. Along with On The Road, I'd also like to recommend The Losers' Club by Richard Perez, a strange little beat-influenced romance and, weirdly, the second best book I read so far this year.

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Summary: Unique classic novel of 20th Century American fiction.
Review: As a junior in college, I was hesitant to read a Kerouac novel because of the negative connentations associated with the "Beats". While contemplating reading "On the Road", a friend nakedly asked me, "isn't that book about drugs?" My reply "I don't think so", couldn't mask my nervousness about the content of "On the Road". Was I about to read another dated novel about a scene whose time has passed? Well let me assure the quisical reader that this novel is the complete opposite of tired and dated. Kerouac is an amazing, inventive, and charismatic writer who entertains with every word. I assure you this novel is as entertaining as advertised. The plot revolves around the adventures of Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarity(thinly veiled altered egos of Kerouac and Neal Cassidy) as they cross the country in search of an illusive yet ever present freedom. Enjoyable scenes

1. Paradise's first trip from the East Coast to the West Coast. The descriptions are joyously vivid and intensely enjoyable. Wow!

2. Kerouac's descriptions of a jazz show in San Francisco. His enthusiasm for jazz is well-documented but this scene conveys the love for jazz like no other author has done before or after.

Enjoy this novel with an open mind and a love for powerful writing.

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Summary: We don't know Jack -- just glimpes of his brilliance
Review: Perhaps I am too old now to read this book. Perhaps. Yet, youth still lingers in the mists of my mind.

I faintly remember what it was like to smack into life's walls full force hoping they would give way.

The walls gave way for Jack. His youthful brilliance still shines. We can but glimpse it in this novel which chronicles the start of his american dream.

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Summary: Amazing Passages In This Book
Review: If you don't have this then you need to get it. Period. Genius multiplied several times.

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Summary: Not Just a Kid's Book!
Review: It annoys me when people refer to ON THE ROAD as juvenile, or a "young adult" book. It most definitely is not. This novel merits a serious reading -- and a re-reading. In fact, I find myself reading it atleast once every few years and each time the writing yields new and exciting things. Truly this is some kind of Bible for me, a book that I can dip into for inspiration when life's dreariness becomes too much for me; Kerouac's clarity and lyricism and joy should never to be confused with the impulsiveness and naivete of "youth." I know plenty of young people who have no enthusiasm for life and freedom as Kerouac depicts it. In fact, the book is a re-discovery of the world and the will to live. As the novel begins: "I first met Dean not long after my wife and I split up. I had just gotten over a serious illness that I won't bother to talk about, except that it had something to do with the miserably weary split-up and my feeling that everything was dead." This is great novel for ALL ages. And I know it will be a great comfort to me in my old age as it was in my youth! Special thanks to the reviewer who also recommended THE LOSERS CLUB by Richard Perez.


Rating:
Summary: Wish I could give higher praise
Review: As a disclaimer: my feels after having finished this book might be somewhat tainted by the manner which I read it - lots of starting and stopping. I knew that I wanted to read this book if for no other reason than because of its `classic' status but I always became restless with this book and moved onto other books before forcing myself to come back to this one. While I don't think this is entirely a result of that on again off again reading experience my feeling of On the Road as somewhat of a disjointed meandering work no doubt was influenced by that somewhat.

I am left feeing about Kerouac much the same way I feel about Ernest Hemingway - I don't really feel overly impressed by either of them but I feel like I should be. Maybe it is just that its value as a `revolutionary' work is lost on me as I am so far removed from its original impact. Feel like this book might be interesting to return to in a few years as reading it for a second time and reading it while at a different place in my life might bright out different feels about the book but as for right now I wasn't overly moved.

Regardless, I can say that I would infinitely recommend this book over my other recent foray into the `modern classics' Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

Rating:
Summary: Either you get it, or you don't
Review: This book has no middle ground. To the dreamer, mystic, and romantic, this book will speak to you in a unique and unforgettable way, and will skyrocket to your favorites list. To the gray suit, the pragmatis, and classicist, this book will leave you scratching your head, saying, 'what's the big deal?' To me, this book represents endless possibility, of not knowing what the day will bring, but not sitting around to wait for whatever to happen. Along the way, it's the people you meet and the stories you'll tell that will let you discover whether you have lived life, or just wasted it away.