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Title: On the Road by Jack Kerouac, Ann Charters ISBN: 0-14-243725-5 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: January, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (2 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Thrills and kicks - in America
Comment: The escapades of Kerouac's semi-autobiographical twosome, narrator Sal Paradise with Dean Moriarty as they crisscross the entire USA, inspired a generation. Set in 1948, the book epitomises post-war America, but it echoed down into the 60s.
Elements of quest and picaresque abound in this search for dream-fulfilment and self-realisation, almost Quixotic in its delusional frenzy. Place-names are intoned hypnotically for the necessarily strong topographical slant: "...we rolled across the hoodwink night of the Louisiana plains - Lawtell, Eunice, Kinder, and De Quincy, western rickety towns becoming more bayou-like as we reached the Sabine. In Old Opelousas I went into a grocery store to buy bread and cheese while Dean saw to gas and oil."
The imagery is strong on colour, especially red of all kinds: for night, for heat, for desert, etc. There are also photographic snapshots, people glimpsed once and never again: " - a little girl in the back seat, crying to her mother, "Mama when do we get home to Truckee?'"
Included in the vast cast of supporting characters are Dean's wife and one true love Marylou, his lovers Camille and later, Inez, plus legendary, larger-than-life folk like Old Bull Lee, Carlo Marx (ha, ha) and Remi Boncoeur. Kerouac exhibits knowledge of humankind at work and at play - including some marvellous sections on club life and jazz (George Shearing being compared to God).
I found the last hundred pages hard going. Dean's inevitable downward trajectory is tragic, though. Essential reading for the background to James Dean, to "Easy Rider", "Midnight Cowboy" and other "buddyship" classics. Not to mention the intellectual underpinning of post-world War II, and the precursors of rock'n'roll.
Rating: 5
Summary: A Classic -- through and through!
Comment: 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(Neil 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. This novel is a classic, any way you slice it. A very worthy reading experience -- and I do mean "experience." Other recent novels I recommend are Survivor by Palahniuk, The Losers Club by Richard Perez
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Title: Siddhartha: An Indian Tale by Hermann Hesse, Joachim Neugroschel, Ralph Freedman ISBN: 0142437182 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: January, 2003 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe ISBN: 0553380648 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 05 October, 1999 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: The Town and the City by John Kerouac, Jack Kerouac ISBN: 0156907909 Publisher: Harcourt Pub. Date: October, 1983 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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Title: Visions of Cody by Jack Kerouac ISBN: 0140179070 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: August, 1993 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Beat Down to Your Soul: What Was the Beat Generation? by Ann Charters ISBN: 0141001518 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: 05 June, 2001 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
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