On The Road

Rating:
Summary: True yesterday, true today, true tomorrow
Review: Sal Paradise is a writer just like Kerouac who decides to 'see America'. He hitches rides, washes dishes, works on farms, sleeps on floors and under the stars, experiencing new flavors of life and meeting different kinds of people he never thought existed. It is a kaleidoscopic journey across this country, not some plastic trip on flying tin cans, staying in gaudy hotels, hobnobbing with phony people and walking through tourist traps in line with the flock. He meets other writers just like himself coming and going 'On The Road' who convey their own experiences and enrich Sal's ever more in the process.

The conflict comes in the figure of Dean Moriarty, a hustler and con man who the beatniks first embrace as one of their own, but eventually identify for what he is after patterns begin to emerge in his relationships with his peers. Sal at first sees Dean as a hero, a role model, but slowly grows disillusioned with broken promises, threadbare lies, irresponsible behavior, and eventual deceit and betrayal. The whole story is focused on Sal and Dean, and just as the two go off on a tangent down into Mexico and on into Central America, it seems analogous as to how Sal's vision become blurred and misdirected in following an agenda he mistakenly believes to be his own.

This is probably the best book written on the Beat Generation, capturing the essence of the times and the spirit that established what became the underground culture of America. Teens and young adults having trouble articulating their deepest feelings may find that Kerouac did it for them almost a half century ago. Don't miss it! Along with this great novel, I'd also like to recommend, THE LOSERS' CLUB by Richard Perez

Rating:
Summary: A 20th Century Classic
Review: In a time reverse way, I felt dated, reading this very modern piece of writing with my postmodern consciousness. At first I felt like I was in the ejector seat of a convertible without seatbelts doing 110 MPG with a drugged or drunk driver commandeering the steering wheel. Well, we the readers, not to mention the characters, are. But all the boozing, drugs, women, and breaking of various Commandments don't have the consequences we'd expect in a more recent novel. Instead, we learn about the holy pursuit of getting high on life, especially as it is lived on the edge. A gang of characters is wrapped like a hurricane's winds around Dean Moriarty whose bipolar (postmodern judgment there) energy flows inspire antic cross country road trips across several years. In a book that's fueled by organic movement, there comes the day when the characters have to move on and away after they have achieved the highest (literally) point in their travels, and that's the ultimate consequence, that the momentum dissipates.

I had put off reading this book, thinking I couldn't handle one long abstract rant, which it isn't, though I'd picked up that impression somewhere. Kerouac sings like Whitman in a voice that is at once poetic and yet concretely journalistic. It is urgent, thus propelling its content, peeling away the past and future. There is artistic skill and knowledge at work in every sentence.

I read the critical introduction last, so it would not color my experience. It is an excellent introduction, one addressing more autobiographical detail than text, but all the same, read it as an afterward; I think Kerouac would want you to live the book unfettered by context.

Rating:
Summary: Chronicle of a Depth Foresold
Review: The book was dropped in my lap by my older brother when I was in high school. It was identified with the "Beat Generation," which was itself described in pictures of dour bearded dropouts in magazine pictures with berets in dank cellers featuring espresso machines.

There was a mismatch in the sequence. I could never find the archetype "Beat" in the story, although the term was mentioned in there. To me, Road meant escape, it meant a never-ending boyhood where the grim burdens of adult fifties responsibilities and limits might be simply shrugged off.

(The other stepping-stones along that path were Peter Pan, Walden Pond and Electric Koolaid Acid Test.)

You know how you can flip on the TV and know immediately whether you're watching drama or documentary? I never doubted the events in Road actually happened. It's basically a travel book for exuberant boys flying free (you can tell the wires are held by mothers and wives, but you suspend disbelief) with time and energy and some psychological problems.

It's written in humorous childhood gusto, too. The boys pass through DC on the eve of Truman's 1949 inauguration and there is a row of mighty strategic Cold War weaponry and at the end is one solitary ordinary rowboat "looking pitiful and foolish in the snowy grass."

"Ah, yass, ah, yass, man from Missouri as I am...that must be his own boat..."

Priceless. We went hitchiking, feelin' free, along about the time Kerouac was settling in with his mother to drink himself to death. But it was exhilirating, for a time, it was...

Rating:
Summary: Don't Miss This Experience!
Review: Academics and some intellectuals hate On the Road, which is a good enough reason as any to read it. If you listen to what these folks tell you, then you'll believe that Kerouac was some sort of brainless prodigy who didn't have an ounce of talent--or, if he had any talent, he had no control over it, like a pitcher with a great fastball who is unable to hit consistently the strike zone. Do you know why he isn't liked? Because Kerouac was, in fact, a natural writer and a craftsman who worked tirelessly to create literature, even as he experienced life to its fullest. He can't be a "real" writer, the reasoning goes, because the words came too easily to him. Just because they often did doesn't mean that Kerouac had no control over them. For proof, just look at his other novels, especially his first, The Town and the City. Kerouac knew what he was doing; he chose to write in a freewheeling, contemporary style that truly brought the American novel into the post-war era. It was poetry that did not ignore the language used by everyday people.
The style perfectly fits the characters that populate On the Road. For example, Dean Moriarty, based on Kerouac's early muse, Neal Cassady, is one of the most "larger than life" characters in American literature. He seems barely contained by the pages that tell his story. On the Road is a book that will become a friend to you, a friend you can trust always to be honest and real whenever you encounter it. Academics don't know what they're missing. Another quick recommendation ---> The Losers' Club by Richard Perez

Rating:
Summary: Defining moment of the Beat generation
Review: On the Road has not only inspired thousands of people to make their own cross-country trips, heading off for parts unknown, it is truly one of the original writing styles to emerge from the 20th Century. Although it could be lumped into the "stream of consciousness" category, it is clearly much more than that; whereas most stream of consciousness books carefully describe with intricate detail the events of a small period of time, such as a few days, On the Road covers various events that take place over a period of several years, and it does so in a more general fashion.

In essence, the book covers the four major trips that Kerouac made during the late 1940's along with Neal Cassady. The first three of these are essentially about heading West (or South) to meet up with many of their close friends. The trips take them usually to California or Denver, but also entail going to New Orleans, Chicago, etc., and back to New York. Basically, they travel West, have their kicks, get their fun while it lasts, and then head back East. The fourth trip, at the end of the book, covers a spur of the moment journey to Mexico, and is in many ways the most interesting of all the adventures.

I should mention, as you probably know, that the names of the characters in the book are not the same names of the people in real life. If you are familiar with some of the Beats and are curious about the tales that Kerouac tells of them, I know that at least some editions metion in the introduction who is whom. The four main Beats that most people are aware of, Kerouac, Cassady, William Burroughs, and Allen Ginsberg, are Sal Paradise, Dean Moriarty, Old Bull Lee, and Carlo Marx, respectively. In the Penguin edition, there are a few other people who's real names and character names are matched up.

One interesting thing to think about while reading is that Kerouac wrote the entire book in a matter of weeks. He taped rolls of typewriter paper together and let his coffee, nicotine, and, according to some people, benzedrine, keep him up for hours while he wrote. Often, he would write for six or eight hours in a row, or more. This obviously leads to the type of writing style that he uses, and is also synonymous with the Beat lifestyle. The book flows and grooves, just like the music they were listening to, and just like the mentality that many of them had.

Although it took many years for On the Road to be published, and although it eventually caused a rift between Cassady and Kerouac that may never have been resolved (Kerouac apparently didn't even blink when told many years later that Cassady had died), it is perhaps the best description of the Beat way of life, which without a doubt was a huge influence on the Hippie movement that followed. This influence is something that was explored by Steve Allen when he interviewed Kerouac on his television series. The New York Times book review, at the time of publication, declared this the "Sun Also Rises" of its' generation, comparing Kerouac to Ernest Hemmingway as a leading voice of people his age. It is a masterpiece, and a truly fun classic to read.

Rating:
Summary: A Book Like No Other
Review: It's a stream of consciousness time book, that gives you a feeling of empathy for the main character Sal Paradise. The one he idolizes is also a misfit, but Sal sees the holy in him.
It's a book about the underground life of Sal, his pal Dean Moriarty, and the others they run around with. In the end..I believe Sal has learned something from his idol, something that will help him on the rest of his life's journey.

Very interesting book, and I'm glad I finally read it. I have met people like Dean in my life, and now my sorrow for such characters goes deeper than ever.

Jeffrey McAndrew
author of "Our Brown-Eyed Boy"

Rating:
Summary: Everyman's Story
Review: "On the Road" has taken a terrible beating from modern critics. Harold Bloom,the dean of modern American critics, has written the most damning review I have ever read of a book in the Preface to his Twentieth Century Interpretations volume. Basically, he says that "On the Road" is a worthless piece of trash. I totally disagree.

"On the Road" is the classic book of self-discovery. Sal Paradise floats over the United States and Mexico as if they were some sort of mirage on his own bruised ego. A veteran of WWII, Sal is desperately trying to locate a place for himself in a dislocated post-war world. Slowly we discover that he and all his roadie buddies are just doing what each of us has done in one way or another, found the pathway to our own true selves. "Tom Jones" does no more -- or less. "Robinson Crusoe" has little else to offer. It is precisely what Hamlet tries and fails to do.

So maybe Kerouvac was on drugs when he wrote it. So what? Maybe it is a story that goes no where. Who says books have to present answers? Maybe all that is true. It doesn't change one bit the sense that "On the Road" captures the very American desire to find "IT," that strange singular place where all our discordant parts fit together.

In the end, Sal finds his true sweety and settles down, but the story, the story dear Mr. Bloom, is the classic tale of a young man finding his place in this crazy modern world. Perhaps Harold Bloom is too old, or too focused, to remember this quintessential event in his own life anymore. Sal Paradise remembers it, and he brings it back in vivid descriptions that help us all [OK, almost all of us] to experience it again.

Rating:
Summary: a little story
Review: There once was an emperor who ruled over a great kingdom. One day, two tailors/book salesmen came to visit him. They told him about this glorious new novella "On the Road" by Jack Kerouac. They told him it was a barometer test for whether or not a person was intelligent. Anyone who liked "On the Road" was a genius, and anyone who disliked it a buffoon. Eager to prove how smart he was, the emperor quickly read the novella. When he was finished, he realized he was an idiot. Rather than being brilliant, he found the book to be a collection of insane ramblings and occurances that could only be interesting to Kerouac himself. It was about a man on a search for truth and meaning in the world, but he went about this by getting drunk and pretending that he liked poor people. However, when he saw true poor people in Mexico, he thought about how terrible it would be to be them. This made no sense. The philosophy for a better life was more vapid and meaningless than the life Sal was leading before Dean came around. Rather than changing the emperor's life, it made him long to have 4 hours of his life back. However, he was afraid to look like an idiot, and told the salesmen that it was the best book he had ever read. They were delighted, and told him he qualified for a special fabric...one that was invisible to everyone except those who loved "On the Road". The emperor couldn't see the fabric, but eagerly bought it. He then arranged for a public reading of "On the Road", and told the townspeople how only intelligent people liked the novella. The people all lined up to hear the reading. They thought the book was nonsense, but were afraid to say so. They pretended that the work was life altering, and that their ruler was actually clothed. Finally, a brave little boy in a tree shouted "This makes no sense. Dean isn't Jesus, he's a raging lunatic, and Sal isn't a disciple, he's just a fool. More importantly, why are you naked?"

Rating:
Summary: Ti Jean- My French Whore
Review: Kerouac had stumbled onto a new way of writing via Neal Cassady in the form of a letter Neal wrote Jack that read like a mad-man on a rant. It was later termed "spontaneous bop-prose," a method of capturing your first thought, the raw emotion. He likened it to a Jazz musician improvising a piece of music. One never knew where the song was going to go, it was dictated by the feelings of the musician. The language of writing, poetry or poetic prose, is not any different than music, which Nietzsche claimed was the "voice of the soul." Kerouac's method was to type without thinking, as in a meditative state. Doing so called for lightning fast typing with no revision. He found that stopping to change paper interrupted his flow. Before the days of word-processors, Kerouac typed his manuscript on a scroll which provided a continuous feed of paper to match his continuous flow of emotion.
Writing is the original alchemy, turning lead into gold. The writer turns language into poetry. Words, mere words used to point at something, are transformed through craft and inference. The writer is only half of the equation, the reader too must be open to the poetry of the world in order to realize the value of gold, and the ability to discern it from lead. The womb is the golden eternity. It is where we feel, we are most alive without excessive external influence. It is what we all strive towards, the primordial warmth.

Rating:
Summary: A potential life changing experience
Review: I'm realatively new to literature...partly because the books I was forced to read at an early age disinterested me completely. However, this book alone has instilled within me a whole new passion for the written word. Kerouac's style captivated me from the first sentence read and propelled me to a whole new world where I became thoroughly acquaited with Sal, Dean, and friends to the extent that I also felt part of the story. I especially recommend this book to anyone who has a passion for travelling. I absolutely garantee that you will gain a similar appreciation for this work.