Rating: 
Summary: a bland slice of Americana
Review: If anything, "On the Road" proves that Jack Kerouac and his buddies were less 'free spirits' and more cogs in the machinery of white-bread American blandness. The book had me interested for the first 150 pages, maybe more, but after that the shenanigans of Dean Moriarty and Sal Paradise got predictable (Sez Dean: "Sal, I'm in New York and got married but she kicked me out of the house so now I'm going down to San Fran to reconcile with my SECOND ex-wife and four kids!"), and none of this was helped by Kerouac's fratboy perspective of things (it's nice you got laid on the road, Jack, really). His deepest insight into anything around him is to call it "mad," but the descriptions are so vague and uninteresting that my interest began to drop off severely when I concluded no big revelations would occur within the text. Conclusion: "On the Road" is a good 100-page story stretched well beyond its own capacity, and all the would-be philosophical jabber is window dressing with a polished surface but no depth. For a much better sample of the era Kerouac's addressing (from a different perspective, mind you), get "Junky," by William Burroughs.
Rating: 
Summary: A look at American Culture
Review: This book gives you a unique view of American youth at the time of its release. I did not live in that era, but I really got a feel of what the sense of living at that time was. Maybe I am romanticising it a bit, but Jack Kerouac is a very prolific writer that brings you right into the fold of the era. I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to really experience the feeling of the Beat Generation
Rating:
Summary: be honest
Review: I have tried, really I have tried. I have read On The Road when I was 21 and I have read On the Road when I was 41. I wanted to 'get it'. I really did. The sad fact is if you are really serious about this type of literature go the masters - go to Henry Miller, go to Pynchon's 'V', or even go to Hunter Thompson and you'll see what good writing really is. Ultimately, and I am sorry to disagree with a nation full of posers, this is the most overrated book of all time.
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Summary: Bible of the Beat Movement
Review: The seminal beat novel, Jack Kerouac's semi autobiographical "On the Road" is an engrossing tale of a young mans hedonistic zig zag across the United States. Kerouac's exuberant, frantic prose combined with his equally outlandish characters(based largely on his own friends and lovers), create a novel that is truly exhiliarating with every emotion and form of emotional release being explored in a unique way . Moreover "On the Road" was the catalyst for a dramatic change in the yearnings and expressions of American youth, which would soon see the likes of Allen Ginsberg, Bob Dylan and Ken Kesey testing the fabric of the American dream.
Rating: 
Summary: 50 years old, and there's use in this book yet
Review: Here's a suggestion for college freshperson English 1A students everywhere: to accomplish that required book review task, compare and contrast "On the Road" with Twain's "Roughing It." Both are the accounts of young men exploring the American west, just 100 years apart, after all.
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Summary: You can't be a well read person and not read this book
Review: I could get into a whole long review of this book and tell you what it is about, but you can find that anywhere. All I want to say is that this is an amazing book that deserves to be read by everyone who claims that they love to read. It is funny, sad, exciting and most important it is truly thought provoking. It is a timeless classic that has inspired many writers, journalists, actors and musicians. It has not lost it's punch since it was written and it is truly inspiring. Read this book.
Rating:
Summary: Mixed Feelings
Review: Few authors nowadays write to help others discover meaning in an idea that they themselves truly believe in. Most authors write what they believe will enable them to achieve success and respect. Jack Kerouac seemed to care little about fame and fortune. Kerouac seemed to write what he saw, what he thought, and what he felt, in hope of enlightening others. Kerouac believed in the Beat Generation. He believed that members of the Beat Generation found fulfillment. He seemed to feel that it was his responsibility to show others, through his writing, that the Beat Generation would help them to liberate themselves from cultural perils.
"On the Road," by Jack Kerouac, is a novel which relates to the actually experiences the author had in young adulthood with a variety of other characters based on actual individuals. This assortment of characters goes on a variety of adventures with the determination to live each moment to the fullest and not to miss out on anything in life. Kerouac believed that the world naturally brewed horrible lives, and that it was necessary to rebel against the popular ambition, materialism, and ideology at the time to find a greater truth in life. "Isn't it true that you start your life a sweet child believing in everything under your father's roof? Then comes the day of the Laodiceans, when you know you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, and with the visage of a gruesome grieving ghost you go shuddering through nightmare life." Kerouac shows how characters in this book (members of the Beat Generation) break away from the nightmare, and become tremendously excited about life. They race across America, and push the limits of their American Dream.
Jack Kerouac seems to have a personnel conversation with a reader of On the Road on the infinite variety of ways to enjoy life. Kerouac gives vivid descriptions of every location visited by the narrator, Sal Paradise, as he crisscrosses the country. Kerouac exceptionally conveys the emotions and thoughts a young man has on his search to find what is right for him. I believe every reader of On the Rode will positively re-think what he or she wants to get out of life. Readers of this book are required to engage in a search for a greater truth in what the events of that reader's life is constantly subtly teaching.
On The Road is a collection of all of Kerouac's thoughts on the many events that he experienced as a young man. I believe the books only weakness is Kerouac trying to express everything he felt and everything he saw. Many things in a person's life are very boring. Many of thoughts that a person has have little meaning or relevance. Kerouac's desire to express so many emotions and events from his life in On the Road causes the book to be, at times, very boring.
I personally enjoy books that are exciting and intelligent. On the Road is a very intelligent book and I believe that this book may help me live a better life. Yet, I feel that On the Road is very boring at times, and it sometimes feels like a chore to read. If I could go back and do it all over again, I would have chosen a different book to read.
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Summary: Why some love it and others hate it
Review: It's not surprising that some people here hate "On The Road" -- it's not much of a novel, in the sense of having deep characters and plot development and a proper beginning, middle and end. It's a long, delirious poem. Either you're going to relate to the book on its own terms or you're not, and if you don't, that's fine. What's great about "On the Road" is that it's a declaration of independence. It's a first stab at creating a new American culture -- one that rejected the pat answers of postwar conformist society and finally found its full expression in the counterculture of the 1960s. Think of "On the Road" as the missing link that connects Walt Whitman with Jimi Hendrix. I read the book when I was about 17 and I instantly responded to its sense of freedom -- and the writing style is part of that freedom. It's as much about escaping literary structure as it is about escaping societal structure. If you're ready for it, it's an inspiration and a life-changer.
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Summary: The outlaw spirit seething underneath 1950's conformity
Review: Published in 1957, this autobiographical novel by Jack Kerouac captured the spirit that was seething underneath 1950s conformity. Myth has it that he typed it non-stop for three weeks, using one long continuous sheet of paper. I understand it went through several drafts after that but it still holds the immediacy of that marathon typing session, the staccato rhythm of the words creating improvised rhythm across the page with little, if any punctuation. The narrator, Sal Paradise, is on an epic quest, one that takes him back and forth across the country with Dean Moriarity who is based on the real-life Jack Cassady. Dean, the reform school escapee who specializes in stealing cars, is Sal's mentor. And it is the automobile that is their chariot, which keeps them constantly in motion. Dean's madness is glorified, as is his ability to do whatever he pleases. There are a lot of drugs in the book, but liquor seems to be their drug of choice. They leave the heroin for a character loosely based on the real William Burroughs. Women drift in and out of the story, usually as one of Dean's lovers who he treats terribly. Dean treats everyone terribly though, abandoning Sal on several occasions, once while Sal was suffering from dysentery while they were in Mexico. Sal, however, always forgives Dean, seeing him as a god-like hero, no matter what he does. There's more to the book than the story though. The book is a trip, in every sense of the word. With the simple force of his writing, Kerouac took me on an adventure. With him I crisscrossed America, hitchhiking, walking, taking buses. With him I sat in a car driven by Dean Moriarity, speeding for hours at 110 miles an hour and not even thinking about a seatbelt. I met the pathetic women who loved Dean and didn't feel a bit sorry for them. I felt the quest in Dean's heart for his hobo father who he constantly searches for. And, I experienced the jazz, felt the heat and smelled the sweat in the many small bars, felt my head reel from the whisky and the sound all around me, stayed awake all night listening to sounds and being alone with the music in a room full of people. Yes, I felt I was there with the travelers, enjoying vicariously the thrills and the chills and knowing this would be my only entry into that world. Jack Kerouac eventually became an alcoholic and died an early death, but I'm personally grateful for this book he left behind and the experience of reading it. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Great Stories, Flawed Book
Review: "Let's just drive. Maybe we ought to go back, though?" That sums up Jack Kerouac's On the Road. The characters travel just for the sake of gaining new experiences while they are fully aware that their lifestyles will not advance them economically or socially. Sal and Dean, the main characters, go on wild road trips, do drugs and have sex with many women. At first it is fun to read of their adventures but it is definitely not worth 300 or so pages. There is no real plot holding together the tales of drugs and driving so it is hard to motivate yourself to continue with the book. One might argue that this is the best format because it matches the Beat lifestyles, unguided and spontanious, but even if that is the case books are not supposed to be burdensome to read. Jack Kerouac has amazing stories to tell but I wish he could have consolidated the book a bit or given his format more thought because it is not the most compelling thing to read.
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