Rating: 
Summary: A Necessary Trip
Review: Some people would accuse me of being "conservative". I am not a "beatnik" but, I am also not "uptight". That said, I figured that "On the Road" would be an annoying glorification of personal irresponsibility and a tribute to the bohemian lifestyle. Geez, was I wrong! This book is absolutely one of the best novels of all time, period!Jack Kerouac was truly ahead of his time. He wrote this semi-autobiographical novel in the late 1940s but, it wasn't accepted for publication until 1957. The main character is Sal Paradise, a rootless, late 20s veteran of World War II who seeks adventure and enlightenment with his hipster and beat generation friends while wandering the country, often on his college money from his GI Bill. The "education" he gets is profoundly enlightening to the reader as each adventure seems to end up in shambles followed by an irresistible urge to escape the consequences by hitting the road and eventually repeating the tragic cycle anew. Most of the character's restless peregrinations originate in "the sins of their fathers". They each grew up surrounded by authority figures who set poor examples in their own lives but, had children anyway. "On the Road" is the story of this next generation repeating these mistakes while reveling in sex, drugs, and bop music. To quote Harry Chapin, "My boy had grown up just like me". The thing that makes this book so extraordinary is how Kerouac effortlessly endears many of the characters to us. We know these people, we understand these feelings, to paraphrase Bill Clinton, "We feel their pain". The tragedy of this beaten generation is like medieval alchemy studies; it took a long, long time and much treasure before earnest man finally realized that you just can't turn iron into gold. There was no one to tell them otherwise so, both of these era's "intellectuals" careened along blissfully ignorant on their respective roads to nowhere. You can't help but feel for them, though. And the writing is top-notch. READ THIS BOOK IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY. Forget your politics and preconceptions. This is a true slice of life and a lesson that I don't believe our generation has learned yet either. We can all learn something from Sal and Dean's travels. Very, VERY highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: amazing
Review: It upsets me the lack of understanding clinging like a cancer to this list of reviews; how could anyone trash one of the greatest novels of this century? This was an eye-opener, showing me that i was not alone in my abjection to common society, and that the bohemian ideal can be so well articulated. I just wish that more people in this world could appreciate the mastery of Kerouac and the depths of the philosophy of the beats. Again, i would recommend this to anyone, as the adventure and Twain-like tomfoolery of the group will appeal to most.
Rating:
Summary: A Dizzying Trip Through Now
Review: This was the book that defined a generation. It's full of wildness and frenzy, booze,sex, dreams, and it journeys through an America that is now lost and forgotten. The characters are all drawn from the cool poets, artists, and hypsters of the late forties, the guys and gals that whored and drank and dreamed and traveled through the American night, through the sizzling jazz blasting a whole through the universe. In other words, this book rocks in a way that is seldom found in today's manufactured museums of big houses and their endless call for books that sell, sell, sell. No, this is not Harry Potter - this is real life - this is what it's all about - this is a blood and bones view of a beat zen world before zen was cool! I can't praise it highly enough. It's got zest ... Better still, it's got balls!
Rating: 
Summary: Awful, awful, awful. Why is this a classic?
Review: More or less, all the characters in this book should be shot. Easily the most disappointing read against the hype I ever experienced. My 2 cents. Maybe you have to be stoned and drunk to like it.
Rating:
Summary: the Dionysian saint
Review: I was wasting a few minutes of my life on the internet when I found myself at amazon.com looking for a biography of Jack Kerouack. Because I typed in Jack Kerouack and didn't put anything about biographies in I had to sift through his collection of writings first. As I was passing them by I noticed that On the Road had an average star rating of four out of five. I didn't see how that could be. One of the Dionysian saints not receiving all the credit they disserve; it's not possible. I had to see what was possible wrong with this amazing piece of work.
One of the first ones I came across was a review by a student that had read the book for a class and, he said, the class didn't even finish the book (imagine that - students not doing homework!). I didn't know whether to sign up for the class or hit the teacher in the back of the head. This is one classic novel and should be read by anyone that has the capacity to understand it, which after reading the reviews seems to be a much to small percentage of people. But, this is not a school book. This book, if anything, is anti-school, not to be confused with knowledge. Of course if you give a class a book to read they will dislike the book; people don't like to do something they are being forced to do. This book will only be truly understood and appreciated if it is read by ones own will. It is great that the teacher wanted the students to read it, though.
Another thing I noticed was that the book was not philosophical enough for them. I agree its no Nietzsche, Aristotle, or Huxley, but it is philosophical. Something is only as philosophical as one makes it. The whole thing could be put in the philosophy section of a book store and would in there as nicely as anywhere else. The philosophy is not discussed directly because the novel is a story. The philosophy of the thing should be a revelation after analyzing the book; every word of the thing is philosophy if one reads it right.
I also read that it was uninteresting. I guess you have to actually read the words for it to be interesting (maybe think a little too). The book is a poem, read it like a poem. The words are like an ocean flowing beautifully from one page to the next. Maybe it's only because I was on my way to Colorado when I started it and was in the boring state of Nebraska, but it kept my attention all the way through. Even the end when I arrived home and read from midnight till two in the mourning finishing the book (I didn't fall asleep).
The book is a poem, a philosophy and can only be read because a person wants to read it. If your not going to read straight through it I'd say don't even try, but if you can take the time it is one of the best books you'll ever read. As long as your willing to open your mind.
Rating:
Summary: A trip to the dentist was more fun.
Review: A friend of mine recommended "On the Road." I wish I could make him eat this book. Even though Jack Kerouac fleshes out his charcaters with great detail, the story line is dispersed and all over the place. I find nothing interesting about two zeros wandering all over the USA doing nothing. It is a real chore to read. A time murderer cloaked as a "classic".
Rating:
Summary: On the road...zzzz
Review: I recently read 'On the Road' for a school assignment and I hated it. In fact, many teens in my class hated this book so much, we didn't even finish it. It was very, very boring and it mostly talked about sex and drugs and how a hobo goes from new jersey to colorado and back again, and then back again. I usually like every book I read, but not ones that put me to sleep!
Rating: 
Summary: For Atkins
Review: I definitely recommend On The Road, by Jack Kerouac to anyone who enjoys comical, authentic writing. On The Road reveals true events that happen in everyday life, that people never addressed during the time of the beat generation. Kerouac is believed to be the master of the beat generation because he wrote this outrageous book that made an impact on people. People of this time never publicly addressed issues of sex and drugs that went on during the beat generation. But teenagers of this period were not interested in math and science; they were in to music and poetry. They spoke freely and did whatever they wanted no matter what other people thought. The book describes drug usage and sex in ways that people never spoke about, which is why this book was such a controversy. The book was a big deal because it really opens the idea of what really went on in the world and in people's minds.
I found myself relating to many occurrences in the book. Though it seemed more of an adult book and some parts were a bit degrading, I still kind of new what the characters were feeling. The plot is about a young man and his friend to set out on a road trip and the interesting events that happen on the way. The story was not phony, where I would think, "yeah right, that would never happen." The way Kerouac writes draws you into the plot. The book was a little hard to read, but I got into it quickly and it did not take me long to finish it.
Rating:
Summary: On the Road
Review: I thought this book was going to be a soul searching adventure with all of America as a back drop to find as Kerouac would say, "IT". They do touch upon this at times with philosophical discussions between Sal Paradise and his spiritual guide Dean Moriarity, who is both Angel and Devil, and I loved that, but there is not enough of it. There was not enough insight or purpose. Overall, it was just depressing. I thought it would make me want to go out and cross the U.S. on my own pilgrimage. Instead it made me want to stay a little closer to home. The reason I believe, is that I know the country he is describing is gone now. He captured it very well, but that time is over. If I duplicated his quest I'd find a much different America. A scarier one. It's just not safe to travel the way he did any more. Hell, by his descriptions, I'd say it wasn't safe then either. I'd still like to see these things, but I'd take more precautions. I realize that might ruin it, but I'm too old now to die by doing some of the stupid things they carried out. He certainly didn't glorify that life style. I loved the descriptions of the Jazz clubs however. The way Kerouac describes them, the music would play in my head and I dug that. I never even liked Jazz before.
Rating:
Summary: Hated this. Stone me in the street.
Review: I had to fight my way through this book, and I don't feel rewarded for my efforts. What is it about Kerouac that made two young men I know drop out of college and set out for wide-open spaces? It's not well written, and everyone is hungry, crazy, poor, or all three. I suppose if you're a 20-year-old boy, the idea of not having to work, ...everything with legs, and dropping babies every few states is appealing. Ho hum. There were three passages in the entire book that appealed to me. Read them below, and save yourself the trouble of plowing through this "classic." "Suddenly, there was a great inrush of youngsters from the opera, who just grabbed girls and kissed them without proper come-ons. Teenagers, drunk, disheveled, and excited, they ruined our party." "I shambled after as I’ve been doing all my life after people who interest me, because the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes 'Awww!'" "We were all delighted, we all realized we were leaving confusion and nonsense behind and performing our one noble function of the time, -move-."
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