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Summary: A Book That May Change Your Life
Review: First published in 1957, "On the Road" is Jack Kerouac's best known work and has come to define a group of writers and their style as the Beat Generation. Like other Kerouac novels, it is very much autobiographical fiction. The main character is Sal Paradise, one of Kerouac's pseudonyms, a young man in post-war America who has no real sense of who he is or even who he wants to be. He befriends Dean Moriarty, loosely based on Kerouac's friend Neal Cassady, and the two leave New England for a series of experiences that will take them form one side of the country to the other.
Along the way they will meet countless people in countless places, each time getting a look at life. By this I mean real life, not the Patty Duke nuclear family life of the ideal 1950's. This was the part of America that we weren't supposed to see. This was the proof that the materialism and ideals weren't working for everyone. I cannot speak with any experience as to the reception this novel might have received from mainstream America, but I can speculate. Parents would in all likelihood have seen this book as a threat to "civilized" America, and would have locked their children in their bedrooms and thrown away the key at the very mention of Kerouac's name. The drug use in the novel is rampant. Dean and Sal smoke "tea" with nearly everyone they meet. They pal around with "dangerous" jazz musicians. Keep in mind this was written during the first years of the Cold War and McCarthyism was at its height. Musicians, artists, actors and writers were finding themselves blacklisted for being communists everyday. The book also eats away at the American ideal of good work getting one ahead in life. Dean has no real job. Sal is a writer, which is no real job either in some people's closed minds. When they make friends with crop workers, working the crop is the furthest thing from their minds. Everything is to be done "manana" which of course means "tomorrow." Jack Kerouac was a man who was years ahead of his time. It is unfortunate that even now his work cannot enjoy universal praise, for the ideals he argued against then are in many ways only stronger now. It is hard to believe that "On the Road" was published more than 40 years ago, but is equally impossible to believe that it could have been made today. It is hard to put into words exactly what this book has meant to me personally. I think the perfect analogy would be one that Michael Stipe, lead singer of R.E.M., once made about the Velvet Underground. I paraphrase here, but the words were to this effect. Only 1,000 people bought a Velvet Underground album, but they all went and started bands. "On the Road" was the first book that made me excited about the idea of writing. While my own attempts have been unsuccessful, the desire is and always will be there. How sad that I had to wait until college before I even learned there was a man named Kerouac and that he may have been the finest American writer of the last 100 years. Two other quick Amazon picks are Howl by Ginsberg, The Losers' Club by Richard Perez
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Summary: A Journey of a Lifetime
Review: On the Road reminded me of many dreams I've had in the past of exploration and exploitation of the world around me. Sal,who is the alter ego of the author, embarks on the trip of a lifetime across the country a number of times with practically nothing to spend or game plans along the way. With his buddy Dean, he lives out the american dream of sorts. This book really provides insight into the life of a drifter coming into the world with a few chips and an open mind, and coming out not only with greater physical wealth but also a treasure chest of memories and lessons. Traveling to places like Chicago, San Francisco and New Mexico Sal was given a perfect way to taste every flavor in the melting pot. The book was very poetic and resembling of actual thoughts and speech which is a style I prefer, so I would recommend this book to anyone with knowledge of the other side of life, beyond the 9 to 5 ratrace which this reality has become for so many. If you liked Perks of Being a Wallflower, then this is a sure shot for you.
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Summary: Hit the Road and Find Yourself
Review: Kerouac's ON THE ROAD and Pirsig's ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE inspired me to hit the highways in this great country. I camped around the U.S. for several months, spent time with people from all walks of life. Along the way, I helped others and others helped me. Kerouac's book promotes extroverted self-exploration, while Pirsig's book encourages healthy introspection. Regardless of your age, if you are independent, read these books and hit the road. You will be delighted with what you discover about yourself and reassured in what you experience with others. When you get home...write about your experiences...there may be a book in there somewhere. Robert John Estko - author of the suspense thriller, EVIL, BE GONE (available on Amazon.com)
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Summary: Faustian Living ; Living In The Moment
Review: .
Jack Kerouac and Neil Cassidy (Dean Moriarty) travel without anxiety, free of consequences and the ability to live as Kerouac calls it "not as ordinary people, but as burning flames that burn, burn, burn, as roman candles in the sky." Cassidy it truly the "Faustian" man, and here is a world that no longer exists, that of a time period from 1947 to 1949 in the States. By the time the book was release and obtained notoriety, it was 10 years later and Kerouac was exhausted from heavy drinking and tired from his struggle, only to unenthusiastically record the "Beat Generation" with Steve Allen and deny his favorable association with Ginsberg in various interviews. I am not at liberty to truly compare the world of "On The Road" with today's world, as Amazon will censor this review and delete it. However if you observe the Kerouac's description of each city he visits, his road trips and behavior, one must ask themselves if this is the same place today. The answer is strikingly obvious and forthright melancholy. Each city had active centers of drinking, reveling and music (Slim Gallard) enjoyed with limited restrictions. Smoking "tea" and open containers were most certainly not of major concern in the areas Kerouac and Cassidy caroused. To be Caucasian and traveling, without the slightest fright of a "DWI" was a world of excitement and freedom. Across the country at high speeds, rarely pulled over in a string of visitations to areas of new friendships and hardships, yet here was the "Faustian" man, living in the moment, broke, uncertain enveloped with the courage and faith of living rather than merely existing. Here was a world where teenagers like Kerouac and Cassidy were impressed over the intellectualism of Marcel Proust, Dostoyevsky and Spengler, where smoking "tea" and discussing Nietzsche was in the same corridor. Where people such as these were impressed by writing, thinking and freedom of living out of conformity, another wards a world completely lost from the masses today. The accounts of courage coupled with both discernment and outright foolishness. A world at the dawn of "McCarthyism," devoid from the "War on Drugs," and the "Patriot Act," a world of free discovery of hitchhiking and Kerouac's description of living in temporary places to make a few dollars, as he was always broke, and his love affairs, travels and bouts with Cassidy is a book that brings one into a fantasy world (at one time a real world) of courage and dangerous living. There's much to be read "unsaid" in his accounts and one will think twice before ever starting a sole hitch across the country wearing only a pair of moccasins, only to go back home to change them.
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Summary: Simply a classic.
Review: Jack Kerouac is the finest of the beat writers and one of the finest writers of all time, and this is perhaps his finest work. By the end of the chapter he already has you in love with him and his other characters, you're just completely drawn in, and he keeps you in for the remainder of the entire book. It's one of those books that you think to yourself, "I wish it could never end," but it always has to. This is a book that everyone should read at least once, it's the kind of book that'll change your look on life.
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Summary: The Great Escape
Review: To be quite honest, you will probably not like this book. Jack Kerouac is a verbose and rythmless pessimist. He'll squeeze a weeks worth of activites onto a page, and then proceed to draw out the most boring of evenings over an entire chapter. However, if you can look past all this, this book is great. The characters are likable, yet imperfect. The scenery is ever changing. And the plot is a meandering path of sex, wisdom, humor, and love. It's a book about freedom. And the realization that no matter how far you go you'll never be free until you find yourself. On the Road is the Huckleberry Finn of the 20th century, and if you've ever wanted to escape, it's the perfect novel for you.
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Summary: "On The Road" An American Adventure by Kurtis Reeme
Review: The book "On The Road" by Jack Kerovac entails an amazing story of 1940's travel. The main Character Salvatore Paradise, an inspiring writer, meets the enigmatic Dean Moriarty after the break up of his first marriage. In New York, Dean begs Sal to let him live with him and study his writing style for his own knowledge. Sal agrees and they become close friends, when Dean decides to move back to his home town of Denver, Colorado he also convinces Sal to leave as soon as he can and meet Dean in Denver for a adventures change in there life styles. Not only is Sal meeting Dean in Denver but he is also reuniting with a fellow group of friends from his past. Sal's journey from New York to Denver consists of hitchhiking with bums and hoboes from point A to point B. This journey alone tells a story in it's self about the crazy acquaintances and means of transportation. After Sal's arrival in Denver he finds his friends have split up and he stay's there for as long as he can take it and then decides San Francisco will be his next adventure to work with an old friend Remi as a security guard. After the whole journey to San Fran. And the hectic life style of Remi and his mistresses, Sal once again finds him self-leaving one place determined for another. Personally I found this part of Sal's travel to be the most interesting and descriptive. Unlike some authors Jack Kerovac Really steps up his writing pace and excitement towards the middle to end of the book. Sal's next journey brings him to a young Mexican lady by the name of Terry, Sal immediately falls for her and spends a good deal of time living with her and her cotton picking brother. Sal finally decides that winter has arrived and decides he needs to start his travel back across the U.S. Once again in Virginia Sal and Dean meet up for Christmas at a relative house and they again decide to move back to New York. After there move the two men relax. After the New Year they both set out to New Orleans to pick up a fellow friends wife. After a crazed adventure with Old Bull Lee the husband of the wife there picking up dean once again leaves Sal stranded and Sal's Aunt sends him a check so he can have significant funds to travel back home. The next year he again goes back to Denver to start a job but lacks happiness with out his friend Dean. Once again he sets off back to San Francisco. There he finds Dean and they hitch hike back to New York. The Next year Sal goes back to Denver with the intention to end up in Mexico, Dean drives him from Denver to Mexico city and just drops him off there. Sal and Dean are now separate and only meet again at a concert for Remi, after this they never see each other again. This concludes the book and Jack Kerovac's wonderful story. I would like to make a valid recommendation to all to not only read this book but also apply it to your daily lifestyle and own personally adventures.
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Summary: Inspired my road trip
Review: Man, after I read this book, I said, screw these doledrums, enough of this suburbian crap that I live through each day, and I took my car and set off across the country. It was a rough month, but I really felt like I was alive. All I had with me was money for gas and food, my friends, and this book. Maybe we didn't get loaded as much as Sal and Dean, but man, what a trip. Thanks Jack Kerouac!
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Summary: On The Road
Review: On The Road is a book that starts off a little slow but soon turns very upbeat when Sal Paradise becomes friends with Dean Moriarity. After meeting Dean the two of them become good friends and they begin their life on the road. This was when the book really became interesting to me. Kerouac began to describe all of their trips and journeys that Dean and Sal took with great detail. Never knowing what Dean was going to do to get himself and others into and out of trouble always kept me wanting to read more. Dean Moriarity shortly into the book became to be the most interesting character to me. You became to love him and hate him all at the same time throughout the book. Dean was a free spirit that was always looking for a good time and would go to any extent to have a good time. This created a very unstable life for Dean though, for he married three times, got divorced twice, and ended up at the end of the book living with his second wife who he had two kids with. Through a lot of these actions of Dean, Kerouac portrayed much of his Beat Generation.
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Summary: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness On the Road
Review: "We were all delighted , we all realized we were leaving confusion and nonsense behind and
performing our one and only noble function of the time, move." The blood and veins of Jack
Kerouac's On the Road. Beneath the webbed mess tangling every creature lies an instance. The
search for meaning and truth; purpose. Bustling and rushing through papers and numbers to fulfill
tasks, all the while neglecting the joy of living. Kerouac's novel points a gun in the face of
conventional living and flaunts the sheer ecstasy of simply being. To move is to live, to live is to
move; thus being the basis upon which Kerouac roots his novel.
In the novel, a pair of weathered friends take a cross-country journey in search of
some thing. Lost in a morass of hitchhiking and inebriated folly, they drink in all that the joy of
being alive has to offer. Highways, byways, and wrong turns encased in a blur of hazy discontent,
intellect, and intercourse lead the ragamuffins in their excursion.
The light at the end of the womb is the back seat of any given automobile
operator's vehicle. The majority of the journey is spent in a fast-paced hitchhiking frenzy on the
way to California. A trip through time and space set back in the Nineteen-Fifties, a set of friends
travel into all that is existence.
Sal Paradise, main character, is a recently divorced writer, absorbing all bits of life
in every of his actions. Though Sal remains perplexed at his being and it's meaning. He is nestled
between best friend, Dean Moriarty, and the exhaust pipe of a "mud-splattered '49 Hudson". A bit
mysterious, Sal Paradise is a man with absolutely no plan. A drifter on the open asphalt sea. Sal
Paradise's best friend Dean Moriarty is the pickle to Sal's lemon. A con-artist from birth, he has
been trained only to live and lie. Two dangerous chemicals to mix, but often are the only
components in the stew of Mr. Moriarty. An unconscious-contradicting hypocrite, he lives the life
of a former poor-kid jailbait seeking some affection. Like a rotten fruit, he wears a smile, but
contains sticky and sad emotions and anxiety and rage only to be expressed through his inability
to commit himself to a single female partner without breaking everything which makes her a
woman. Free and confused. Poor Dean. Poor, poor
stealing,cheating,homo-phobic,hobo-from-birth-who-has-played-pool-in-every-state-and-every-bar-
from-San Francisco-to-New York-con-man,dishonest,broken-down,free spirit in a jar sprinkled with
oblivious insecurities Dean Moriarty. Other characters, old and new friends of Sal's, show up
throughout from Mexican sweethearts to sad-clown addict Bull Lee. Character placement and
actual character persona symbolize the conveyed idea of On the Road.
With little to be said, plot has little meaning or place through the story. No mission
is to be accomplished, no token or amulet to declare. Damsels to be saves are plain street
prostitutes trapped in stained hotel-room hells. No apparent plot has been formed, only leaving
innumerable questions. Why? What sense does this make? Too many questions to be
addressed. Jack Kerouac has turned back on order, form, reason,rights, and wrongs. Every page
is electrifying and sends foreign sensations through the eyes and fingertips. Perhaps the plot, if
any, is to nurse the question on plot's purpose. Maybe it's an artistic explosion of ultimate knowingness through nothing more and being.
Based in an era of pre-creative expression and free thinking, language had a meaning of it's own
just as with every era/generation. Words such as "dig it" or references to Groucho Marx, mark the
prestige of the beat jargon from the time period. Though On the road is not filled with fantastic
carhops and jukeboxes and troubled teens in leather jackets or "swell" and "dandy" words, it has a
great aesthetic in the poetry of the work. Delicately placed tracks laid down on paper, lead
through a warm field of creamy words and ideas. Always remaining visual, Kerouac describes
every piece of the environment with as much fervor as the next. Truly a poetic work, giving a
comforting and uneasy feeling all at once.
Like two pints of America from the fifties poured in a half empty bottle of whisky, On the Road
grips, sinks teeth in, intoxicating. Streams of consciousness, laced with poetry bind the venture of
two seemingly hopeless "broken down heroes of the Western night...",both consumed with the
ecstasy of ignorance and apathy. Only set back on their bleak course by spontaneous rides with
pitiful and deprived travelers. Even if one has on relation to and actual "life on the road", Jack
Kerouac expresses a deeper meaning than the whipped cream on top. Fore fronting the antics of
the future "love children", all aspects of the piece of literature are symbol of what led the way for
the sixties generation. The characters and encounters are arrows pointing to the true
Revolutionaries and Hippies in a symbolic manner. For enlightenment or for pleasure, On the
Road provides both. If nothing else can be said about Kerouac's novel, it hands the sharpened
knife for removing stitches on the mind.
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