Rating: 
Summary: Worth every penny!
Review: Man, I don't know where to start. "The Dharma Bums" is a masterpiece of the Beat Generation and a novel I will not soon forget. After The Loser's Club by Richard Perez, this is the best book I've read all year.Jack Kerouac wrote this story about his days as a Zen Buddhist and rucksack wanderer. His alias in the book is Raymond Smith, and he is living in Berkley with his good buddy Alvah Goldbook(Allen Ginsburg). Ray meets a Zen Lunatic named Japhy Ryder(Gary Snyder), and together they travel the mountains and pastures of Central California trying to find themselves and find the true meaning of life. Ray also journies to Desolation Peak in Washington and lives there alone for the summer, which is just another chapter to this amazing piece of literature. Another part of this book that impressed me was the beginning, when Kerouac wrote about his experience at the San Francisco Poetry Renaissance, and spoke of Alvah Goldbook's first reading of his poem "Wail", which in reality was Allen Ginsburg's legendary first reading of "Howl", which to this day is a Beat Literature classic. While reading this book, I was constantly marking lines and passages, because some of the descriptions and poetry Kerouac included in this novel are simply amazing. "The Dharma Bums" is one of those books I will treasure forever and read over and over again.
Rating:
Summary: One word "Amazing"
Review: Many a time an author decides a novel, should refelct one's life. And we see that Kerouac contains this belief. "Dharma Bums" was a beautiful description of Kerouac's interaction with Gary Snyder, one of the great Beat poets located in San Francisco. This book, not only amazed people about with it's writing, but launched an entire idea of American Buhdism. Many say that On the Road is Jack's best book, but my opinion is that On the Road is a pop version of Dharma Bums. But that is my educated opinion, my personal opinion is that I love this book. Kerouac has been a large influence on my life. As a child my mother and cousin would read me poetry and novels from the beat generation, naturally the older I got the more I started to appreciate the writing. But through it all Dharma Bums is still my favorite (W/ Cassidy's letters to Jack a close second). I recommend this book whole heartly to any individual who truly loves literture, too often this generation gets written off as a bunch of drunks, but Hemmingway and Lost gen members are remembered as a group of talented writers, they had a couple in their day. So give these writers a chance, and start with this book.
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