Rating: 
Summary: The Pen Was Just Too Slow For Neal Cassady
Review: A few chosen people are meant to be artists. Of the artists, there are painters: others sculptors, musicians, poets or writers. For some, like Neal Cassady, their medium was Being.
Although a muse for the likes of Ginsberg, Kerouac, and Ferlingetti, and in many ways the adrenaline to the Beat Generation, Cassady was not a writer. Writing wasn't Neal's gig. Perhaps the pen was too slow for him; the medium just couldn't convey his essence. Rather Neal was a live show. It seems cruel to find him trapped on paper - like watching a tiger at the zoo, the wild drained off through those all confining bars.
The first few chapters of The First Third are slow and seem forced. However, the vibe changes drastically once Neal's family tree is throughly discussed. It's as if Cassady has quit the pretentious wordplay and dictated thoughts to paper, which give the remainder of the book a much more genuine feel.
The most enlightening segment of the book is the select correspondence between Neal, Jack Kerouac, Ken Kesey and others. It provides an insight into Neal that is raw, unedited and seems a much more accurate description than Cassady's own attempt at biography.
Rating: 
Summary: The inspiration
Review: Absolutely wonderful piece of writing. If only Cassady had had the time (there was never enough) to write more than this snatch of autobiography...
Rating: 
Summary: Neal was a man of action, not words.
Review: I have read beat literature for years and am completely fascinated with the culture and characters of the time. I've read Kerouac, Kesey, Wolfe, Ginsbug and was impressed with them all. When I finally scrounged up enough money to pick up this collection of Cassady's writings, I was very excited about what I expected to find. And then I started reading.Cassady had some great ideas, but his prose was forced and eclectic. He doesn't have any one writing style. Instead he jumps from style to style, sometimes as often as he breaks for paragraphs. It makes for some very frustrated reading at times. The other problem is with the editing of the novel. I'm not terribly concerned with grammar and punctuation, but several times a page there were editing mistakes. Whether this was a carryover from the original document or a mistake of the actual editor I can't say, but it again distracts one from the true thread of the book. Overall, I would have to rate this collection fairly poorly, for its inconsistancy and lack of real purpose. I don't mean to demean from the legend that Neal Cassady was, but I simply believe that he was a man of action, not of words.
Rating:
Summary: Neal was a man of action, not words.
Review: I have read beat literature for years and am completely fascinated with the culture and characters of the time. I've read Kerouac, Kesey, Wolfe, Ginsbug and was impressed with them all. When I finally scrounged up enough money to pick up this collection of Cassady's writings, I was very excited about what I expected to find. And then I started reading. Cassady had some great ideas, but his prose was forced and eclectic. He doesn't have any one writing style. Instead he jumps from style to style, sometimes as often as he breaks for paragraphs. It makes for some very frustrated reading at times. The other problem is with the editing of the novel. I'm not terribly concerned with grammar and punctuation, but several times a page there were editing mistakes. Whether this was a carryover from the original document or a mistake of the actual editor I can't say, but it again distracts one from the true thread of the book. Overall, I would have to rate this collection fairly poorly, for its inconsistancy and lack of real purpose. I don't mean to demean from the legend that Neal Cassady was, but I simply believe that he was a man of action, not of words.
Rating:
Summary: A valuble source of Cassady's history
Review: Neal Cassady, the epitome of beat, wrote this volume of work (the First Third, and other writings), with a completely amateur approach, the book contains a lot of biography-oriented material that must be read in order to appreciate his chaotic poetical climaxes which occur sporadically throughout the text. The First Third is the least impressive part of the book, while the excerpts from letters stand out as the highlights for me, only because they contain the majority of Cassady's insane spontaenous surges. I loved "The First Third" because I have always been enthralled with Neal Cassady as the human being he really was, and not so much the mad voodoo child that Kerouac sometimes makes him out to be. "The First Third" ultimately shows Cassady as a relatively normal individual who popped like a firecracker out of middle-class Denver into the party known as the Beat Generation. This book is great for its history and few moments of glory, but had not Neal Cassady wrote it, but some other guy who lived in the fifties, the book wouldnt have been all that impressive.
Rating: 
Summary: Bukowski said it better
Review: The Beat-Ups had an unrealistic romantic notion of the heartland and the sticks. They slummed their way through America and insisted that everyone else share their own infantilism, incredulity and narcissism. Bukowski, rather, tells it like it is without any literary pretensions and pleading for understanding. On the Road and other such stuff is useful as a historical document of pre-interstate road travel, and not much else.
Beat-Ups should grow up, get a job and pay the rent.
I heartily advise you all to read Ham on Rye and Post Office. This will give you an insight into real America.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: The first section of the book, the autobiographical material, is meticulous details about NC's neighborhood in Denver, written like a man obsessed with the geographic location of every single building, as if written for city planners. The second half of the book, consisting of letters to his fellow beats, was more entertaining. All told, the second half of the book only slightly compensates for the lackluster first half. NC lead an interesting enough life to have a modern classic written about his adventures in "On the Road." Unfortunately, NC could not write as well about his own life.
Rating: 
Summary: Essential look at the beat icon
Review: The First Third is a far cry from being one of the best books that I have read. However, if you are a fan of Jack Kerouac, as I am, this book is a must read. In reading this book you get an understanding of who neal thought that he was, and how he got that way. This book is essential if you want a more complete understanding of Kerouac's On the Road. The fashion in which this book is written borows much style from Cassidy's compaions, consisting of some of the greatest minds of twentieth century literature.
Rating:
Summary: constanly risking absurdity
Review: This book is great if you truly want to get into the mind of the fastest man on the planet. just like neal who could jump around from one topic to the other in mid-sentence, that is exactly the way he writes the book. Don't confuse neal with jack, because neal is to fast to sit down and read in one setting. And the letter at the end make for some good and funny reading. If you truly love the beats and want to see what the heartbeat is really all about, check this book out.
Rating:
Summary: autobio from kerouac's inspiration
Review: This book starts with Cassady's autobio of his childhood years, and a brief history of his ancestors. while the prologue was interesting, because of where neal came from, it wasn't as exciting as the actual text of the first third, which was excellent, and why i gave this four stars. it was written in a style very much similar to kerouac. i only wish he had completed the manuscript. following the first third is a selection of NC's unfinished writings, which i have to say was a dissapointment. it isn't much of a surprise that he wrote nothing, and that kerouac is the primary figure of the beats. next follow a few of neal's letters to kerouac, which are a great insight to the mind of one of the central figures of the beats (in fact, one of the letters discussed an incident that i recognize from on the road). the final selection is a letter to ken kesey. i'm sure there are much better letters to chose from, this one was boring and one of the weaker selections. the letters seem to have no particular reason for being here, just to fill the book with cassady's writings. still, a valuable book to have for any fan of the beats.
|
