Big Sur by Jack Kerouac Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Big Sur
Book Review: Depressing, yet great
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is very intriguing. Not only is it wonderfully written like his other work, but it brings out the demons that haunted him in his later days. It brings out some familiar characters from his past work, and shows how they've all changed, or grown out of their wilder youth. It is a deeply depressing book, because you want good things to happen to Jack, but he can't quite get it together and be happy. His description of his depression and alcoholism is haunting. Also the fact that he resents the "beat" label that is put upon him by society seems to torment him to the point to where he feels public shame. I would recommend this book to anyone, but if you haven't read any of his earlier work, you should read that first to get an understanding of it all. This is a great book and worth every bit of the praise that it has gotten and ever will get.Book Review: Destruction of a Visionary
Summary: 5 Stars
Big Sur is the most mournful and tragic Jack Kerouac novel that I have yet read, and surprisingly, it is also his most focused. Though it lacks the sheer exhilaration of On the Road or The Dharma Bums, it makes up for it with poignant and beautiful insight into the author's inescapable depression and rejection of everything he once praised. Big Sur is definitely not the place to start reading Kerouac, but if you are already familiar with his earlier works, it is an absolutely necessary chapter in the saga of his life.
Reading Kerouac's bibliography and understanding where each novel fits into the story of his life can be a little tricky, because there are three dates that you need to keep in mind for each work. First is the period that the events in the novel actually took place, second the time that Kerouac wrote these events down, and third the date that his novel was published. Big Sur was published very shortly after it was written, mostly due to the author's recently achieved literary fame. On the Road, on the other hand, was written nearly a decade before it was published, and revised continually in the interim. Desolation Angels contains events before those in Big Sur, but was published (and partially written) several years afterwards. Before reading Big Sur, it is helpful to have first read On the Road, The Dharma Bums, and Desolation Angels (presumably in that order) to have a good understanding of the arc of Kerouac's life. It is probably also rewarding to read smaller works like The Subterraneans and Tristessa somewhere in the middle there, as their events also bear influence on the storytelling cycle as a whole, but I have not yet had the opportunity to do so.
Anyway, getting back to Big Sur itself: it might be a bit off-putting to hear so many people describe it as "heartbreaking" and "tragic." But this should not deter you from reading. The novel isn't one huge downer, but a slow unfolding (almost elegant) descent into madness, written by a man who by any measure should be at the peak of his success. Kerouac is never bitter about the way his life has turned out, but retains a sort of Buddhist calm in his recollection of the whirlwind events. I don't want to give anyway anything that happens in the plot, suffice to say that Kerouac begins the story with a peaceful retreat to a cabin in the Big Sur canyon, and tries every which was he can to escape the crushing weight of his depression and disillusionment.
The only weak part of the novel for me was the appended poem "Sea." It starts out interesting enough, capturing the physical sensations of sitting and watching the surf and the mythic wonderment with the idea of the sea itself. But it meanders a little too long for me---maybe I am just not a fan of Kerouac's poetry. All together, a solid 4.5 star book, and an essential read for Kerouac enthusiasts.
Book Review: Down The HIll
Summary: 4 Stars
As I have explained in another entry in this space in a DVD review of the film documentary "The Life And Times Of Allen Ginsberg", recently I have been in a "beat" generation literary frame of mind. I think it helps to set the mood for commenting on Jack Kerouac's lesser work under review here, "Big Sur", that it all started last summer when I happened to be in Lowell, Massachusetts on some personal business. Although I have more than a few old time connections with that now worn out mill town I had not been there for some time. While walking in the downtown area I found myself crossing a small park adjacent to the site of a well-known mill museum and restored textile factory space. Needless to say, at least for any reader with a sense of literary history, at that park I found some very interesting memorial stones inscribed with excerpts from a number of his better known works dedicated to Lowell's `bad boy', the "king of the 1950s beat writers".
And, just as naturally, when one thinks of Kerouac then, "On The Road", his classic modern physical and literary `search' for the meaning of America for his generation which came of age in post-World War II , readily comes to mind. No so well known, however, is the fact that that famous youthful novel was merely part of a much grander project, an essentially autobiographical exposition by Kerouac in many volumes starting from his birth in 1922, to chart and vividly describe his relationship to the events, great and small, of his times. The series, of which the book under review, "Big Sur", bears the general title "The Legend Of Duluoz". So that is why we today, in the year of the forty anniversary of Kerouac's death, are under the sign of "Big Sur".
The action of this novel, a relatively short narrative expression of Kerouac's now famous spontaneous writing style, takes place in San Francisco and along California's central coastline at Big Sur. Kerouac was there as a self-imposed retreat by him after the whirlwind of `success" of his major work "On The Road" in 1957 and the media's subsequent proclamation of him as "King of The Beats". Along the way he talks about the trials and tribulations surrounding his losing fight against alcoholism, his paranoias, his attempts to dry out, and his patterned misadventures, with and without women, mainly as a desperate response to the pressures and other problems associated with his new found, but not necessarily wanted, fame,
I have mentioned, in a DVD review of the excellent film documentary "What Happened To Kerouac?" that part of Kerouac's "fall from grace" was using so much youthful autobiographical material composed, in retrospect, of basically similar experiences that there was only so much that the market could bear, especially the volatile youth market that would make up the mass base of his audience. That factor and the intense media blitz to single out the ONE authentic voice of the "beats", his (because he was articulate, at least in the beginning, and handsome in a very television camera-friendly way unlike some of the other wild boys), for which his whole prior personal history left him ill-equipped. In any case he came crashing down.
"Big Sur" is, to my mind, an almost tragically self-conscious literary expression of that fall. And here the points just made really come into play. Sure, there is plenty of Kerouac introspective, some of it very perceptive as always. Of course, there will be plenty of evocative word play, be-bop feeling and other literary tidbits that add to our stock of literary language (including as an addendum, a poem/ranting/ocean sound bite- "Sea" (Sounds Of The Pacific Ocean At Big Sur). Naturally,as well, the cast of characters include a round-up of the usual suspects like Neal Cassady (here under the name Cody), his wife, his mistress, assorted lumpen-proletarian types and the literary West Coast "beats" that have peopled his previous works. But that is exactly the problem. These are no longer the poster boys of the post-World War II cultural scene. Pranks, misadventures, pratfalls and, oh yes, their Kerouac literary presentation as the voice of the "beats" don't age well as the characters age. Cassady, at least partially, was able to adjust to the new winds blowing in the 1960s. Kerouac could not, or would not. Here is the simplest way I can put it- "On The Road" I NEEDED to read at one long sitting, "Big Sur" I took at small samples over a few days. Jack, I think, knew that was where he was, I now know it and you will too.
Book Review: Essential Kerouac
Summary: 4 Stars
Though not my absolute favorite Kerouac novel, I can honestly say once again that I loved every bit of it(if you want some of my overall favorite Kerouac work, check out On The Road or The Dharma Bums). It was, though, one of the quickest flowing books to read. Big Sur grabs you and drags you vigorously through the psychotic barriers of Kerouac's impending insanity, and will not let go until you have completed the extremely intense final chapters. Kerouac also included at the end of the book a poem entitled "Sea" that he wrote while observing the ocean at Big Sur.Read Big Sur. It is an amazing work of literature, and is guaranteed to catch hold of you from the very first page. And if you enjoy this, do not stop there. I recommend anything with Jack Kerouac's name on the cover. Take my word.
Also recommended: The Losers' Club by Richard Perez
Book Review: Fast and Fair
Summary: 5 Stars
This book was purchased as a gift to someone but I was told that is arrived exactly as advertised and he is very satisfied with the results. It was mailed quickly and I was more than happy with the transaction. I recommend this seller and recepient recommends the book.