Desolation Angels by Jack Kerouac Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Desolation Angels
Book Review: Jack Kerouac delivers one of the finest novels of the Beat
Summary: 5 Stars
generation in Desolation Angels. Kerouacs frank accounts and
vivid style draw you into the heart of a man both idealistic
and cinical, naive and experienced, proud and downtrodden,
as well as buddist and Catholic, living the life of a
"Dharma Bum" as he travels to Mexico. From the fire lookout
high on Desolaion Peak, to the junk steets of Mexico, Kerouac
shares with his readers every experience and emotion, carring
the reader deep into the lifestyle of the Beats as few authors
ever accomplished. Its no wonder Kerouac became the
symbol of the Beat generation for millions of kats in the 50's,
for even today his writing is hep, and inciteful. He could
very easily be an icon for generations to come.Book Review: Jack's many lives converge in this book.
Summary: 5 Stars
There are usually two types of Kerouac readers. There are the "On the Roaders", as I call them. The ones that enjoy his style, his way of placing his friends' lives into the context of their own troubles, their loneliness their love-- all the while with a literary pace likened to a old pickup speeding across the straightaways of the vacant Montana backroads. And then there are the others, who like the former, enjoy the style-- but they also look for the sadness in Kerouac's writing. His ability to deconstruct people with one look (in Desolation Angels he watches a waitress in a bar and tells her entire life story in snapshot events that underlie the sad look in her eyes), to find the hidden sentiments in people's actions-- whether he's right or wrong we really don't care.
Desolation Angels is the book for the second group of people. It is tortuous at times-- like his solitude atop the mountain staring Hozomeen in the face every morning which reveals Kerouac's own struggle to deal with himself and his past. But I believe among all of his novels it is the most rewarding. The book takes us to all of his major haunts- London, New York, San Fran, Paris, the Mediterranean- with many of his closest friends - Neal, Allen, Williams S. Burroughs, Joyce. There's even a small part where Kerouac is face to face with Salvador Dali.
If you are looking for Kerouac-the-humanist at his best- this is the novel for you. Where the novel lacks in adventure (On the Road) and joyous affirmation (Dharma Bums) it makes up in sheer descriptive character study and sad observation, of a man trying to grapple with what he sees as the emptiness of all things, and the reality of his own personal struggles with life, love, and death.
Book Review: Kerouac at the end of the road
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the one novel by Jack that scares the S**t out of me. Its wonderful and horrific and you see his life changeBook Review: Kerouac's best novel
Summary: 5 Stars
Wonderful novel by Jack Kerouac. We sense his deep loneliness and reevaluation of his life during his 63-day stay atop Desolation Peak in Mt. Baker National Forest in Washington State. Once down from the mountain, he sees how much life has changed once his novel "On the Road" is published. For those of you who loved "On the Road," "Desolation Angels" is a book you definitely must read--it's by far Kerouac's best and most personal novel.Book Review: Mature and well written
Summary: 5 Stars
I read this book while travelling in India. I was amazed and touched. I haven't thought that Kerouac could write any better or even at the level of Onthe Road and The Subterraneans, I was wrong. If you like Keorouac, not to say a fan, buy this book.