Desolation Angels by Jack Kerouac Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Desolation Angels
Book Review: didn't order this online but i do own it...
Summary: 4 Stars
i really liked this book after the second reading. for some reason i read this before "on the road". once i came back to it after reading nearly every other kerouac book i liked it much more, and thought that it was really more of a realization to "on the road" and filled in a bunch of the gaps.Book Review: gotta love the guy...
Summary: 3 Stars
I have been reading Kerouac for about twenty years (but still haven't exhausted the canon). After reading Desolation Angels I think it might still be a while.You have got to love Kerouac to get through much of this book (and I do) and it is ultimately worth the effort, but what an effort! Too much of this book is "we did this, then we did that" and Kerouac's lack of contextualizing all this can get to you.
But there are always small epiphanies that make Kerouac worth reading. There are about six in this book, the best being his brief account of his sea voyage to Tangiers on a Yugoslav freighter in a storm. "It scares a seaman to hear the Kitchen scream in fear." And Kerouac's lamentation on the unfortunate popularization of the 'cool' ethos: "But all I could do was sit on the edge of the bed in despair listening to their awful 'likes' and 'like you know' and 'wow crazy'...All this was about to sprout out all over America even down to High School level and be attributed in part to my doing!"
Much of what makes Kerouac one of the American Big Three is that nobody else could get away with writing like this. It ain't pretty and it's often exasperating, but what a Great Soul.
Book Review: great and warm story
Summary: 5 Stars
Desolation Angels is a sentimental story which takes place in the time leading up to On The Road being released. To me, this is a great story of adventure and personal reflection for Kerouac. I won't rant, but my favorite part takes place with William Burroughs in Tangiers while he is working on his masterpiece Naked Lunch. Must buy for Kerouac fans.Book Review: it speaks to your soul
Summary: 5 Stars
This book has to rate as one of the most profound Kerouac novels, although they all seem to give you that feeling. That feeling that your life is wasting away at school or work. Why aren't we loving nature on the top of a mountain? Why aren't we grabbing a bottle of port wine and our backpacks and just going where our heart leads us. This book makes you want to pray! This book speaks straight to your souls, it makes you cry, or it makes you curl up and wish you could.Book Review: literary molasses
Summary: 4 Stars
it oozes oh so slow and when it is on it is on. sometimes i have trouble with kerouac as he makes references to things that leave me scratching my head. every so often in this book i would turn back a few pages to see if i remembered what i read. i think 60% of the time i didn't. like the slow reading however, i know these pages have oozed into my subconscious. these concepts may take a few years to be fully realized.
welcome to the wonderfull world of jack kerouac outside of "on the road". do i love it? i'm not sure, that's why i didn't give "desolation angels" five stars. is he passionate? no doubt. is this book well-written? not even a question.
but this is kerouac to me. it's about patience and reward. this is not a fast read. in fact at times, i'll read four pages and feel exhausted. did i expect a quick read when i bought it? hell no.
bottom line: was it an enjoyable read? some parts yes, some parts no. but this begs the question, is it supposed to be enjoyable? i'd say same answer. definitely thick on the emotion so in that sense, I hold it in high regard. one part of the book i was singing the prose aloud. strange, isn't it?
:o)