On the Road (Penguin Great Books of the 20th Century)
by Jack Kerouac
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Book Summary Information
Author: Jack KerouacEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1999-06-01
ISBN: 0140283293
Number of pages: 304
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780140283297
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of On the Road (Penguin Great Books of the 20th Century)
Book Review: "Are we there yet?"
Summary: 3 Stars
Man, I hate to do this. You know, being honest and all in an amazon review. It doesn't sit well with those who've already made up their mind and usually means a quick death on the helpful review mark. But for those of you who have not read the literary masterpiece 'On the Road', I will do my best to offer to you what I have gained from this novel.
Like many who've read 'On the Road', I was looking for an inside track on the mentality of the beatniks (or "the beats" for those of you taking Enlgish lit) - those neo-philosophers who threw caution to the wind and lived life the way they deamed reasonable and total and true. They were rebels with a cause, and as Jack Kerouac illustrates with his hurried, powerful words, their goal was something both tangible and not, and that, the essence of a moment - each moment, thick with ecstasy and intrigue.
He begins his bold story from the narrative of Sal Paradise (a pseudonym for the author himself) on the eastcoast and works his way via hitchhiking across the plains of Illinois, Iowa, and Kansas and onward towards Denver, Colorado, where a number of friends now reside. From that point in the story he and various members of his crew (mostly his best friend Dean Moriarty) explore loose, often meaningless sex, contagious fits of wanderlust, modest drug abuse, and ecstatic lustings for things not yet experienced, all while viewing their world full of lunatics, radiant jazz musicians, scoundrels, loose women and secretive homosexuals as one of delicate beauty. Through the process, Sal tries hard to understand his friend Dean and his often flights of self-sastisfaction and destruction.
The trip takes them to the west coast and back again, then down to Florida, and back to Denver, then down and into Mexico, where their trip ends with Sal leaving his friend behind and waking up to the fact that Dean is hopelessly selfish.
What I found powerful is what most others found powerful, as I am hardly one capable of the great original thought. These men were defying convention and the powerful thoughts of the day. They, particularly Sal (Kerouac), were setting the table for what would become the nineteen-sixtyish free-style of thought and experience. The beatniks, of whom Kerouac is considered the grand maestro, acted as a bridge for American idealism, leaving the toasty, content town of Mayberry and trading it in for the open-ended suggestion. In a way, Kerouac's road symbolizes the thoughts he possessed and experiences he craved, always extending forever and ever until all society has been abandoned and the road leads to a place where primitive life can be witnessed firsthand (as was the case for them in Mexico). Maybe he was trying to tell us that our ideas will lead us back to their origins and there is truly nothing new under the sun. Or maybe, as I believe, he was trying to tell us that our ideas will tease us with a mirage of something greater in the distance, only to rot away when we actually attempt to lay hold of them. At any rate, you can sense the nihilism thick and heavy as you read 'On the Road'. Ultimately for me, it was proof once again that literary hype is something very real and fixed in our society. The writing was a blessed experience. The story, however, was not very interesting.
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