Visions of Gerard: A Novel
by Jack Kerouac
List Price:
Our Price: $7.94
You Save: $7.06 (47%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Jack KerouacEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1991-06-01
ISBN: 0140144528
Number of pages: 144
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Book Reviews of Visions of Gerard: A Novel
Book Review: "I'd lost Gerard in the shuffle . . ."
Summary: 3 Stars
Maybe Capote just read Visions of Gerard. I like to think that his comment about Kerouac merely typing instead of actually writing couldn't be directed towards On the Road or Big Sur or Tristessa. There's a style to Kerouac's writing, where he's some sort of middle passage, some sort of vessel that is constantly taking and giving. His state of reverie is always emphasizes the prettiness of things, though they may be nothing more than pretty destroyed. This constant observation and absorption doesn't leave much time to spend in a single place, a trait that serves Kerouac's work well.
Most of his work, anyways. In Visions of Gerard, we really only need the last twenty (or thirty, to get in a scene or two with a living Gerard) pages to see what Kerouac was trying to accomplish in kicking off the Duluoz legend: the loss of maybe not a saint, but the idea of sainthood and how it would effect Jack Duluoz/Kerouac in the years to come. Aside from a few good lines here and there, the pages that precede the end are nearly worthless. Kerouac spends too much time in one place, spinning his faux-poetic prose into nothing much at all. The word-web of beauty that wasn't.
Ol' Jack tends to get boring and annoying in his struggle to type through the thoughts in his head. For the diehards, go ahead and read Visions of Gerard. It goes fast, and the last 20-30 pages are made of the sad wonder that only Kerouac can deliver. When he starts writing through his thoughts instead of typing through them, we finally get an opportunity to see--too late--Gerard as the fallen angel he may have always been.
Literary Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Literary Books
Island (Perennial Classics)by Aldous Huxley
Harper Perennial Modern Classics; Published: 2002-07-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.00
Price in other shops:
Angelsby Marian Keyes
William Morrow; Published: 2002-05-28; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $3.43
Price in other shops:
A Tree Grows in Brooklynby Betty Smith
Harper; Published: 2001-11-13; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.86
Price in other shops:
The Devil and Miss Prym: A Novel of Temptationby Paulo Coelho
Harper; Published: 2006-07-03; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $4.50
Price in other shops:
Boonville: A Novelby Robert Mailer Anderson
Harper Perennial; Published: 2003-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.01
Price in other shops:
Carameloby Sandra Cisneros
HarperAudio; Published: 2002-10-01; Audio Cassette; Book
Best price: $6.99
Price in other shops:
Headhunterby Timothy Findley
PERENNIAL PUBLICATIONS; Paperback; Book
The Crimson Petal And The Whiteby Michel Faber
Harcourt, Inc./Harvest; Published: 2003; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.50
Great Expectationsby Charles Dickens
Macmillan Pub Co; Published: 1979-06; Paperback; Book
Price in other shops:
This Side of Paradiseby Fitzgerald
Scribner Paper Fiction; Published: 1988-09-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.95
Price in other shops:
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
Big Surby Jack Kerouac
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 1992-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.99
Price in other shops:
The Town and the Cityby Jack Kerouac
Mariner Books; Published: 1970-10-21; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.56
Price in other shops:
Satori in Paris and Pic: Two Novels (Kerouac, Jack)by Jack Kerouac
Grove Press; Published: 1994-01-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.00
Price in other shops:
Vanity of Duluoz: An Adventurous Education, 1935-46by Jack Kerouac
Penguin Books; Published: 1994-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.91
Price in other shops:
The Subterraneansby Jack Kerouac
Grove Press; Published: 1994-01-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.65
Price in other shops:
Tristessaby Jack Kerouac
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 1992-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.99
Price in other shops:
Maggie Cassidyby Jack Kerouac
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 1993-08-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.24
Price in other shops:
Desolation Angelsby Jack Kerouac
Riverhead Books; Published: 1995-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.59
Price in other shops:
Dr. Saxby Jack Kerouac
Grove Press; Published: 1994-01-13; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.75
Price in other shops:
Visions of Codyby Jack Kerouac
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 1993-08-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.75
Price in other shops: