Wow…that was a whirlwind. The writing style had me feeling as mad as Dean Moriarty was described to be. It definitely came from a different time and place, but how amazing to just drop everything and road-trip across the country on a whim and a couple bucks. It must have been an interesting time. It was certainly described in detail throughout, sometimes a bit to the detriment of the material. ( )

Meh. I knew going in that this genre isn't really my thing, but I've always wanted to know what the book was. So, not I've read it. I'm glad I did, since I can now see how its influence has vined out into all sorts of works, both literary and otherwise, but I can't say I enjoyed it much. Sal/Jack et al. seem so self-indulgent and self-serious. Blech. ( )

I've completed my second attempt at reading one of the great books of the 20th century, On the Road by Jack Kerouac. Sadly, I think I enjoyed A Passage to India more, and if you read my review of that book you know that isn't saying much.

On the Road is the story of two men, Sal and Dean, who travel across the country, multiple times I might add. It is known as THE work focused on the Beat Generation, the demographic that was disenchanted with life right after World War II.

The book does a reasonable job as presenting the characters as bored with their lives. But the whole story basically repeats one theme four or five times: Sal is bored. Dean comes on the scene. Dean creates excitement because he is crazy. Sal and Dean obtain a vehicle. Sal and Dean hitchhike and/or drive around. Yeah, Dean gets married several times in there and a few other thinly drawn characters emerge, but I believe I've captured the essence of the plotline.

The style is a first person narrative filled with run on sentences. Kerouac paints great visuals, but he sucks at suspense and is only a hair better at character development. In other words, he's a pretty boring writer.

Here's a very typical sample: Carlo's basement apartment was on Grant Street in an old red brick rooming house near a church. You went down an alley, down some stone steps, opened an old raw door, and went through a kind of cellar till you came to his board door. It was like the room of a Russian saint: one bed, a candle burning, stone walls that oozed moisture, and a crazy makeshift ikon of some kind that he had made. He read me his poetry. It was called "Denver Doldrums." Carlo woke up in the moring and heard the "vulgar pigeons" yakking in the street outside his cell; he saw the sad nightingales" nodding on the branches and they reminded him of his mother. . ."

And that paragraph continues on for another twenty sentences. The visuals are terrific, but a book full of this makes for dull reading.

So, again, how this book made three lists of modern "greats" escapes me. But again, like A Passage to India, I believe that this book is being held up for its social commentary without regard for whether or not it is actually interesting to read.

Personally, I put a lot of stock in interesting. I'm just really happy I've finished it. Finally.

Tension/Engaging: 1 star
Language: 4 stars
Emotion: 1 star
Character Development: 2 star
Dialogue: 2 stars
Worth the Effort: 1 star
Social commentary/theme: 4 stars
Originality: 4 stars ( )

Because a book is seen by some as iconic doesn't necessarily make it a great book. I decided to read On the Road because of how often I've seen it referenced. What a disappointment. If we take it as the representation of an emerging world view at a particular point in history, I can accept that it does represent vividly. As they completed their triumphs of overcoming the Great Depression and two World Wars, the Silent Generation also contained seeds of desperation. Free spirits rejected marriage commitments, the work ethic and other cultural norms. It was romantic to wander the country, treating relationships, drugs and open road as hedonistic amenities available to anyone who could beg a dime or seduce a "bang" from someone else. America was full of colorful characters, swaying to soulful music while desperately trying to find home. If that's the cultural message of On the Road, the book conveys it in attention-getting form. My rating is based on the story, which is as meandering as the characters within it. The people are sad, and their behaviors repetitive, to the point that I couldn't see the point in continuing. Jumping to the critics' views, which I rarely do before finishing a book, I realized there wasn't any reason to continue on to the second half. I expect this will be a book that won't age well. It might remain a primary work to represent the Beat generation, but the perspectives about women seem more offensive than libertine. The protagonist, a version of Kerouac himself, references women as "juicy dolls" and having "little flanks that looked delicious." Regarding the writing, it's descriptive and was probably novel in style for its time. The story lacks plot. Like much of contemporary expression, once you see past the provocative content and flashy style, you're left wanting more and not finding it. ( )

-story written without paragraph or chapter breaks.
-written as a stream of conciousness.
-about a road trip to the American West
-Kerouac takes lots of tangents to bring in back story. These tangents and the structure and style of the writing makes it a difficult read, especially in the original scroll. ( )