On the Road

Wildly overrated “novel” about a bunch of beatniks travelling around and having “adventures”, mostly involving drugs and sex and being liberated and putting it “to the man”. Pathetically trying to be cool and irreverent but coming off immature, like rebellious teenagers. I don't understand why people rate this book highly. It's not much and what there is is repeated again and again.

On the bus I started reading “On the Road”. And very aptly so. The frenzy and madness of a book which makes you relive travels if you know them and makes you understand them if you haven't, cannot better be read than when you are in a hurry in a crowded and confined space.

The narrative has a rhythm and a flow which made me surge through the book as the hero Dean races from one coastline to the other. A remarkable feeling to drop everything and just go is what it unravels.

The characters at times reminded me of characters in a Hunter S. Thompson novel (e.g. page 129). A lovely read.

This particular story is about a lifestyle I wouldn't care to live nor can I identify with the topics of discussion some of the characters talk about. So I found it a very uncomfortable read.

However, I can appreciate the need to break out of the confinements set by previous generations. Also the need to travel and experience new things (just not these types). I liked the way Kerouac writes; the story flows, it's not too complex to follow, and the words create clear images in my mind. I might consider reading something else of his.

Is it just typing? I don't think so. It's strange, because I found some of it deadly dull at the time of reading, but then found that it stayed in my mind while I was going about my daily chores.

I wish that I'd read this as a younger man, when travelling was on my roadmap more than it is now. I think it's that that has made it stay in my mind - it has me thinking back on my travelling days and looking at my kids as they grow into travelling ages and hoping that they get to do that.

It also has me thinking about my life now, as I approach 50 and go nowhere, but even if I did go somewhere, it would be to visit, not to live, and with family and not friends. Not that that would necessarily be a bad thing, just a different thing.

So the book has got me thinking, which is why I've given it four stars. The writing style suits the content perfectly. I think this is a book I'll read again in 10 years or so.

Such a serendipitous find too - I went to the post office which just happens to sell books too, and they had this on the counter as an impulse buy, so I impulsively bought it.

También en: El Extraño Gato del CuentoTodas mis lecturas en el reto Los Libros de Charlie han sido bastante variado, me han gustado, los he amado completamente, se me hicieron indiferentes o ni siquiera pude pasar de la primera página. En este caso con On the Road me fue conflictivo, hubo partes donde mi interés estuvo completamente despierto mientras que otros me fue difícil incluso hasta pasar página; de todos los libros en la lista de lectura es uno de los que más información tuve gracias a una película que se hizo hace algunos años, entonces... Entonces sacarme de la cabeza la cara de ciertos actores que no me gustan malogró también mi experiencia con el libro, así como me pasó con El Gran Gatsby.Dean MoriartySe supone que lo que da vida a la historia es la relación casi dependiente entre el narrador del libro (del cuál no enteramos de su nombre hasta la mitad) y Dean, sólo que para mí fue lo menos interesante y lo más desesperante de la lectura. Leer sobre Sal viajando, conociendo gente casi enamorarse en cada pueblo que conocía, fue lo que más me gustó. Mientras que con Dean, cada vez que aparecía quise golpearlo y abandonar el libro, quizá es porque he tenido el placer de conocer uno que otro prospecto de Dean, el personaje se me hizo insoportable.Adaptación Mata LibroAquí en Perú hay una especie de dicho “Billetera mata galán”, quiere decir que no importa lo guapo que seas o que tan buena persona eres, si no tienes plata... HABLA'OS (esas interesadas...). No sé si mi versión del dicho este muy bien. La cosa es esta: en el libro la belleza y exuberancia de Marylou es mencionado cada dos párrafos creo, Sal está muy obsesionado con ella, mientras lees te imaginas una Scarlett Johansson, con un físico espectacular, extremadamente sensual pero sin ser vulgar, muy típico de esa época cuándo no había esta cultura a los huesos que hay ahora pero.... Pero... No podía sacarme de la cabeza la actriz que escogieron para la película y me arruinó todo (quién se ve nada sensual pero sí muy vulgar)¿Qué más puedo decir del libro? Una vez que lo terminé no he vuelto a pensar en él, incluso se me hizo difícil escribir esta reseña de lo indiferente que quedé, los libros On-Road tienden a ser mis favoritos, estoy casi predispuesta a que me gusten y quizá solo por eso le puse 2 de 5 estrellas y no 0.Twitter   Blog   Pinterest   Tumblr   Instagram

This appears on a lot of must-read lists. I don't understand why. This book was a slog for me. I listened to the audiobook and played it at 2x's speed, and it was still too long. This book seems to be about Sal (who possibly represents the author) and Dean (who is a complete psycho) they run from one side of the country to the other drinking doing drugs and sleeping with prostitutes. I found the plot depressing and the characters repulsive and pathetic.
This books redeeming aspect is descriptive and emotional language used by the author.

I hate this book So. Goddamn. Much. It's an abomination. It shouldn't be anywhere near the ‘literary classics' section. What exactly is so brilliant about this book? The incoherent ramblings of an alcoholic? The completely bland and uninteresting white male protagonist? This book should be pushed way to the back of any bookshelf, and forgotten about. Better still, don't even bother picking it up.

The comments of the young clerk at Half Price Books are typical of what I've heard: “On the Road is my favorite book. It changed my life.” I wouldn't say On the Road is my favorite book and I wouldn't say it changed my life, but it was a powerful read. Sal Paradise (a thinly disguised Kerouac) and Dean Moriarty travel back and forth across America and even into Mexico, visiting like-minded friends, picking up and dropping women, drinking, looking for...what? They rarely seemed satisfied for more than a few hours and they didn't really seem to know what it was they were seeking. They had strong feelings about what they were fleeing, though, mostly conformity and mindless work and people who didn't think much about their lives. It was hard for me to understand their restlessness and their aversion to most of America, and I felt a terrible anger toward the men because of the careless way they treated their wives and other women and the children they begat.

This is a book unlike any other, so you can't read it like any other. The book has a different kind of momentum, which is not built upon plot but upon language. When you read it you need to read it as Kerouac wrote it, quickly. He wrote the entire book in two weeks, taking no time to go back and edit. So, therefore, when you read it, take no time to go back. It's just go go go, no time to be spent mulling the plot because there almost is none, this is all what happened to the author. Essentially this is an autobiography, written in as stream of consciousness as you can get.

And by reading at breakneck speeds, you begin to find a rhythm in the language. Kerouac, when writing, was fueled by coffee, drugs, and jazz.

So it wouldn't be a stretch to call this book literary jazz: there's an underlying beat, improvised instrument solos, and a feeling of discarding all the establishments. There are grammar errors, spelling errors, and Kerouac even makes up words for Gods sake, all because he's so in tune with the beat that he just can't stop writing. And the trick to reading his tome, which admittedly seems intimidating, is to just keep following the beat, following the road onwards, wherever it takes you- even to places you've never imagined.