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3.28 AVERAGE
3.28 AVERAGE
challenging
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A proba definitiva de que un home mediocre blanco na xeración do baby boom podía ser o que quixera independientemente das suas habilidades é que esta bazofia sexa considerada un libro de culto, e aínda peor, que o seu autor sexa un escritor respetado. Esto é unha desgracia misógina incluso para a época, descarnada, mal escrita e absurda. Se isto é a alma dos EEUU temo pola salvación dos seus habitantes o día do xuizo final. En resumen: un grupo de paletos drogadictos len a Nietzsche e deciden que a sua vida de mierda é merecedora dun libro autobiográfico pseudoprofundo. Detestable
Hated it but also loved it tbh. Prose was absolutely fire, filled with absolutely beautiful lines:
"I was going home in October. Everybody goes home in October." (pg 103)
"This is the night, what it does to you. I had nothing to offer anybody except my own confusion." (pg 126)
And of course the last sentence of the book (which is basically a paragraph):
"So in America when the sun goes down and I sit on the old broken-down river pier watching the long, long skies over New Jersey and sense all that raw land that rolls in one unbelievable huge bulge over to the West Coast, and all that road going, all the people dreaming in the immensity of it, and in Iowa I know by now the children must be crying in the land where they let the children cry, and tonight the stars'll be out, and don't you know that God is Pooh Bear? the evening star must be drooping and shedding her sparkler dims on the prairie, which is just before the coming of complete night that blesses the earth, darkens all rivers, cups the peaks and folds the final shore in, and nobody, nobody knows what's going to happen to anybody besides the forlorn rags of growing old, I think of Dean Moriarty, I even think of Old Dean Moriarty the father we never found, I think of Dean Moriarty." (pg 307)
This book is based heavily on real life figures who all absolutely sucked, so it was hard to really "like" the protags, though I was fascinated with them. The relationship between Sal and Dean is insane and I can't even begin to unpack it right now, I'd need five hours and ten thousand words. There's also so much misogyny and racism in this book, mostly the benign fetishistic "noble savage" kind where minorities are childlike and pure and happy despite their horrible circumstances (unless they're a woman who doesn't want to sleep with the narrator in which case the bigotry becomes overt and she's a bitch and a whore etc).
It's also filled with romanticization of America and this mythical "pure American" figure-- specifically this kind of corn-fed Midwestern masculinity that our more intellectual East coast protagonists admire but can never truly have. However, at the same time this book is deeply pessimistic about America and examines the many forms of poverty across it, and is pretty staunchly anti-cop! So even thought this really isn't my usual thing at all and I have many critiques of it (and the author) I actually ended up having a good time with it.
"I was going home in October. Everybody goes home in October." (pg 103)
"This is the night, what it does to you. I had nothing to offer anybody except my own confusion." (pg 126)
And of course the last sentence of the book (which is basically a paragraph):
"So in America when the sun goes down and I sit on the old broken-down river pier watching the long, long skies over New Jersey and sense all that raw land that rolls in one unbelievable huge bulge over to the West Coast, and all that road going, all the people dreaming in the immensity of it, and in Iowa I know by now the children must be crying in the land where they let the children cry, and tonight the stars'll be out, and don't you know that God is Pooh Bear? the evening star must be drooping and shedding her sparkler dims on the prairie, which is just before the coming of complete night that blesses the earth, darkens all rivers, cups the peaks and folds the final shore in, and nobody, nobody knows what's going to happen to anybody besides the forlorn rags of growing old, I think of Dean Moriarty, I even think of Old Dean Moriarty the father we never found, I think of Dean Moriarty." (pg 307)
This book is based heavily on real life figures who all absolutely sucked, so it was hard to really "like" the protags, though I was fascinated with them. The relationship between Sal and Dean is insane and I can't even begin to unpack it right now, I'd need five hours and ten thousand words. There's also so much misogyny and racism in this book, mostly the benign fetishistic "noble savage" kind where minorities are childlike and pure and happy despite their horrible circumstances (unless they're a woman who doesn't want to sleep with the narrator in which case the bigotry becomes overt and she's a bitch and a whore etc).
It's also filled with romanticization of America and this mythical "pure American" figure-- specifically this kind of corn-fed Midwestern masculinity that our more intellectual East coast protagonists admire but can never truly have. However, at the same time this book is deeply pessimistic about America and examines the many forms of poverty across it, and is pretty staunchly anti-cop! So even thought this really isn't my usual thing at all and I have many critiques of it (and the author) I actually ended up having a good time with it.
jack kerouac and all of his friends were awful people.
i might have liked this more if it was a work of fiction, but knowing this is closely based on real road trips meant i couldn't focus on the literary themes or writing style etc. because i was too busy judging all the characters.
i also feel like some of the road trips could have been cut. the first two and last one were interesting, but there's only so many times you can read about dean fucking women who aren't one of his wives before the bile rises up in your throat.
i might have liked this more if it was a work of fiction, but knowing this is closely based on real road trips meant i couldn't focus on the literary themes or writing style etc. because i was too busy judging all the characters.
i also feel like some of the road trips could have been cut. the first two and last one were interesting, but there's only so many times you can read about dean fucking women who aren't one of his wives before the bile rises up in your throat.
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Quintessential beat generation book. A classic.
funny
slow-paced