Reviews with content warning for Domestic abuse - On the Road

Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

bonesfor5dollars's review

adventurous reflective 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? It's complicated

2.25

I went into this book with the curiosity of the 'Beat Generation.' Counterculture movements have been a fascinating topic to me and so to read a book that 'captures the beat generation,' I was quite eager to dig into this book. However, what I got out of this was pure disappointment and just a poorly-aged book that contains questionable characters and ideas. While the writing style of Kerouac can be interesting at some points, I feel the book is entirely bogged down by the characters who are probably the most unlikable characters that I've seen in a book. How they describe people of color is just baffling especially from Sal, who has some of the most baffling descriptions and observations of African Americans, and Mexican Americans. The main characters also sexualize underage women a lot and get extremely bad by the end of the book, when they are in Mexico. Also, the manner in which women are presented in this book is just terrible as well, as the main characters often exploit women either for sex or for money and make comments on how women are objects.

Content Warnings

sophiajkessler's review

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adventurous dark funny lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The main takeaway for this book for me was something I already knew: straight men are more in love with each other than they could ever love any woman. It was quite obvious to me that Sal and Dean love one another and this is to an extent a love story. Hence why Sal overlooks how bloody annoying Dean is which we as the readers have to suffer through, whilst Sal gushes about how great he is. Cognitive dissonance much? Other readers have commented ( and I agree) that although this book has beautiful prose it is plot deficient and there are precious few actually likeable characters. To me this didn't detract from the book though as it helped develop the sense of loneliness and isolation that an itinerant lifestyle engenders no matter how freeing it might be. People who aspire to this kind of lifestyle should look at the endings of the protagonist and deuteragonist to find the moral of the story:

Sal makes his way off the road and finds his happiness. Dean never does and seems unable to do either. We leave him to an uncertain fate, having lost all the friends and lovers of his journey and also Sal, his probable soulmate.

A cautionary tale about the dangers of a lifestyle many idealise even if its simultaneously a love story, both to the road itself and between its main characters. Best enjoyed if you yourself are actually on a roadtrip! At times I could practically see and feel the emotioms and scenery described. Beware of the content warnings though.

Content Warnings

animar1a's review

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adventurous challenging inspiring lighthearted reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I picked up this book because I knew Kerouac was one of Bob Dylan’s influences, and beat writers and poets have been catching my attention recently. I wouldn’t say On the Road was a disappointment, but it also didn’t live up to my expectations. I didn’t enjoy the ‘stream of consciousness’ writing style or the abhorrent racism, misogyny and pedophelia; but the plot (or lack thereof) was actually really compelling. I don’t think the passage of time was coherent whatsoever, with some parts of the book being drawn out and pointless to the character arc, and others being beautifully written but much too short, (specifically their time spent in Mexico and the ending of the novel). On the Road is definitely inspiring but deeply flawed. anyways I’m not feeling desperate to read any more of Kerouac’s novels, but I probably will in the future.

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pucksandpaperbacks's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Reading Like Jess from Gilmore Girls: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKe6J2-E8_s

Content Warnings

serving_goffman's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

this is a difficult one to review.. it is safe to say that the slang is passé and the racial and especially misogynistic sentimentalities are absolutely appalling. But on the other hand the search for something meaningful to hold on to - the famous IT and TIME - the tales of passionate friendship and spiritual revelation are timeless. It also contains some of the most beautiful prose ever written and reads like an insane rollercoaster ride. this is beat americana distilled into one of the maddest books i’ve ever read.

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aralakh's review against another edition

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reflective 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

2.25

Content Warnings

coriblake's review against another edition

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adventurous fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

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ms_gouldbourne's review

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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? No

2.5

I was really excited to read Jack Kerouac's legendary On The Road - I'd heard a lot about it, and I usually enjoy offbeat stories about people who refuse to fit into the place society has created for them. When it was chosen as last month's book club pick, I was diving straight in with high expectations.

Unfortunately, On The Road just didn't meet them. Perhaps unfortunately, my library's edition came with an introduction which I read beforehand, explaining just how autobiographical the book is - in short, very. It seems that Kerouac wrote the story of his mid-twenties adventures with his friends in a three-week drug-fuelled haze, and the only difference between the written narrative and what actually happened is that all the names were changed. The autobiographical nature of the book was a real hindrance to my enjoyment of it, because quite frankly, not everyone's lives are interesting enough to immortalise.

I might feel differently about it if it seemed that Kerouac actually had a point he wanted to make about the way he and his friends lived whilst travelling. If, for example, the book was a deliberate commentary on the transient and hedonistic lifestyle of these young men, eschewing the responsibilities of their homes and families and instead embracing the shallow pleasures of drugs, parties, jazz clubs and sex. It's easy to interpret On The Road as a sort of Bildungsroman, whereby the author reflects on the mistakes of his past or casts himself as a tragic hero - but there's no evidence that Kerouac did anything of the sort. Instead, On The Road comes across as inordinately self-indulgent, an arrogant assumption that readers will find the drunken and selfish exploits of a group of self-absorbed misogynistic young men as interesting as he himself found living them to be.

And my goodness, the misogyny! Yes, the book is of its time, as evidenced by the blatant homophobia, casual racism and leering after underage girls, but it reaches unparalleled heights in its treatment of women. They exist only for the purposes of sex and preferably financial backing, and then abandoned when they get too needy - and needy by this standard means asking for literally any support with the children they've been left with. Dean Moriarty, the Neal Cassady stand-in that protagonist Sal Paradise is definitely not in love with, abandons so many women over the course of the novel that he's not totally certain how many children he has by the end of it. Again, there's a lack of recognition by the author that this kind of behaviour is unacceptable, no sense of growth or development by the end of the book that would make Dean and Sal's repulsive antics more palatable.

Having given such a scathing review, it probably seems strange that I'm giving On The Road a relatively middling score - and the reason I am is simple: Kerouac's writing style is absolutely astounding. Not everyone enjoyed the almost stream-of-consciousness narrative style, but I loved it. It was easy to read and yet felt very rich and compelling. I can certainly understand why it broke literary boundaries at the time it was published. It's an unusual kind of writing, and one that kept me reading until the end in spite of the unsavoury content.

Content Warnings