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3.76 AVERAGE
3.76 AVERAGE
I wasn't quite taken aback by the story or it's absence of. The book is read somewhat in conjunction of what it preaches, just a regular people doring regular things, being happy. It is a nice illustration of carefree life and reads nicely as such, yet I felt it doesn't offer the insight or spark I would have liked. At many parts, too long and inconsequential blocks of narrative, but maybe, that is what it is trying to convey all along. Not bad, not sure if I am going to reread it
Jack Kerouac es abismalmente insoportable. Y si a eso le sumamos que en este libro descubre el budismo y se pone todo místico, ya apaga y vámonos.
Por lo menos en "Los vagabundos...", a diferencia de otras obras como "En el camino", parece que alguien (probablemente no el mismo autor) se lo haya releído aunque sea una vez para editar la escritura automática y que las oraciones tengan algo de sentido y no sean sólo las divagaciones del diario de alguien alcoholizado. Así este es más legible que otras cosas que han sido mandadas a imprenta imagino que directamente desde las páginas manchadas de vino y escritas de mano del propio Kerouac en pleno estado de embriaguez.
Fuera de eso, leer este libro es como asistir completamente sobrios a 3 horas de diatriba alcohólica y drogada de alguien que se cree uno con el universo, y, como la mayoría de la gente en ese estado, se piensa que es la primera persona en la historia que está teniendo esas mágicas e inspiradoras revelaciones.
Finalmente, me irritaba la superioridad moral que se desprendía a cuenta de que el autor se creía libre y justificaba en ello ser un bueno para nada (literalmente, no hace nada, e incluso menciona en una ocasión que el dinero que tiene lo ha recibido como pensión del estado), frente a la gente "esclavizada" que a su modo de ver se sujetan estúpidamente a cosas como un trabajo o una casa en vez de disfrutar de las delicias de la vida libre como vivir en la calle.
100/100 no volveré a leer nada de K. porque todo lo que tiene que decir me saca de las casillas.
Por lo menos en "Los vagabundos...", a diferencia de otras obras como "En el camino", parece que alguien (probablemente no el mismo autor) se lo haya releído aunque sea una vez para editar la escritura automática y que las oraciones tengan algo de sentido y no sean sólo las divagaciones del diario de alguien alcoholizado. Así este es más legible que otras cosas que han sido mandadas a imprenta imagino que directamente desde las páginas manchadas de vino y escritas de mano del propio Kerouac en pleno estado de embriaguez.
Fuera de eso, leer este libro es como asistir completamente sobrios a 3 horas de diatriba alcohólica y drogada de alguien que se cree uno con el universo, y, como la mayoría de la gente en ese estado, se piensa que es la primera persona en la historia que está teniendo esas mágicas e inspiradoras revelaciones.
Finalmente, me irritaba la superioridad moral que se desprendía a cuenta de que el autor se creía libre y justificaba en ello ser un bueno para nada (literalmente, no hace nada, e incluso menciona en una ocasión que el dinero que tiene lo ha recibido como pensión del estado), frente a la gente "esclavizada" que a su modo de ver se sujetan estúpidamente a cosas como un trabajo o una casa en vez de disfrutar de las delicias de la vida libre como vivir en la calle.
100/100 no volveré a leer nada de K. porque todo lo que tiene que decir me saca de las casillas.
adventurous
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
Wasn’t for me. Read it after it was mention in the book Born to Run. Though there were good sections of story and I like some of the zen Buddhist stuff, the sentence structure made it a tough read from the start.
I liked it so much better than "[b:On the Road|6288|The Road|Cormac McCarthy|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/21E8H3D1JSL._SL75_.jpg|3355573]" it was a wonderrful story
Two lines in this book sum up Jack. In a vision near the end, he is told "You are empowered to remind people that they are utterly free". In the same paragraph he says to himself "Poor Jack, his day is so sorrowful and worried, his reasons are so ephemeral, it's such a haunted and pitiful thing to have to live". THERE - is the essence of Jack Kerouac.
The Dharma Bums is an utterly readable, and more honest account of Jack's time through life - less heady than On The Road, but still wild, and still stumbling, and still professing from the rooftops his mad half-rubbish and half-genius ramblings. I felt I got closer to his real thoughts in this. We meet another awesome hero of his (Gary Snyder), but this hero feels more real and likable.
On The Road shocked me to my very core at 17. It took some years before I found out Jack's whole life story trailed off so sadly - but for a few years I held these mad heroes as statues in my head, and their wild enthusiasm for life seeped into my soul. Now at 24, On The Road seems a distant fantastic lovely dream, a little more hollow now, but still cherished. I wish I'd read the The Dharma bums at 21! That would have been just perfect timing. I think it was around then I decided that periodically giving into mad honest wild ecstasy to rejuvenate the soul wasn't going to work forever - I needed something mystical with which to combat the nothingness and emptiness unavoidable at the bottom of everything. So it turns out Jack must have gone through similar feelings, somewhere between On The Road and this. It's nice - but it's sad. I think I'll call it a day with Kerouac actually. I only see it going down from here.
- "I felt free and therefore I was free"
- "I saw that my life was a vast glowing empty page and I could do anything I wanted."
- "Those who're good stay in Heaven, they've been in heaven the whole time"
- "...let the mind be-ware, that though the flesh be bugged, the circumstances of existence are pretty glorious"
The Dharma Bums is an utterly readable, and more honest account of Jack's time through life - less heady than On The Road, but still wild, and still stumbling, and still professing from the rooftops his mad half-rubbish and half-genius ramblings. I felt I got closer to his real thoughts in this. We meet another awesome hero of his (Gary Snyder), but this hero feels more real and likable.
On The Road shocked me to my very core at 17. It took some years before I found out Jack's whole life story trailed off so sadly - but for a few years I held these mad heroes as statues in my head, and their wild enthusiasm for life seeped into my soul. Now at 24, On The Road seems a distant fantastic lovely dream, a little more hollow now, but still cherished. I wish I'd read the The Dharma bums at 21! That would have been just perfect timing. I think it was around then I decided that periodically giving into mad honest wild ecstasy to rejuvenate the soul wasn't going to work forever - I needed something mystical with which to combat the nothingness and emptiness unavoidable at the bottom of everything. So it turns out Jack must have gone through similar feelings, somewhere between On The Road and this. It's nice - but it's sad. I think I'll call it a day with Kerouac actually. I only see it going down from here.
- "I felt free and therefore I was free"
- "I saw that my life was a vast glowing empty page and I could do anything I wanted."
- "Those who're good stay in Heaven, they've been in heaven the whole time"
- "...let the mind be-ware, that though the flesh be bugged, the circumstances of existence are pretty glorious"
Very interesting read knowing it’s impact and a few silly moments idk if they were supposed to be silly… but I laughed also love an earnest man (3.5)
:)
3.5/5, but an overwhelmingly strong 3.5
This book was a pleasant read, and I’m glad i made a return to it. Very little plot and an early cycle of characters with no real relevance lulled me into a sense of boredom, but that was before appreciating what this book did.
Theres no real plot aside from inner goals of the main character, and the scenes themselves are “irrelevant” with no “purpose”, but given the Dharma/Buddhist themes of the book, there doesn’t need to be a purpose!
So many scenes have such rich, serene imagery that I’ve fallen in love with. The frantic and spontaneous writing style makes for such human-like descriptors that can only be understood through reading, and I now highly respect Kerouac as an author.
This book found a very even balance of a lovely, genuinely funny story mixed with dharmic wisdom. I have so many takeaways from this book, both in the form of general knowledge, and from specific quotes.
A very pleasant read written in a very refreshing style.
“I wonder which of us’ll die first? Whoever it is, come on back, ghost, and give ‘em the key.”
“ The woods do that to you, they always look familiar, long lost, like the face of a long dead relative, like an old dream, like a piece of forgotten song drifting across the water, most of all like golden eternities of past childhood or past manhood and all the living and the dying and the heartbreak that went on a million years ago in the clouds as they pass overhead seem to testify (by their own lonesome familiarity) to this feeling.”
3.5/5, but an overwhelmingly strong 3.5
This book was a pleasant read, and I’m glad i made a return to it. Very little plot and an early cycle of characters with no real relevance lulled me into a sense of boredom, but that was before appreciating what this book did.
Theres no real plot aside from inner goals of the main character, and the scenes themselves are “irrelevant” with no “purpose”, but given the Dharma/Buddhist themes of the book, there doesn’t need to be a purpose!
So many scenes have such rich, serene imagery that I’ve fallen in love with. The frantic and spontaneous writing style makes for such human-like descriptors that can only be understood through reading, and I now highly respect Kerouac as an author.
This book found a very even balance of a lovely, genuinely funny story mixed with dharmic wisdom. I have so many takeaways from this book, both in the form of general knowledge, and from specific quotes.
A very pleasant read written in a very refreshing style.
“I wonder which of us’ll die first? Whoever it is, come on back, ghost, and give ‘em the key.”
“ The woods do that to you, they always look familiar, long lost, like the face of a long dead relative, like an old dream, like a piece of forgotten song drifting across the water, most of all like golden eternities of past childhood or past manhood and all the living and the dying and the heartbreak that went on a million years ago in the clouds as they pass overhead seem to testify (by their own lonesome familiarity) to this feeling.”
It's very hard to rate this book. I enjoyed Kerouac's descriptions and the way he wrote. But I really didn't like him (Ray). His attitude towards the few women who appeared in the book was annoying at best. His cavalier attitude about life was annoying. So I give it three stars for the writing style and the descriptions but even that's a stretch.