Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.76 AVERAGE
3.76 AVERAGE
Really good summer read....great story to take you away from whatever may be bothering you...made me wanna pack my life in a messenger bag and hit 75
adventurous
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
This is a hard book for me to rate. I think that I liked it though. Perhaps a lot of the Buddhist parts went over my head, or perhaps Kerouac didn't know much about Buddhism and just put a lot of nonsense in there, but I still think I liked it. Kerouac draws a lot of criticism these days, some of which is merited. I'm not sure if he's necessarily misogynistic in particular, or just a jackass to everyone, but I also don't really care. I don't read him in order to figure out how to be a good person or have meaningful relationships with women. I read him because he has this love of and enthusiasm for life that I really admire. I've heard people describe On the Road as juvenile or naive and I just cannot disagree enough. He wants to experience everything in life. Dharma Bums keeps this same theme but shows Kerouac experiencing nature in a way that he never did during On the Road.
There are parts of this book that make me think that Kerouac knew he was going to die young of alcohol abuse. These sections were particularly sad to read.
It appears that Kerouac never met up with Gary Snyder after Gary returned from Japan. Which makes me a little sad due to how much admiration Kerouac obviously had for him.
A few (way too long) quotes that I enjoyed:
"'I wonder which one of us will die first,' I mused out loud. 'Whoever it is, come on back, ghost, and give 'em the key.'''
"Are we fallen angels who didn't want to believe that nothing is nothing and so were born to lose our loved ones and dear friends one by one and finally our own life, to see it proved? ... But cold morning would return, with clouds billowing out of Lightning Gorge like giant smoke, the lake below still cerulean neutral, and empty space the same as ever. O gnashing teeth of earth, where would it all lead to but some sweet golden eternity, to prove that we've all be wrong, to prove that the proving itself was nil..."
"'Ah the public ain't so bad, they suffer too. You always read about some tarpaper shack burning somewhere in the Middlewest with three little children perishing and you see a picture of the parents crying. Even the kitty was burned. Japhy, do you think God made the world to amuse himself because he was bored? Because if so he would have to be mean.'
'Ho, who would you mean by God"'
'Just Tathagata, if you will.'
'Well it says in the sutra that God, or Tathagata, doesn't himself emanate a world from his womb but it just appears due to the ignorance of sentient beings.'
'But he emanated the sentient beings and their ignorance too. It's all too pitiful. I ain't gonna rest till I find out why, Japhy, why.'"
There are parts of this book that make me think that Kerouac knew he was going to die young of alcohol abuse. These sections were particularly sad to read.
It appears that Kerouac never met up with Gary Snyder after Gary returned from Japan. Which makes me a little sad due to how much admiration Kerouac obviously had for him.
A few (way too long) quotes that I enjoyed:
"'I wonder which one of us will die first,' I mused out loud. 'Whoever it is, come on back, ghost, and give 'em the key.'''
"Are we fallen angels who didn't want to believe that nothing is nothing and so were born to lose our loved ones and dear friends one by one and finally our own life, to see it proved? ... But cold morning would return, with clouds billowing out of Lightning Gorge like giant smoke, the lake below still cerulean neutral, and empty space the same as ever. O gnashing teeth of earth, where would it all lead to but some sweet golden eternity, to prove that we've all be wrong, to prove that the proving itself was nil..."
"'Ah the public ain't so bad, they suffer too. You always read about some tarpaper shack burning somewhere in the Middlewest with three little children perishing and you see a picture of the parents crying. Even the kitty was burned. Japhy, do you think God made the world to amuse himself because he was bored? Because if so he would have to be mean.'
'Ho, who would you mean by God"'
'Just Tathagata, if you will.'
'Well it says in the sutra that God, or Tathagata, doesn't himself emanate a world from his womb but it just appears due to the ignorance of sentient beings.'
'But he emanated the sentient beings and their ignorance too. It's all too pitiful. I ain't gonna rest till I find out why, Japhy, why.'"
I'm torn by this book. At times the unexpected turns of phrase reminded me of Raymond Chandler. A reminder that became more firmly rooted as the undeniable white male privilege made itself known. But more on that in a bit.
This book a large reason why Buddhism gain popularity in The West. Without which, I would not have a spirituality that fit. Though some aspects are either mistranslated or slathered with poetic liberty. For instance, Om mani padme hum is translated as "Amen, the Thunderbolt in the Dark Void" not what I've learned it to be "Praise the jewel in the lotus." There's also a great quote about karma: "...my karma was to be born in America where nobody has any fun or believes in anything, especially freedom." (p. 22-3). There's a stress on being nakid and Yabyum, which I'd never heard about. An oversimplification of it is sex. To quote Britannica:
"The pose is generally understood to represent the mystical union of the active force, or method (upaya, conceived of as masculine), with wisdom (prajna, conceived of as feminine)—a fusion necessary to overcome the false duality of the world of appearances in the striving toward spiritual Enlightenment."
The main characters play fast and loose with the sacredness of many aspects of Buddhism. Which I'm ok with. But the book treats women, on those rare occasions they appear, none-too-kindly.
But perhaps the most uncomfortable part of this book was the hitchhiking. That time honored tradition that seemed to be a rite-of-passage for men in the 50s and 60s. I've come across this wandering from coast to coast in many a book and movie. And until I started really looking into the history of America, the one they don't dare put in textbooks, I was ok with that. Not for me but, hey, I'm a timid bookworm!
This book changed that because of when I'm reading it; in the middle of some serious antiracism work. Hitchhiking is a white privilege thing. Do you think for a moment that if Kerouac was black he'd been able to do the country-wide wandering that he based this book on? Or if he was picked up, do you think he would have lived? I do not.
A good book, yes, but I'm all set with his works. I would have given it two stars but it was such a powerful influence on society that I have to take that into account when rating it. The Buddhist in me is glad I read it and not the more famous, On The Road.
This book a large reason why Buddhism gain popularity in The West. Without which, I would not have a spirituality that fit. Though some aspects are either mistranslated or slathered with poetic liberty. For instance, Om mani padme hum is translated as "Amen, the Thunderbolt in the Dark Void" not what I've learned it to be "Praise the jewel in the lotus." There's also a great quote about karma: "...my karma was to be born in America where nobody has any fun or believes in anything, especially freedom." (p. 22-3). There's a stress on being nakid and Yabyum, which I'd never heard about. An oversimplification of it is sex. To quote Britannica:
"The pose is generally understood to represent the mystical union of the active force, or method (upaya, conceived of as masculine), with wisdom (prajna, conceived of as feminine)—a fusion necessary to overcome the false duality of the world of appearances in the striving toward spiritual Enlightenment."
The main characters play fast and loose with the sacredness of many aspects of Buddhism. Which I'm ok with. But the book treats women, on those rare occasions they appear, none-too-kindly.
But perhaps the most uncomfortable part of this book was the hitchhiking. That time honored tradition that seemed to be a rite-of-passage for men in the 50s and 60s. I've come across this wandering from coast to coast in many a book and movie. And until I started really looking into the history of America, the one they don't dare put in textbooks, I was ok with that. Not for me but, hey, I'm a timid bookworm!
This book changed that because of when I'm reading it; in the middle of some serious antiracism work. Hitchhiking is a white privilege thing. Do you think for a moment that if Kerouac was black he'd been able to do the country-wide wandering that he based this book on? Or if he was picked up, do you think he would have lived? I do not.
A good book, yes, but I'm all set with his works. I would have given it two stars but it was such a powerful influence on society that I have to take that into account when rating it. The Buddhist in me is glad I read it and not the more famous, On The Road.
DNF @ 26%: I’ve always heard good things about this book (esp from Lost I think), but can’t get myself motivated to finish it. It’s been very static.
I do enjoy Jack Kerouac’s writing style, but this story just didn’t do it for me like On The Road did.
I found the two to be much too similar, but perhaps that is just the nature of Beat Literature?
I found the two to be much too similar, but perhaps that is just the nature of Beat Literature?
This felt the most sexist and pretentious. Any nice poetry or enlightenment was completely overshadowed by my distaste for the narrator and his attitude toward women and those “less enlightened” than himself.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Gotta love the Beats, warts and all
Someone smarter than me has advised against loving Jack Kerouac once you grow up. And it's undoubtedly true that older me see him as a drunk, goofy idealist smitten with hokey spiritual chinoiserie and so dismissive of women that there isn't enough gyn there too mis.
But also, if you read him not as the hero of your youth, but as one of a million American 20th century stories, along with Cather, Baldwin, Wright, and the hundreds of others you ignored then, he's still kind of beautiful.
But also, if you read him not as the hero of your youth, but as one of a million American 20th century stories, along with Cather, Baldwin, Wright, and the hundreds of others you ignored then, he's still kind of beautiful.
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No