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The Dharma Bums

Jack Kerouac

3.75 AVERAGE


This book has stuck with me ever since I first read it back in the late 70's or early 80's. It is my favorite Kerouac book. It is funny to think that I have only reread it once before, but reading it again this time was like stepping back into a pair of comfortable old shoes. Your feet just go aaaahhhhhhh...... And so did my mind as I started rereading this book. It is something about its proto-hippie underpinnings that endear me to it. Even though you really have to wonder how and why you even identify for a minute with the self centered, somewhat spoiled narrator, Ray Smith. Japhy, on the other hand...... Well, he's a little self-centered himself. But we all have our faults, right?

Anyway, a wonderful book that makes you think hard about your priorities in life. But in a fun way. Everyone should read this book every few years. Don't wait as long as I did......
adventurous emotional funny inspiring reflective fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

nice ending but mostly mid. want to go camping now

This book shows how its the ending that really matters at all, and sets the tone for the whole book.

Kerouac’s devout ‘Buddhism’ feels snobby and sexist for the majority of the story; Gary Snyder himself criticized Kerouac for using Buddhism to belittle and objectify women. Kerouac spends an entire winter isolating himself in a grove in the North Carolina woods, convincing himself he’s become enlightened and lamenting the ignorance of his non-Buddhist family. He bemoans the futility of his friends’ partying before getting blackout drunk himself. Which is, of course, fine and not hypocritical because he is enlightened and a bhikku.

Gary Snyder’s character, Japhy, makes the book enjoyable. Perhaps because he is sincere and humble in his meditations. Buddhism and its exoticism in 1950s America doesn’t make him a god, because he is Buddhist because he believes it and wishes to uncover truths about existence.

The end of this book, however, makes it all worth reading, and redeems Kerouac. His descriptions of the hostility and beauty of nature are enough to make you understand that Japhy’s way of life is far better than a comfortable modern existence. Suddenly, at the end, you believe Kerouac’s Buddhism.

You simply can't beat Jack. The energy flowing through his writing is palpable and there are pearls of wisdom throughout. Makes you think about what you want to truly value in your life and romanticize about saying no to the rat race, which I can definitely dig.
adventurous hopeful reflective relaxing medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

so inspiring and amazing, japhy is just amazing and i loved the first half of the book a lot
adventurous lighthearted reflective medium-paced

good stuff. paints a very human portrait of kerouac, whom i had previously just viewed as a literary god. there isn't a ton of depth here, and the prose does get clunky sometimes, but there are times when it truly accomplishes the simplistic, beautiful truth it sets out to convey.

While not nearly as memorable or as timeless as Kerouac's masterpiece On The Road, it still was a really great read that really makes me want to go travelling.
adventurous funny hopeful reflective fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No