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bearpause 's review for:
On the Road
by Jack Kerouac
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
So, there's parts of this where I want to give the book a 2. The conversations with Dean, their playing after girls, and the whole pointlessness of some of it really just made me roll my eyes. It's how I Know I'm an adult. Those long pointless conversations, rejecting convention and exploring thought are prime time in college and high school but I've been battered into wanting meaning and something resulting. And so Dean looks empty. And everyone following him is like all of Oz following a hologram. A sham wizard.
But Kerouac is going for a feeling and his language communicates that feeling. It's quick and impulsive but still tells a story. It lends the feeling of this time in his life. And so, while I was very bored at portions and didn't care about lots of it, I think that language achieving it's goal of getting you to understand what it was he was going through, what it was that they were after, the cognitive dissonance of wanting the road, wanting to explore, but never being satisfied once you got there. It achieved that. It directs you towards a number of themes like sex, and America, and friendship, and an austere lifestyle while yearning for excess (but not excess of things). And I think that's difficult to do without feeling forced. This doesn't feel forced (if anything it could be more forced, more polished) but then it wouldn't be On the Road.
But Kerouac is going for a feeling and his language communicates that feeling. It's quick and impulsive but still tells a story. It lends the feeling of this time in his life. And so, while I was very bored at portions and didn't care about lots of it, I think that language achieving it's goal of getting you to understand what it was he was going through, what it was that they were after, the cognitive dissonance of wanting the road, wanting to explore, but never being satisfied once you got there. It achieved that. It directs you towards a number of themes like sex, and America, and friendship, and an austere lifestyle while yearning for excess (but not excess of things). And I think that's difficult to do without feeling forced. This doesn't feel forced (if anything it could be more forced, more polished) but then it wouldn't be On the Road.