sarabearian 's review for:

The Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac

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This is one of the Beat stories that is often overlooked but definitely worth the read. Jack's autobiographical fiction is a great taste of his time exploring the great expanse of the American West through the lens of his new interest, Buddhism. Jack's mouthpiece of Ray Smith is a product of his time, and his musings are peppered with all of the stereotypes you would expect in 1958 as he sometimes shoehorns in a Buddhism-based reason for the things he was going to do anyway. As an aside, this book could easily be titled "Everything Jack Kerouac ate or wanted to eat in 1957". There are more descriptions of food and drink in this book than anything else but its mighty endearing. - Joyce A.