A review by emma_ireland
Desolation Angels by Jack Kerouac

5.0

Desolation Angels follows on from Dharma Bums, but if you're looking for the high-on-life rush and optimism of Dharma Bums or On the Road, then you won't find it here. It's a melancholic slide into depression and rejection of the lifestyle that he brought to public consciousness. The first part details his summer as a fire lookout, and when he comes down from the mountain he does resume his old habits, but there's an air of sadness and desperation about it all this time around. It's not an easy read - the description of sex with a 14 year old prostitute in Mexico, and the pedestal he tries to hoist his mother onto are particularly cringe-inducing, and in relation to the latter there was a definite sense of him trying to justify still being (voluntarily) strangled by her apron strings at such a late stage, complete with snide remarks about his fellow writers all hating their mothers. But it's compulsive reading for anyone who has (or intends to) explored Kerouac beyond On the Road. Big Sur is next in the pile, but I don't think my soul's ready for it just yet.