escahg 's review for:

The Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac

2.0

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Books like The Dharma Bums prove that it's important to read the right kind of book at the right time. Published in the 50s, I can imagine younger folks whose perspectives of the world had been broadened or changed because of this book, especially those who had only been familiar with western ideas. As someone who doesn't fit the demographic, though, I cannot appreciate its value as a novel. Perhaps it'd be a better experience if it had been in the form of poems or journal entries, so as to prompt introspection and scrutiny from Kerouac-Smith. But as it is, I find the prose disjointed and the quasi-real-life characters shallow -- worse, the representation of Buddhism oversimplified.