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A review by zo__ish
On the Road by Jack Kerouac
adventurous
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
It took me four months to read this book, which is very unusual for me. I wanted to like it so bad, I had good friends tell me I would like it (I love travel, I love meeting people, and I love prose and detail) but boy did I suffer reading this. I felt crazy! But there is some comfort in knowing even Capote had no kind words for Kerouac’s most well known novel (“That’s not writing; That’s just typing”).
Normally I am a huge fan of character driven novels, I don’t need much plot. However, Sal (aka Kerouac) and Dean were flat and insufferable. There was little to no character arc. However, Kerouac does write dialogue very well, he depicts tension between characters and the way they move beautifully, but it was a chore to try and get into.
There are some sentences, paragraphs, and chapters that I underlined and loved; page 15 waking up with the sun and the anguish of not knowing who you are or what you want, the chapter going through Denver to Central Cities, or the whole entirety of Terry and the San Joaquin valley. I wish these bits were enough to make up for the rest.
Kerouac’s writing lacks the depth I want in a story(it also feels passionless, or apathetic, somehow Kerouac feels incredibly distanced from a story that mingles with autobiography), there are some beautiful depictions of cities and towns in America.
The last chapter of One The Road was one of the best parts, if not the best. Maybe because I was so excited to be done with it.
Normally I am a huge fan of character driven novels, I don’t need much plot. However, Sal (aka Kerouac) and Dean were flat and insufferable. There was little to no character arc. However, Kerouac does write dialogue very well, he depicts tension between characters and the way they move beautifully, but it was a chore to try and get into.
There are some sentences, paragraphs, and chapters that I underlined and loved; page 15 waking up with the sun and the anguish of not knowing who you are or what you want, the chapter going through Denver to Central Cities, or the whole entirety of Terry and the San Joaquin valley. I wish these bits were enough to make up for the rest.
Kerouac’s writing lacks the depth I want in a story(it also feels passionless, or apathetic, somehow Kerouac feels incredibly distanced from a story that mingles with autobiography), there are some beautiful depictions of cities and towns in America.
The last chapter of One The Road was one of the best parts, if not the best. Maybe because I was so excited to be done with it.
LA is a jungle. [….]
The beatest characters in the country swarmed on the sidewalks-all of it under those soft Southern California stars that are lost in the brown halo of the huge desert encampment LA really is. You could smell the tea, weed, I mean marijuana, floating in the air, together with the chili beans and beer. (77)
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Drug use, Sexual content, Alcohol, Homophobia, and Infidelity