On The Road

On the Road changed my life completely as well, after i read that i read Lunch by Burroughs, and that again opened my eyes to a whole new world

 

Lovely book. I read it last year and I enjoyed it so much. I shall read it after my library books are done with. I figure it is a whole lot cheaper to borrow books from the library than buying them. Darn books are too expensive anymore. I hope to read more of his works.

 

Everytime I read this my feet get so damn itchy. I fell in love with kerouac after reading this book.

 

Itchy is a under statement, I feel like running out the front door and keep going until I get somewhere I've never been.

 

I love "On The Road." I thought it to be an amazing piece of literature. Since then, I picked up "Desolation Angels" and "The Dharma Bums." The pace, and imagery, and over all general spirit of "On The Road" made it a total and complete joy to read. I believe think "On The Road" is essential for every reader. ^_^

 

Dean Moriarty is Neal Cassady
Old Bull Lee is William Burroughs
Carlo Marx is Allen Ginsberg
"On the road" is awesome

 

I ve read On The Road and have just finished The Dharma Bums. If I look at the whole book I think On the road is the better book. But in the Dharma Bums are very beautiful episodes... (and reading the Dharma Bums I discovered that I like chinese green tea )

 

This is a good book, but not a great one. Kerouac is not in the same league as Hemingway or Mailer or Henry Miller or Dos Passos.

What I can't identify with is the overwhelming enthusiasm by the narrator (Sal Paradise) and his buddy (Moriarty) for everything under the sun. Maybe this says more about me than about Kerouac. I mean, you're hitchhiking back and forth across the country, working odd jobs, going hungry, and everything is wild, great, groovy?

The warnings given by Carlo Marx in the first part of Chapter V (pp. 120-121 of Penguin paperback edition) need to be heeded:
"What is all this... intended to mean? Why are you traveling around the country like this? Where's your home? What's your job?"

Sal Paradise (the narrator) does mention occasionally that he's getting GI checks, which probably means he's a WWII veteran. (The author, Kerouac, received an honourable discharge from the U.S. navy during WWII on psychiatric grounds.)

 

If you didn't finish it, go back and force yourself to read it until you get to the part where they go to Mexico. Thats when the book grabbed me. I've had several friends that got bored with the book and put it down, and I told them to pick it back up and read on through mexico..and they ended up loving it.

 

Their eternal enthusiasm is what I like most about this book. Most people endure life. I view life as a gift. people shouldnt do what is expected of them, make money, buy houses, buy cars, just because thats what society expects. People should do what makes them happy and find personal freedom. Like they say in On The Road, "just try to get their kicks." And the only thing that sounds bad about what you just described above is the going hungry part. Traveling across the country, experiencing something new every day? That is indeed wild, great, groovy.

 

I hopped a train or two myself, and slept in unlocked equipment sheds in the pouring rain, and spent many hours on freeway on-ramps. "Pedestrians, bicycles and motor driven cycles prohibited" -- that is the mantra at every California on-ramp.

Would I ever do it again? Not unless forced by circumstances. The road travel was a learning experience and I prefer to travel with my own wheels. There's also the fact that youth are more attractive than older people and will be seen more positively by strangers.

 

this book changed me forever- along with dharma bums they changed the way i think completely-

 

as a young reader (13) i think this book has way changed my life, from being a self conscious dumbass and now, not even a year later my life is already much more happy and my values seem more moral and it inspired me to write myself. Reading for first only a year ago i have acquired many other beat writings and 2 volumes of On The Road, which, being such a good book is a must. quite liberating.

 

I'm reading it now, for the second time, because I read it when I was 15. It changed the way I see the world, and it's probably because of it that I like to travel so much. I've been trying to buy the dharma bums of quite a while, but I can't find it in any book store or garage sale...