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10th out of 14 books
—
3 voters
Baby Driver: A Story About Myself
by
Jan Kerouac
Just as Jack Kerouac captured the beat of the '50s, his daughter captured the rhythm of the generation that followed. With a graceful, often disturbing detachment and a spellbinding gift for descriptive imagery, Jan Kerouac explores the tortured, freewheeling soul of a woman on her own road. From an adolescence of LSD, detention homes, probation, pregnancy, and a stillbirt...more
Paperback, 224 pages
Published
June 22nd 1998
by Da Capo Press
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This book is by JAN KEROUAC who was Jack kerouac's illegitimate daughter. Like Jack kerouac, she was good looking, had dark hair, was brooding, drank and partied, and she could write her behind off. She also died young like her dad, but before she left, she wrote some beautiful words, of which this is a wonderful example and book. JAN KEROUAC is a major uncelebrated talent, a wild child who never quite fit into the ordered eighties but whose talent and drive was precisely and perhaps more intens...more
This was a whirling dervish of a memoir. The kind that makes me wish I had traveled more, fucked more, drugged more. Then I realize that, I too, am an incurable little whore who has spent plenty of time fucked up in places that were not home. I love the alternating adult/child chapters that finally meet near the end. I've never read or been interested in Kerouac before so I'm kind of going backwards here. My favorite thing is that I now have a dude who can actually recommend books to me. He can...more
A wild and rebellious youth moving from liaison to liaison with the common denominator of heavy drug use. Kerouac travels from her early childhood in Manhattan’s Lower Eastside to the southwest and down into Latin America along the way holding diverse jobs that included waitress, stable hand, prostitute and maid. I liked this book. Kerouac’s descriptions were evocative and visual, and her writing style kept me engaged and was enjoyable to read.
There were a couple of points she passed through thi...more
There were a couple of points she passed through thi...more
i liked this a lot. it's by jan (daughter of jack) kerouac and is a sort of memoir about growing up, taking lots of drugs, running away to mexico and stuff. It's got a great style to it, a bit like a female kerouac - fans of cookie mueller and michelle tea would like this.
if you are only interested in jack it doesn't have much about him in it as she only met him twice and those meetings were brief. I've ordered her other book and am looking forward to reading more.
if you are only interested in jack it doesn't have much about him in it as she only met him twice and those meetings were brief. I've ordered her other book and am looking forward to reading more.
Jan was a beautiful, intelligent and adventurous woman who had a difficult childhood and tragic life. She only met her father, Jack Kerouac, twice. He showed no interest in her either time. Jan had some great adventures but drug use and difficulty with relationships were her downfall. I liked this book and her other book "Trainsong". Her mother, Joan Haverty, also wrote a book called "Nobody's Wife".
Truly fascinating. It's an autobiography that stands on its own. However, the author is constantly in the shadow of her father Jack Kerouac, even though he appears in her book a grand total of twice. Twice. His daughter obviously inherited his writing skills, and, if I may add, improved on them. My rating of 4 stars is because of the non-linear organization of the book - it's a bit confusing, but it mostly seems to work, I guess. And I don't know if Jan Kerouac's habit of labeling people by thei...more
LOVE this author. Do not let her father, Jack Kerouac, overshadow her! She can write!
awesome biographical account of Jan's life: psych ward, juv. detention, Mexico....
Will make you hate Jack Kerouac and love Ginsberg.
Jan Kerouac was so talented and so tortured. Her prose just pulls you into her bleak and self destructive world and won't let go. I believe her power as a writer surpassed or at least was equal to Jack Kerouacs'. I couldn't put this book down and I guess because I have the same generation in common with the author I related to it on many levels.
It was so great to read this again. It's a shame that Jan Kerouac had live under her father's bigger than life shadow, because she is an excellent writer and has more than her share of journeys and travels to share. Her writing style can be a bit over-detailed at times, but it's a fascinating read.
For thesis research...
What a tragic life - anyone interested in human psychology will get a wild ride with this one. One can only guess what a different life she would have led if Jack was more involved in her life.
What a tragic life - anyone interested in human psychology will get a wild ride with this one. One can only guess what a different life she would have led if Jack was more involved in her life.
She;s not her daddy, but she does have a story to tell. Not a bad book, but I won't be killing anyone to get her next one.
Jack Kerouac's daughter's first memoir is as engaging as anything her old man wrote.
As far as the "road book" goes, I find Jan superior to her father.
BEST BOOK EVER
wow, Jack Kerouac's daughter was totally messed up.
Apr 28, 2013
Khrystene
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