The Beat Generation Unearthed

Looking for Kerouac by MS Mercedes Webb-Pullman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Skilfully combines travelogue (USA) and autobiography with anecdotes about the life of Jack Kerouac. The author has great powers of description that bring to life each place she visits and each person she meets.

The only background information she gives in "about the author" is about having a recent MA in Creative Writing from Victoria University of Wellington. She appears justly proud of her skill as a writer. She is no young student though, not with the colourful life the book reveals she has lived.

If I knew as much about Kerouac in my teenage age years as I know after reading this book he would never have become an author I idolised in my youth.

I read the book at a leisurely pace as a time-filler (I don't read much non-fiction) and was always happy to pick it up again and continue to the end.

The choice of dark cover & mountain photo (not shown here) are unfortunate - a more attractive one might be less off-putting. The cover did not turn out to match the narrative, which was not all dark or sombre.



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