What Happened Later

by Ray Robertson

Poetic, poignant and clever, What Happened Later is a unique and engaging story of two lives that were forever changed by one book. In 1967, only ten years after the sensational success of On the Road , Jack Kerouac was a physically broken, spiritually lost man. Late that summer, accompanied by his friend, Joe Chaput, Kerouac set out for Riviere-du-Loup, Quebec, on a spiritual quest to connect with his French-Canadian roots. Predictably, the trip was a drunken, chaotic disaster, and a little more than two years afterward, Kerouac was dead. Fifteen years later, after falling under the spell of the larger-than-life-myth of Jack Kerouac, a working-class, small-town Ontario teenager named Ray Robertson embarked upon his own quest - to own a copy of On the Road . Rebuffed at every turn in his attempt to possess the elusive novel, Robertson nonetheless slowly begins to recognize the existence of a world beyond the factories, hockey rinks and suburbs of his hometown, and also begins to comprehend his own French-Canadian heritage. Taking its title from Kerouac himself - What Happened Later was the title of his proposed sequel to On the Road, - this novel tells the story of what happened after the fame generated by Kerouac's famous book and what happened next in the life of a young man infatuated with the legendary author. Interweaving the story of one author's slow decline with one boy's literary coming of age, What Happened Later explores the ever-shifting dualities of myth and reality, loss and hope, innocence and experience, endings and beginnings.

Genres: Fiction

336 pages, Hardcover

First published August 16, 2007

About the author

Ray Robertson is the author of six novels including Moody Food and What Happened Later, a finalist for the Trillium Book Award. He has also published a collection of nonfiction, Mental Hygiene: Essays on Writers and Writing. He is a contributing book reviewer for The Globe and Mail.

Robertson lives in Toronto.

Reviews

[Athos · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two crossing lives: a young man leaving his home town to begin his life and an older man(Kerouac), on his last journey. About life and worth, and things to idolize, that shape and disappoint, but maybe are still enough to inspire and give meaning... I liked the two separate alternating narratives, especially the stories of young Ray growing up and the heroics of parenthood.

[Ian Carpenter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this years ago but the cutting between the young man growing up idolizing Kerouac and the aged Kerouac in his last years, alcoholic and crusty, is brilliant. From hero worship to pained reality. Robertson's prose has the dancing joy of Kerouac at his most playful and in love with words. Can't wait to check out his other books.

[Darrell Reimer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found What Happened Later on the super-cheap table at Canada's Box Behemoth Of Book Bargains and figured I'd gamble a fin. Rotten luck for Robertson, but quite the godsend for me: the novel hooked me early, and reeled me in.

Kerouac's final years are almost as legendary as the spool of paper he used for On The Road. He was bitter and dissolute; years of reliance on alcohol and speed made the final imprint on his personality and ability. Robertson dovetails the narrative of Kerouac's final road trip with the gradual illumination of perspective that takes over and inspires a young "Ray Robertson," an adolescent in working class Chatham, Ontario, circa 1980. The intertwining of dual narratives and time-frames is surprisingly effective: while Kerouac falls apart at the seams, Ray plods his way through the usual initiations of suburbia, beginning with Jim Morrison and The Doors. Ray is slowly liberated from teenage myopia, while Jack corrodes inside a dense fog of history and addiction.

Robertson doesn't gloss over any of the unpleasantness this ruined man visited upon others, or any of the egoism that is the natural state of the adolescent. And yet the book is a loving blessing and "amen" on both lives. Robertson suggests that Ray and Jack share a history, not just as French Canadians, but as sentient beings -- listeners and watchers and readers -- a history that literature ignites and keeps aflame.

What Happened Later is an early contender for my favorite book read this year.

[Marc · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the literary technique that the author used; alternating between narrator and Kerouac. It was interesting that the narrator's story seemed obviously autobiographical--no one would likely describe Chatham in such specific detail so accurately. It was amusing for me to read this Chatham trivia, since I grew up in the city and recognized all of the trivial details, and even some of the characters (if not the specific individuals, the phenotypes).

I give it only 3 stars because I felt the book lacked substance at the end of it all. It just wandered around like the pinball bouncing from one episode to another in both narratives. The two were usually juxtaposed deliberately with some aplomb and I found this occasionally interesting. But in the end, just like "On the Road" lacked any conviction to a story-line or theme or philosophy or belief or personality or character, Robertson's "What Happened Later" does also.

I would have preferred it if Robertson had picked an intellectual fight with the reader and pursued that. Any thing else is just dilitente-ish and a cop out.

[Vicky · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book more as a writer than a reader.

The device of two separate yet obliquely connected stories worked. The two voices were clear and distinct and I certainly got a sense of each place and time. Only skilled writing can achieve that.

The character of Jack Kerouac was richly drawn, his inner turmoil was palpable at times. Overall, however, I found it difficult to care about him as a character. This was also true for the character of Ray. I think the reason is that while each character changes and gains some kind of awareness, that awareness seems to only make them more self-involved. It's entirely a personal preference that I find characters who gain more awareness of themselves and others to be more compelling.

Still, I rated this "really liked it" because of the writing and craft of storytelling.

[Alexis · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the most creative books I've read in a long time. The author alternates chapters. One group of chapters depicts a fictional portrayal of scenes from the life of Jack Kerouac. THe other is creative non-fiction from the life of the author, Ray Robertson. Robertson grew up in a small city in Ontario. Like me, he was obsessed with the Doors and The Beats and reading in high school. I could really relate to this book, and how young people become attached to the ideas of rebellion from counter culture works.

Robertson is 10 years older than me, but I could remember and relate to so many of the little details about his life.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

i do like this book but i wish it were better and i'm not sure i can articulate why. i'm not sure altering between kerouac and the narrator of the other part of the story really works. it makes it difficult for me to really immerse myself in either storyline. also because the narrator is so clearly the writer of the book, it makes the stuff on keroauc seem not as real to me somehow.

yet there are interesting bits and i do enjoy Ray's part of the story. i'm not so sure i'm that fond of the keroauc side.