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 stillbirth in the Mexican tropics at age 15; to the peace movement in Haight-Ashbury and Washington state; to traveling by bus through Central America with a madman for a lover, Baby Driver moves with the force of a tropical storm.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Memoir, Classics, Autobiography, American, Biography Memoir

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Janet Michelle Kerouac was the only child of Jack Kerouac and his second wife, Joan Haverty Kerouac. Jan only met her father twice, the first time at age 10 when he took a paternity test in an attempt to avoid making child support payments.

Reviews

[Roman Clodia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Valentine's Day, 1965, two days before my thirteenth birthday, was the day I first took LSD.

In equal measure irrepressible and disturbing, Jan Kerouac's autobiographical novel is a kind of female On the Road but pushes beyond the boundaries of even the experience of Sal Paradise. Partly as a function of her gender, Jan's road involves pregnancy and prostitution as well as a liberatory freedom from the tyranny of material things and bourgeois conventions.

Alternating chapters recall Jan's bohemian upbringing by her charming mother whose own unconventional instincts shape Jan's world, and her present which opens with her as a fifteen year old married to an older man and pregnant in New Mexico.

Throughout there's a coolness about the 1st person narrative voice which remains detached regardless of whether she's speaking of a miscarriage, of teenage friendships and ballet classes, or of her adorably ramshackle family.

But there is constantly a darker, grimmer edge to this story however much the freewheeling narrative beguiles. The narrator doesn't analyse herself or her behaviour but the absence of her father, Jack Kerouac, haunts the narrative: Jan meets him once in New York and calls him when he's drunk. She doesn't speak explicitly of what this gap in her life means to her but for me it feels like the dominant emotion of the book, made even more prominent by the refusal to face it head on.

Instead, Jan follows in her father's footsteps with her own quasi-pilgrimage as well as in writing this book. Her style is charismatic and more thoughtfully paced and presented than might at first appear - just look at the restrainedly dramatic close of the first chapter for instance.

On the Road has always been a rootless search for missing fathers and a place that can be home: cleverly, Jan prises open the gendered narrative of her own father, one where women and the children they conceived were always left behind, and takes his place as the journeyer... even while also being one of those children he took little to no responsibility for.

For all the subtext of trauma and abandonment, there's not a trace of self-pity here, and both Jan and her mother find their joys in small things, even as they fight off crisis, often through the interventions of some man. Yet neither woman ever loses - in this narrative, at least - her sense of independence.

This is definitely a book where the surface is saying one thing but there is a subterranean under text that is revealing a harsher story. But where there was only limited space for female voices in Kerouac's On the Road, this book rewrites that earlier text and regenders it decidedly feminine.

Many thanks to Dead Ink for an ARC via Netgalley

[Maggie Dianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVE this author. Do not let her father, Jack Kerouac, overshadow her! She can write!

[Whitney · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 their zodiac signs is entirely necessary. Nonetheless, this is a must read for anyone interested in the fringe and aftermath of the Beat Generation. Jan lived one hell of a life. Luckily, she lived long enough to tell about it. Mostly.

[Frances Rebollido · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read some opinions of her taking after her father, and I was wrong to assume that I'd find the resemblance in their writing style. Rather, I find hers to be "simple". Their lives couldn't be more similar though, despite the fact that they only met twice. A couple of chapters in and I had become so engrossed in her story. So much is happening and above it all, there is a muted sadness. Jan's penchant for exploration - both outside of and in herself - came at a great cost.

Her body of work should be read not solely in relation to Jack Kerouac. Although, if you are a fan of him, then knowing his role in her life might make you hate him even just a little bit.

What happens in the latter years of her short life is tragic. I've been digging through some outdated blogs for more information. I've lost most of the links but for anybody interested you can start here:

http://www.blacklistedjournalist.com/...

[Sian Lile-Pastore · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Anne-Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 pick one up off of the floor of his bedroom and say, "you'll like this" and then I read it and do. So yippee for Baby Driver and new love! The question is; Is Club 1041 big enough to hold both of our libraries? We'll find out soon enough.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Will make you hate Jack Kerouac and love Ginsberg.

[Tristy · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Ronni · Rating 5 out of 5]

BEST BOOK EVER

[Anoushka]

Really quite astonished by this. On the Road looms large over this work, though Jan does really quite inventive and interesting things with the presence of her father's shadow. She has a level of skill and preciseness to her language that she brings to the genre-specific errancy of the picaresque novel that reminds me of more of Kafka on the Shore than OTR. there is a Journey taken here that is at its core a metaphysical one. But even in the most glorious, nonsensical passages there is the potential for, at any moment, a sentence of under ten words that hits you like a gut punch, that reminds you that this is her real life, that these were the choices and situations that she was given, that she survived.

The younger Kerouac approaches foreignness/orientalism in a fascinating way as well. She is prone to the same 'bouts of ecstatic hooey' about the East as her father, but also hidden in this is what feels like a true engagement with foreignness through its juxtaposition with familiar places and cities of her life. New York is like the rest of the world to her; the rest of the world is like New York. Every place is rich with memory, just itching to pull her backwards into its water. Structurally I love the double-thread of childhood and her adolescence here, with the first strand ending just as the other one begins.

Interesting to finish this the day after watching Joachim Trier's Sentimental Value, which I feel might speak to this re: fathers and daughters and artmaking, and place as character/ghost. Will keep thinking on this.

[Max Arvidson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Immediately want to reread

[Arthur Kyriazis · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 intense than her fathers. Her father essentially abandoned and ignored her, and given that he was an alcoholic at the end of his years playing stickball in his pajamas in the streets of Lowell, he was unable to do anything but drink himself to death by the end of the sixties. Essential reading.

[Allan · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a fan of Jack Kerouac, I finally had to pick up the book by his only recognized child, Jan Kerouac. It is basically a book about a woman searching for acceptance and approval from men; it seems because she never received it from her absent father. Yet in many ways, the book read like a travelogue as well. She lives her life like one of the 'beat' characters in her father's books. She has adventures in South America as well as in many of the places and locales that appear in her father's books; San Francisco, Mexico, New York. It is a shame her life ended so soon. Her writing style feels more linear than her fathers. Hers is a voice I would have liked to seen more of.

[Anemona · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tenía unas ganas inmensas de leer a Jan Kerouac porque Jack Kerouac es mi favorito del movimiento beat y el culpable de que me encanten los libros donde hay viajes y experiencias que, si bien parecen fantasía, son muy reales.

La prosa de Jan no decepciona y tiene una fuerza arrolladora y a través de este relato autobiográfico nos muestra una vida intensa pero corta.
Es la heredera de su padre, pero para mí lo supera y es que en el libro se habla de temas controvertidos sin ningún pudor y es que no se puede juzgar a alguien que quiso exprimir cada segundo que tenía.

Ojalá tradujesen más obras suyas. Es una lástima que su talento haya pasado desapercibido.

[Jeff Tucker · Rating 4 out of 5]

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".

[Nate Jordon · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

As far as the "road book" goes, I find Jan superior to her father.

[Rossvassilev1976 · Rating 5 out of 5]

awesome biographical account of Jan's life: psych ward, juv. detention, Mexico....

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jack Kerouac's daughter's first memoir is as engaging as anything her old man wrote.

[Lysergius · Rating 4 out of 5]

What was that about the sins of the fathers being visited upon the children?

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://pussreboots.pair.com/blog/2016...

[Erika Skye · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 ⭐️

I saw this listed when I was looking up books set in Costa Rica (where I’m writing this review from). They are few and far between, and this one caught my eye because I’m a huge fan of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, and had no idea his daughter was a writer as well. (And neither do most people it seems — this book only has 498 ratings on Goodreads, which is criminal.)

Baby Driver is Jan Kerouac’s memoir covering her childhood, teen years, and early adulthood. When it starts, she’s 15 and pregnant, married to an older man and living in Mexico. The book details how she got there and her future travels throughout Central and South America.

Jan is an incredible writer and this book consistently slapped me in the face with stunning sentences. Of her first time taking drugs at age 12, she writes that the LSD “was breathing inside [her] like stellar yeast”. Stellar yeast! I mean, come on. She weaves a fascinating tale of a life that’s so distant from my own, it felt almost like encroaching, voyeuristically, into another world altogether. I loved reading this while flying towards my own Central American adventure, although it will be (hopefully?!) very different from hers.

[Morgan Fierro · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful stumbled upon find. Did not know Kerouac had a daughter but she is an incredible writer. She lived a crazy friggn life and is so open and unapologetic about it. I found myself gripped by her wanderings and often impulsive and rash decision making. Loved it.

[Colin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The comparisons to son père are impossible to avoid, but this Kerouac also writes with a wonderful impulsive propulsion about her, and if anything, is more adventurous than her father. Some really lovely moments of writing in this, and the alternating chapter structure works well.

[Quill&Queer]

- deadink publishing

[Kyle Schnitzer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good. Strong writing.

[Lindsey Shaffer · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author had beautiful prose, especially regarding the landscapes of the west coast and the south and central americas. Her experiences made for a fascinating and devastating read. However, I found it impossible to agree with or understand some of the wildly controversial and taboo ideas she was advocating for which made it difficult for me to truly connect with this novel

[Rene Low · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a raucous ride, a lyrical ode to a harrowing childhood that opened doors to the imagination of a little girl. More Hunter S than Jack Kerouac, Jan careens through life and in this book she lays it all bare. Unapologetic but not pretentious or arrogant this was an exciting and entertaining read.

[Mat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, this was not quite in the same league as On the Road but...okay stop.
I must stop myself. It is so tempting (and easy I might add) to draw comparisons but in this case, it would most certainly be unfair to compare the works of Kerouac Sr. (Jack) with Kerouac Jr. (Jan). Although there are definitely some similarities in the style and content of their writings - even Jan herself relates in Baby Driver how relived she felt to find that Jack had the same 'thought patterns' as her as a writer - there are also many differences.
The story is divided into two stages of her life; one when she is growing up as a child and teenager, the other when she is already an adult.
Her writing is very fluid, addictive and the reader gets a very similar heady rush and almost giddy feeling as you read that you are being swept along by another great adventure and one hell of a storyteller which she certainly was.

As other reviewers have already pointed out, not much of the story is about Jack so you Kerouac Sr. fans might be a wee bit disappointed reading this. Jan only met her dad TWICE throughout her whole life. Of course she hoped to meet him again but he died before she had the chance. Jack Kerouac certainly wasn't exactly what you would call an exemplary father. No, not at all. But I was amazed at the part in Baby Driver when a doctor at a hospital where Jan is staying (with TB) brings her a copy of On the Road and tells her she must read it, which she does, ends up reading it all night and understood more why he was never around. Jack - you have one very understanding daughter! If only you knew it!

So, is this worth reading? Hell yeah! This is a great story. Jan had such a harrowing life - some of it was definitely her own fault - whether we can put that down to poor choices, a lack of responsibility/common-sense or an unstable childhood Heaven knows. Heck I am no psychologist. Don't ask me. It could well be a combination of the above. Sometimes I think she just hung out with the wrong crowd. The Miguel character in the story (a bit of a psycho) adds great tension to this novel which temporarily changes the novel into a bit of a nail-biting thriller.

Highly recommended for fans of beat literature or fans of good 'ol plain narrative storytelling. Oh Jan, if only you could have lived a bit longer and got the recognition you most definitely deserved. I look forward to reading the sequel, Trainsong, and am REALLY REALLY HOPING and praying they are one day going to re-release Parrot Fever, her third and unfinished novel. Come on Mr. Nicosia - we need you to re-release the book!