Book Review

[Bobby]

On the Road is a fictional book about a man named Sal, who travels across the United States. Sal makes three cross country road trips in the book some with his best friends others by himself. The book was written in 1951 by Jack Kerouac. This book defined a generation and a certain type of person. It narrates what it was like for these type of people. People that would travel around the country, people that don’t always know where they are going to stay the night or when there next meal will be. Despite the books praise from the media I personally did not like the book. The two major things I didn’t like about the book was the authors writing style and the plot.
The book starts out with Sal meeting the infamous Dean Moriatary in New York. They immediately bond and become good friends. After forming a philosophical group of friends they all head out west to Denver except for Sal. Sal then leaves on a nationwide road trip that ends in San Francisco. Sal meets up with all of his friends in Denver but moves on to California and eventually back to New York. Later on Dean comes back to New York and takes Sal on another road trip, this time going down to Louisiana and once again ending in San Francisco. After this adventure, Sal stays in Denver and Dean goes to New York. After one final road trip ending in Mexico City. Throughout the course of the story the reader is introduced to a plethora of characters and settings.
The story moved by really fast and lacked a good plot. There was no conflict that was introduced throughout the story. All of the problems Sal faced were minor and he overcame then within every couple of pages. No suspense was built at all at any point of the novel. The only conflict that arguably was present through the entire story was that Sal was lost and looking to find himself or a new way to live. Still that “conflict” wasn’t always clear and wasn’t presented until half way through the book.
The major thing that I did not like about the book was the authors writing style. Jack Kerouac seemed to ramble on about pointless information that subtracted from the overall story. At time this was interesting, but since he did it so much it lost its effect after the first couple of chapters. At times he would get really philosophical and other times he would just be describing things on a surface level. The created an interesting contrast but I was not a fan of it. You have to be a patient reader to like Jack Kerouac.
I personally would not recommend this book to a casual reader. The type of person who would enjoy this book would have to be very patient reader. If one is looking for a story to read with a good dramatic arc, this is not that type of book. Despite the fact that this book is considered an American classic to some, it did not live up to the hype. I was very disappointed by the book and would not recommend it.

[Karen]

This book is not meant to have a conflict, a plot, or suspense that you see in other styles of literature taught in English class. And it is a style that some do not connect with- it is a book also purposely written to evoke the feeling of moving fast. I personally did like it very much, but again, it is a unique style of writing.

[Jennifer]

Karen wrote: "This book is not meant to have a conflict, a plot, or suspense that you see in other styles of literature taught in English class. And it is a style that some do not connect with- it is a book also..."

Cheers, Karen! Very well put.

[Karen]

J wrote; "Cheers, Karen! Very well put"

Thanks!

[Christine]

I personally love this book! But Kerouac did NOT set out to right a traditional plot based fiction. As a matter of fact, the book is actually NOT fiction, it is his real experience -- names changed to protect the not so innocent :) Kerouac's agents made the insightful move to publish it as fiction rather than face potential lawsuits.

Granted, the style is not for everyone and it seems increasingly people are not understanding it. Especially now in our world of form fed fiction.

[Will]

I prefer Kerouac as an older author, i.e. Dharma Bums and Big Sur, but his use of stream of consciousness is meant to show the truths, both beautiful and ugly, of life through life's minutia. It is to capture moments as they happen. It is sort of a literary form of Impressionism, where the painter hopes to capture moments of light.
While this book is "fictional", today he probably would have it printed in essays like David Sadaris, but at the time of his debut novel On the Road, there was not a large market for life stories of a wandering beatnik. In later books he changes the names of Dean and Sal, and in Big Sur he gives Cody as the real name of Dean.

[Karen]

Will wrote: "I prefer Kerouac as an older author, i.e. Dharma Bums and Big Sur, but his use of stream of consciousness is meant to show the truths, both beautiful and ugly, of life through life's minutia. It is..."

I liked Big Sur very much also, please read my review of it. I also loved On the Road and laughed so much while reading it- Jack and I do have the same sense of humor. He really is close to my heart for more reasons than his writing. I loved Desolation Angels.