'On The Road' by Jack Kerouac. What do you think?

Question

I'm like half way through this book. I don't know, there is a natural and really unavoidable expectation for this book to be something of a revelation to the reader. I know if it's because of the hype or what, but I feel a bit non-plussed with it so far. Anybody get me?

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

Hi there.
The book was earth-shaking in its day, but that was long ago.
Worth reading to see how it all started, mind you, but the clapped-out hippies from the 60's who are now the bankers, editors and critics of today still remember it over-fondly.
Same goes for books like "Fear of Flying" and "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance".
Cheers, Steve.

Answer 2

Glad you like it half way. It is just a book and an anachronism. There has been much social change since the book was published so it is less relevant.

Answer 3

I had high hopes for Kerouac, I really did. I wanted to like him. But after reading The Darhma Bums, I was sorely disappointed. He went from the image in my head of a beat writer who saw the flaws in modernization to a hobo with "make-it-up-as-you-go-along-Buddhism" who really just didn't want to shave and get a job. So, I haven't read On the Road, but I really wouldn't be surprised if it sucked. Maybe you have to smoke something to "get it". I dunno.

Answer 4

Yes. I wanted so much from it that never actually emerged. That may have been function of the way I read it - throwing myself into it without any deep thought or analysis, letting it wash over me and gliding along on the impressions it created. In the end, I wondered if I had been gliding along on the impressions I WANTED it to have created. It left me feeling deflated .... disappointed, as though I had made love to a blow-up doll rather than with a flesh and blood partner. I bet that makes no sense to you whatsoever! It failed to reinforce my sense of cool at the time or to inspire a spirit of adventure in me or to plant the seeds of new, exciting insights.

I kept the book intending to re-read it later. Over 30 years later, it still sits on the shelf, yellowing but unopened, alongside Desolation Angels, Dharma Bums and others.

Answer 5

I didn't love it as much as i hoped i would, unfortunately it's a book that is surrounded by a lot of hype and has become almost legendary by some people who just want to look intellectual and "cool" by saying that it changed their lives. I wish someone had said to me forget everything you have heard about this book and judge it purely on it's own merits, it might have happened for me more as a book. In the end I just found it a pleasant read and little more. All though it did re-ignite my desire to travel.

Stick with it, it's worth finishing.