Jack Kerouac- On the Road

[Auton]

Yeah I know that's the Kerouac book EVERYONE reads, and some of you probably think it's overrated...

...but wow! i just finished reading it for the first time, and i'm really blown away. really beautiful and incredibly depressing (for me at least). i love it. anyone else here a fan? any other books you recommend, kerouac or otherwise? i'm not looking for a duplicate, just another good book.

[zorra_chiflada]

i have on the road on my bookshelf; i read it when i was 15. and i dont' think i could fully understand or appreciate it at that age.

you should read some of his poems, and his automatic writing. i was really into that

[Auton]

nice. i believe i will (y)

[Ace42X]

any other books you recommend, kerouac or otherwise? i'm not looking for a duplicate, just another good book.

Anything by Hunter S Thompson, Naked Lunch by Bill Burroughs.

[ms.peachy]

and some of you probably think it's overrated...

Tremendously. I understand how in the context of it's time and all it may have seemed pretty radical, but frankly as a young woman, I felt that that book had nothing to offer me. A bunch of poorly behaved loser guys who treat women like shit and have no respect for anyone, wow, how revolutionary :rolleyes:

[Auton]

i dont really think it was about women. and the main character (as well as the neal cassidy/dean moriarty character) had alot of respect for other people. i dont see how its hard to pick up... he's incredibly sympathetic

[ms.peachy]

i dont really think it was about women. and the main character (as well as the neal cassidy/dean moriarty character) had alot of respect for other people. i dont see how its hard to pick up... he's incredibly sympathetic
I don't think it was meant to be 'about' women, but the fact is that every female character in it is so minor and is effectively 'used and discarded'. The only vaguely, vaguely positive female character was the wife of the Bear guy, and really all you hear of her is that they would hear her through the walls talking to her husband for a long time late into the night. But in the daytime, she was quiet and busied herself with staying out of the boys' way and preparing food. Oooh.

This is the thing with books though - they have something to offer to you personally, or they don't. I'm happy for you to have found something in it that was valuable to you, but for me, I came away from it empty handed - there was nothing in it for me.

[monkey]

my response was gonna be almost the same as ms peachy's.

yep.

i find vonnegut more interesting. and my favorite, all time favorite author, is george orwell. but that's neither here nor there.

[abcdefz]

my response was gonna be almost the same as ms peachy's.




...mine too, but not quite as negative.

The manuscript -- that roll of paper he typed it on -- just went on display someplace around here. Supposedly it has no spelling errors. I think that's the part of the book that impressed me the most.

Like Truman Capote said of it, "That's not writing, that's just typing!" :D

[cosmo105]

yeah, i liked it


when i was in 8th grade

[hardnox71]

I have not gotten to On the Road yet. I've been meaning to for a while. I started Kerouac's The Subterraneans about two years ago and quickly put it down once I discovered what a jumbled mess it was.

I did recently read A Raisin In the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry (never read it in school), Inside Out: An Insiders Account of Wall Street by Dennis Levine (about a junk bond scandal at Drexel, Burnham and Lambert in the late 80's) and Run, Baby, Run by Nicki Cruz (true story about him quitting the gangs and drugs and turning his life to God).

[b-grrrlie]

I really should read it again, it's been at least 20 years. And there it sits in the bookshelf.

[hardnox71]

One book I continue to read at least once a year is Manchild In the Promised Land by Claude Brown.

I love that book.

[Ace42X]

I don't think it was meant to be 'about' women, but the fact is that every female character in it is so minor and is effectively 'used and discarded'.

Surely that is a good thing? Realism.

[DIGI]

yeah, i liked it


when i was in 8th grade


word.

[cookiepuss]

I would move right on into Dharma Bums. that's my personal Kerouac favorite (probably because much of it takes place in the Bay Area in places I have actually been to)

[ms.peachy]

Surely that is a good thing? Realism.
So, now we know the secret of your legendary success with the lay-deez.

[Ace42X]

So, now we know the secret of your legendary success with the lay-deez.

That and my ten inch wang.

[ms.peachy]

That and my ten inch wang.
Oh yes of course, that too.

[HEIRESS]

hey auton you gotta read this book

when I was cool (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060005661/103-0004426-7866258?v=glance&n=283155)

[Auton]

yeah, i liked it


when i was in 8th grade

in 8th grade huh? guess that was before you discovered the internet and actually read books.

[Auton]

Oh, and thanks for the suggestions, Ace, Heiress and Cookiepuss (y)