4thace reviewed On the Road by Jack Kerouac
Review of 'On the Road' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
It's hard to fault Kerouac for his enthusiasm searching for meaning and love on the highways of mid-century America, even with its flaws. The passion called to so many writers and artists of the last sixty years and influenced American culture. it seems almost beside the point to consider whether the characters were likable or real because of the long shadow the book has cast even now long after the country has changed so much.
If you cannot share the narrator's fascination with the mess that is Dean Moriarty, who is portrayed as a kind of divine fool even as he leaves damage in other people's lives as he passes through, you probably won't like this book. Kerouac's innovation in narrative voice which felt so fresh after the war is significant enough to me to categorize this book as worthy of some admiration, but as a story I found it …
It's hard to fault Kerouac for his enthusiasm searching for meaning and love on the highways of mid-century America, even with its flaws. The passion called to so many writers and artists of the last sixty years and influenced American culture. it seems almost beside the point to consider whether the characters were likable or real because of the long shadow the book has cast even now long after the country has changed so much.
If you cannot share the narrator's fascination with the mess that is Dean Moriarty, who is portrayed as a kind of divine fool even as he leaves damage in other people's lives as he passes through, you probably won't like this book. Kerouac's innovation in narrative voice which felt so fresh after the war is significant enough to me to categorize this book as worthy of some admiration, but as a story I found it ultimately rather hard going. I'm sure that if I read this at the age Kerouac was when he wrote it I would have given it a higher rating though.
