On the Road- Kerouac

Just finished the book: something about the last paragraph, it vomited itself up to me like a sick, lost child and i cried...this is a beautiful story, a poignant, mad, gorgeous love story.

See, I don't think I'll ever see it like that. Ever. I'll pick up the book again when I'm fifty, rifle through it and think, 'don't waste your life'

Yeah, I almost cried at the end, and I'm not sure why. Most of the book I was emotionally detached, and didn't even like it till they hit mexico. Something just grabbed me at the end.

the fact it was the end of their adventure?

It was the way Dean Moriarty never found his father.

In a sense we are all searching for the same thing: our origins, something that gives meaning to our lives. You look elsewhere for happiness, but really your life is nothing more (or less) than what you make of it. It doesn't matter where you are. And in the end, neither Dean nor Sal were any better off than they were in the beginning. To some this makes their journey seem pretty futile, but it all works out in the end.

and that Dean traveled all that way to NYC for a matter of days, and they never said a proper bye, and he'd gone to such lengths to see him so briefly 5 1/2 weeks early, and here Sal's getting his act together, but Dean can't come along for the ride (also literally considering Remi wouldn't give him one)...and he's so loyal, and he loves Sal so much, and neither of them ever say so, but Sal finally, finally does...

I read On the Road and Dharma Bums just last year. At the time I was also writing a research paper on Allen Ginsberg for a class. If you know about Beats and their lives the book is so much better. They were a group of people that were very intelligent, and could've been "succesful" in societies view but they decided to give all that up, and lived life how they thought it should be lived. They understood that there is no such thing as right or wrong, and there is no "truth." Kerouac is always criticized for not having a plot, but he is writing about real life. There isn't a plot to life, it's just random sequence of events just as in his novels. Another admirable quality about the Beats was thier openess to different cultures and life's experiences. Not many people during the 50's (or even today for that matter) were open to drug use, anti-capitalist values, homosexulaity, different religions etc. etc.


Someone said they found the book depressing, I thought the complete oppisite.

I read On the Road and then tried to read the Dharma Bums, the quasi Buddhist ideas in turned me off. I was only 15 while reading On the Road and now I'm 16, Dean Moriaty (Neal Cassady) was such an expressive character that I got attached. Today I had to present a poem to my Advanced Writing class and I picked "Howl" just to see how it compared to all the Emily Dickenson and Robert Frost poems. Their still good but I guess I got more of a reaction after reading some of "Howl". I think I'm identifying with the Beats more than today's punks and goths. I don't have to buy much more than a few books and listen to jazz to call myself a Beat. I bet I sound queer to you older folks because I'm naive and unenlightened. Oh well, On the Road was a good book, had an effect on me, my poor delicate mind...

Dakota...liking/loving this book in no way made me open to drug use suddenly. Especially when my birth mom's been in and out of rehab for 3 decades because of speed, and a boy i've known since he was 5 months and 2 feet long is now experimenting with weed/hard liquor. So, much as I appreciate some facets of the book, in no way does "On the Road" make everyone who reads it, in whatever decade, a convert to all its aspects, and neither do they necessarily find them admirable.

so why don't you gather all of your albums, tapes and all of your cds together and burn them?

abdo, you obviously didn't read my whole post carefully. i liked most of "On the Road;" it was very moving.

What's obvious now? Did I mention On the Road in that post once, ever?

Uhh read my post, drug use is not very admirable. I bascially thought that in the late 40's they didn't see drugs as the danger they are now and were stupid for trying to "expand" their minds.

Hm...reread my post. I prefaced it with "Dakota." It wasn't directed at anything you wrote, Comrade. Ok? And I like reading comments by people who enjoyed the book besides moi. Though I totally understand people who don't - it took me years to pick it up again.

Oh I worded my post wrong, I know you weren't commenting about my post, I just wanted someone to respond to it. I was stating my general opinion about drug use in the novel. I'm new here so I guess I should be more careful.