On the Road- Kerouac

Wow. I did NOT like this book. Kerouac BORES me. (heh heh. That ought to get a discussion going) Well, I mean... it's like this spiritual journey where the characters hardly develop as they travel around the US with no direction in their lives. Kinda feel like shaking my fist at them and screaming 'get a job you hippies!' Worst thing is, it made me FEEL like I actually WAS on a road trip. A long trip going nowhere with that eternal feeling of 'are we there yet?' I would love to read Neal Cassady's letters though. 'Cause at the same time, it made me feel llike going on a road trip. Life is so dull and mediocre. I love the idea of cruising downhill with the motor off and the clutch in. I feel like taking someone's car, tracking down a large hill and doing that. In Dunedin, they have these great steep cliffside roads with the most beautiful views.... I'd love to just cruise by there.... On the Road made me feel like my life was really claustrophobic. Like-'stop this car! I'm getting out.' Stupid Kerouac. Make me realise there's something else out there. Geez. I hate it when authors do that. :mad: :( :)

Who cares what you think? You don't exist.

I'm all too real. Besides, I was just trying to get a discussion going. There isn't much in General Lit right now... I didn't really DISlike it, I just didn't like it much either. Come up with a better reason to ignore my opinion than that. How about I'm too stupid to appreciate it, or the fact I contradict myself in my last post? Doesn't that sound like I'm too indeterminate in my opinion?

Have you read it? I mean, you said you had just bought it or something, or am I mistaken? *getting confused* I remember it's awfully long and as I said I wondered how the hell I read it all, it's so useless... If I wrote a 500 pages book about my daily bus journeys to university and back, it'd be waaaaaay more interesting, at least I happen to have some real adventures at times...

Shut up, both of you.

Don't mess with American Pride.

Since none of you were born when this book was written, let alone had the opportunity to grow up in pre-60s America, the best advice I can give you is wait a few years, grow up, get jobs, face life in the cubicle for a few more years, then sit down and re-read the book. The sense of liberation it captures, as well as the world-weariness, then may have more meaning for you. Of course, the American road Kerouac traveled doesn't really exist anymore, which I guess makes that book even more meaningful for some of us.

ihrocks
The Aging Hippie Woman

P.S. -- Ever decide to throw an askew glance over "Howl" and there'll be hell to pay!

Koa, I have read it. I was only half way through when I wrote it 'sucked' in another thread though. It's a pretty easy read, if you don't mind the lack of plot. I still don't LIKE it-it's not as great as everyone makes it out to be. Whether or not it's a good book remains to be disputed though. Even though I don't like it, I generally think any book that manages to have some sort of effect on you is good, just because it had the ability to do that.

Ihrocks, I get the point. I got the point when I finished the book (I don't sit around for years with a book trying to work out what it's about. :mad: and if I did, I'm sure I wouldn't come to any greater conclusions), anyway that's the thing that got under my skin. That's sort of what I meant in my last post.... it makes me realise how claustophobic my life is, and suddenly I want to hop a plane to Alaska. that's what I meant when I said that kerouac made me realise there's something else out there. (damn him) But the bum lifestyle appeals waaaayyy too much for me(more than it should), and the book left me with the feeling that I'd like to run wild and free and at the same time I KNOW I can't. Which is largely what irritates me about it. If it was just some book about people on a road I'd simply find it boring. Since it's more about life, I find it .... *pausing to think of word* almost depressing. No, irritating. No, the thing I'll use in my defense in the insanity hearing when the courts are left to decide my future.

p.s Abdo, I'll mess with American pride all I like.

Did you know America has plans to go to war with Australia?

Oh, so John Howard's little love affair with Bush didn't work out?

uh-oh. Current politics. Back on topic!

well...back to the road; i am slightly embarassed to admit that got this book as a gift from my beloved brother...started to read it about 4 years ago, and couldn't; it put me to sleep in the same manner that studying the stamp act did. maybe maybe should go feed the brain cells left in limbo when i stopped turning the pages... thanx, ihrocks

I've never read it....what road does he travel?

Jonus

Stupid, lazy Australians and their crocodile hunter . . .

(Munro being aware that he is the only exception.)

Kerouac isn't a bum; compared to Miller, he is a responsible citizen.

First Kerouac, now Miller??? Who's next? :)

Sorry, fayefaye, didn't mean to lecture. Obviously, I wasn't bored by Kerouac. And btw, Kerouac wasn't a hippie. As a member of the Beat Generation, he pre-dates the hippies by a considerable margin. It also makes him a great deal more interesting. It's always fascinating to me how the generation that came of age in the 1960s (especially in America) tends to claim credit for a great many things that really came well before them, like the Beats, Rock n' Roll, and the Civil Rights Movement.

Uh-oh, I may be lecturing again! I better stop now.

irhocks

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Originally posted by fayefaye
it makes me realise how claustophobic my life is, and suddenly I want to hop a plane to Alaska. that's what I meant when I said that kerouac made me realise there's something else out there. (damn him) But the bum lifestyle appeals waaaayyy too much for me(more than it should), and the book left me with the feeling that I'd like to run wild and free and at the same time I KNOW I can't. Which is largely what irritates me about it. If it was just some book about people on a road I'd simply find it boring. Since it's more about life, I find it .... *pausing to think of word* almost depressing. No, irritating. No, the thing I'll use in my defense in the insanity hearing when the courts are left to decide my future. [/B]

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Thankfully I didn't get that. I'm like that all the time: would like to be anywhere but here. I'd like to travel and live somewhere for 6 months and somewhere else for the other 6 (alwyas in an emisphere where it's winter :D) and so on... It's a mood I often have, don't need Kerouac or whoever.

Still I have a feeling that this book is overrated....might be because of the nostalgics? ;)

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Originally posted by ihrocks
First Kerouac, now Miller??? Who's next? :)

And btw, Kerouac wasn't a hippie. As a member of the Beat Generation, he pre-dates the hippies by a considerable margin. It also makes him a great deal more interesting. It's always fascinating to me how the generation that came of age in the 1960s (especially in America) tends to claim credit for a great many things that really came well before them, like the Beats, Rock n' Roll, and the Civil Rights Movement.

Uh-oh, I may be lecturing again! I better stop now.

irhocks

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ihrocks, I am quite confused with the Beats vs. hippies... I though that Kerouac did have some influence with the latter...

so how did really hippies get started?

would you know if there's any literary or other figure that could take credit for hippies? at least in part? or would that be just Jerry Rubin?

actually I am writing a research paper on the sixties, but unforunately (or really?) was not around then. would very appreciate a piece of advice (as long as the society here won't mind that it is rather off topic...)

-

aiks

Koa, you'd understand On the Road better if you were American. I know I wouldn't care for a book about some guy roaming through Italy.

aiks, strands get highjacked all the time here. Dont be shy ;). Oh and Abs, I'm not Spanish and I liked Don Quixotie.

wow!!!
faye, i certainly didn't like it much 'tall when i first picked the book up (like when i first read tolkien in my rosy youth (doesn't that sound Awful :))) but, re-reading it - simply because of this thread - must say i Like.
maybe (?) that's the trick with this particular book...give your life time to grow on it

Ihrocks-I know he wasn't a hippie. I was just using the hippie statement to illustrate my point. Conjures up images of crazy, cynical, bitter old ladies telling people to keep off the lawn, the phrase 'Get a job, hippies!'

koa-hooray! Another person who loves winter.

azmuse- I know I will hold the same opinions regardless of my age. Either way, when I'm old and senile, I'll be able to find better ways to entertain myself than re-read On the Road.

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Originally posted by AbdoRinbo
Koa, you'd understand On the Road better if you were American. I know I wouldn't care for a book about some guy roaming through Italy.

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I thought of it but I'm not sure it matters... It might be interesting to see someone wandering through a country... if it was a travel report :D No, really, maybe it's something about the mentality, there's something (some kind of feeling) in the USA I can't really get, because I've never been there.

But as I said I'm not sure it matters with the book...I love Russian literature even if I'm not Russian...

Yeah-all the people who I've met who've read it say it's SUCH a GREAT book[the reason I wanted to read it so much in the first place]. And they're Australian. I don't see why it should be an 'American' thing.

sorry, i put my comments on On the Road in the wrong place! I guess I should read the names off all the discussions first.

If the book was irritating/depressing, which I agree it was, it's because it steals life options. When you're sitting in one place for a while and you get that itch to up and leave, you can always console yourself with fantasies of what life on the road would be like. But with Kerouac, you realize that life on the road is not all it's cracked up to be, and that it would most likely steal your sanity, and anything else of value you have. After on the road, I don't want to stay and I don't want to leave. Somebody give me some options!

I could not believe just how boring I found "On the Road." I expected it to be exciting from all I had heard about it. He travels back and forth over the country and not much happens. He meets a girl and even that was boring.
"Travels with Charlie" by Steinbeck was a better road book and he had no one with him but his dog.
If dropping everything to hit the open road is as boring as the book was to read I might as well keep going to work everyday.

Sounds like lots of people reading "On the Road" with no concept of what the Beat Generation was all about.

The term "Beat," despite popular misconceptions, was not a reference to jazz music, though jazz seemed to always being swinging along in the background. "Beat" is an American slang term that means "exhausted," "defeated," and "worn out." That was the Beat Generation.

ihrocks

Going out on a limb here, but I'll make a recommendation to those of you who find "On the Road" too long and too <<shudders>> boring...

There is a little book called "Diary of Rock n' Roll Star" by Ian Hunter (yes, that ih). It is short, it is a road story, and it is filled with fisticuffs, adventures, and just a hint, a hint mind you, of sex. After you read it, you'll feel compelled to shower to get the six weeks of road grunge off you. My only word of warning is that there is some politically incorrect language (black people are referred to as "spades" but it is out of ignorance and not malice).

It is considered, by some, a classic of rock 'n roll literature, and perhaps some of you might be inspired to listen to the music of IH and Mott the Hoople. If only one of you does, then my job here is done.

I'll probably live to regret this.

ihrocks

...further into "On the Road" - and Liking it. Then again, I've been in all western states except Montana and the Dakotas, and lived on both coasts...still. It is like reliving a wonderful, wonderful excursion that i never appreciated while i was in it.

Bless you, azmuse. I was beginning to despair.

ihrocks

Quote:

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Originally posted by piquant
If the book was irritating/depressing, which I agree it was, it's because it steals life options. When you're sitting in one place for a while and you get that itch to up and leave, you can always console yourself with fantasies of what life on the road would be like. But with Kerouac, you realize that life on the road is not all it's cracked up to be, and that it would most likely steal your sanity, and anything else of value you have. After on the road, I don't want to stay and I don't want to leave. Somebody give me some options!

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yeah-that's sorta how it made me feel. Like I hate road trips, but want to travel. Conflicting emotions.

Ihrocks, yeah, before I read it I did some research into the beat generation and learned that stuff. It definately made my reading more enjoyable. I liked on the road, I just didn't like the way it made me feel. It made me really understand the beat generation, and feel a bit beat myself. I felt a breathless, exhausting despair when I finished it. I was beat.

I didn't like On the Road, but I can respect it as a book because it made me feel something. Books that can alter how you think or feel generally deserve a little credit. Thing is, if Sal Paradise and co. were beat, it was from doing whatever they felt like doing 24/7. That sense of freedom-you gotta envy that.

p.s. I was going to criticize plot, but I'll spare ihrocks. ;)

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?