On the Road by Jack Kerouac Book Review

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Books mentioned:
-On the Road by Jack Kerouac

All books were purchased by me or were gifts from family and friends. This is not a sponsored video.

[ct]

I believe you completely ignored the story and looked for the things you were looking for. These are very modern takes on someone's very old experiences. As a Mexican woman myself I found nothing to be offended about. He was very radical for his time and stood up for the minorities. Society at that time did it's absolute best to separate races and Jack Kerouac didn't do that. Kerouac was a dreamer and that isn't always pretty or exciting enough for other people. If anything, I think it's too much reality for some people.

[kharina]

If you tell a true story, you can't be wrong.”
― Jack Kerouac

[kaypolo_]

my granny got an old saying eat the chicken & throw away the bones which is sorta like find the good in something take in in and discard the negative. Im a black dude so the racism in the book is clearly visible but in my opinion seems more subtle than out right malicious or antagonistic.As well I understand why women would be dissatisfied with the portrayal and treatment of women within the narrative but i feel the negatives of the book are simply a product of their time (not to say there weren't people with different perspectives at the time). Similar to alot of the sexism within Aristotle's philosophical works (just a product of the time). This novel was written before The Civil Rights Act, Segregation was still technically legal & around only 30% of women were in the workforce. This book is inherently impacted by people who lived through that time and were on the "otherside" of those problems. That naturally leads to some views that are not so good and in retrospect are even worse when we filter them through the lens of our current ethics but I don't think that it robs this book of the significant meaning it's imbued with or make's the story any less valid (It's simply just one perspective in a world of many). The tale of lost young men searching for a deeper meaning and themselves in the late 40's early 50's seeing places they hadn't seen before, trying to fill a void within themselves, the moments of quiet isolation, the philosophical notions of the journey being worth more than the destination and living in the present moment and being fully where you are contrasted against the tension of always seeking something unfound plus the subtly implications of eastern philosophy create an immersive and unique emotionally longing sense across the book. I read the book at 17 and re-read it recently at 23. As a young man who moved around and was kinda lonely & distant I connected with that sense of seeking and the tension between peace and melancholy in the books. Sure there's a lot of negatives we can analyze within this book and im sure those negative are even more striking to women but I still think there is a lot of good to be gain from this book. It was a great read with some beautiful use of language.

[AvalancheUKOfficial]

I agree with every single point you make and there are 2 things you overlooked:
1: you are criticising it for not portraying a complete sense of Americana which of course you are accurate in saying but that accolade of the book was only a critic’s opinion - this is the author’s/ main character’s viewpoint on Americana and as a reader, I would not expect him to give a well rounded account of Mexican females. We are interested here in HIS take. It is a counter-viewpoint but from a clearly, intelligent person which is unique.
2: what we love about the book is the lack of form, like the jazz music of the time. He’s deciding things on a whim, travelling where others aren’t, acting in defiance of the confines of the traditional way of life and describing a country in a way nobody reading would ever have known - commercial air travel to experience America was not around.
So yes, it has little plot, the people are flawed but the readers connect with the adventure and unique writing style and the uncensored opinions.
The truth. Which is rare. And if he instead did so from the perspective of a mexican female, it’d be a totally different perspective than the one you know!! So you probably still wouldn’t like it.

[bjdeee]

Your review really blew it, I suggest reread it with a different perspective.I think of Dean think of Dean Moriarty

[BrookeAllyceHuntsman]

I am really glad I finally read this one. I didn't enjoy it at first, but fell in love with Kerouac's writing style as it went on. I've traveled quite a bit across America and some in Mexico and it felt like reminiscing with an old friend about our younger days, but this wasn't one of my favorite books until that last chapter--
I've never experienced reading a slew of sentences so meaningful to me. The final words of the book gave the exhilarating, youthful, and sometimes tumultuous relationship between Dean and Sal so much heart and mortality. It captured perfectly how you never know when it will be the last time you see someone and it was heartbreakingly realistic in how the end of an era sneaks up on you. Life just keeps on going in the shadow of what once was. It's one of those books that is more meaningful as a whole, viewed from an entire lifetime's perspective instead of critiqued for it's individual scenes and the unethical time period in which it takes place.

[Baki-p]

"Do you remember who you were before the world told you who to be?"

[huzaifaarif]

I think the author mainly used Sal's divorce (which could have been better explored) and Dean's awful childhood as justification for the gap in their lives and their desperate need to fill it with sex, drugs, alcohol. But we do see it as unsustainable and the characters are not likeable in any way. For me it was more the prose and the American landscape that made it good

[louisachalarca]

The difference is comments is all you need to know about the hatred of women going unnoticed by ‘coincidence’ all men and older generations using the YOU CANT JUDGE BY TODAYS STANDARDS like that is addressing the actual critique or the subtle well you can’t read …..

[mwest]

I got to page 50 and thought better of it and DNF. Your video shows that my intuition was correct. I think JK was a hack and a few critics liked it and so he gained a misguided group of followers. It's hype, pure and simple. There it is. Done.

[skullduggery]

"this book is on the lot of best books written"...lol. it helps to actually be literate before verbally reviewing a novel.

[MichaelHernandez-doie]

Sorry I was harsh. It was written for men, its true. But he wasnt being racist or abusing women. His words still meant something. It helps if you smoke pot and like jazz

[ayushc]

If you are THIS senstive about a book written decades ago then may be you should choose books more carefully.

[Lynnamon]

As a writer, something that you learn is that not everyone is going to admire your work. And that is fine! When you put art into the world, some people like it and others don't. I read On The Road myself and I kinda have the same opinion as you. There are moments with Jack's prose where I'm like completely taken away. Like he had talent, but there are other moments where you can see the Benzedrine, coffee-induced just take over and it's like "ok, man. Where we going with this?" Also, the women in the book are just... fucking hell. Like I love the moments where he just wants to talk and cuddle and not particularly have sex, which surprised me, but yea... outside of that... I get where you're coming from. And the racism of the book, it didn't really surprise me. I couldn't help but roll my eyes lol. I do think that this is book is DEFINITELY A PRODUCT OF ITS TIME. I do think that certain aspects do transcend the time it was written, like wanting to understand yourself, and this is blue bubble rock that we call home, and your country, and etc. But other aspects were just fucking ew.

Also writers like James Baldwin and Truman Capote didn't fuck with this book. I'm sure that many more didn't either.

[marcusp]

Might not be ur cup of tea but I deeply enjoyed it. I'm the rebel type and love to travel. So it's a good book but u dnt like it that's diff then it being a bad book and it was written in the 50s so yeah it's a little politicaly incorrect but it's a good book.

[shadyx]

Do you know the context behind the book?

[sorryimsosad]

The racism was subtle and of the time. It’s gross now but what are we gonna do go back and slap Jack Kerouac? It’s a window to a more ignorant and confusing time and an example of why it’s bad.

[jonathonglover]

I put this book in the same category as The Secret History by Donna Tartt, in that there is a social commentary in there (about disengaged White men post WW2 and elite white men - and 1 woman - in college) that gets lost in the romanticising of the culture. While there is a social point to be made, it is actually the glorifying of these rather toxic traits found in the books that make me not enjoy them so much.

If I was to analyse it today, While some of the language and attitude towards POC and women are challenging, the book also shows the disenfranchising effects of the patriarchy and capitalism on everyone in society. It’s hard not to want to hear the marginalised voices in the text, but definitely hints at the middle class malaise in the post war period.

[slbbrk]

Thanks for publishing this review. I am a 60 year old white male reading this for the first time as part of Prof Amy Hungerford's open course on post 1945 literature. I will keep your comments in mind as I read on and take in her lectures.I admit that prior to hearing your review I was reacting as you were to the treatment of women, but I was with him when he spoke positively of his black neighbor's great laugh. I'll be reading more closely now

[BookishTexan]

I find it difficult to believe that in today's world anyone other than a white male reader would enjoy _On The Road_ . I think the book has more value as a cultural artifact (as the foundational document of the Beatnik movement) than as a work of fiction. When I was a young man the appeal of rejecting cultural norms as Sal Paradise and the others do did have some appeal. The sad part is that the Beats racial attitudes at the time were considered by many to be less racist and a rejection of American racial attitudes. Whatever their intentions regarding race, Kerouac's racial attitudes reflect those of a privileged white man congratulating himself for being willing to associate with people of different races and ethnicities. So, still racist. The misogyny of the work of the Beatniks makes much of it unreadable.