Name: Vojtech's review of On The Road by Jack Kerouac
Item: On The Road
Rating: 5
Author: Vojtech

Jack Kerouac

This counterculture classic reveals the escapades of members of the beat generation as they seek pleasure and meaning while traveling coast to coast

On The Road

Explaining the vibe and ambivalence of the book in one sentence. 

Stephanie 

Bitterness, recriminations, advice, morality, sadness - everything was behind him, and ahead of him was the ragged and ecstatic joy of pure being.

And is it a good or a bad feeling? Because for me it’s kind of both at the same time. 

What is that feeling when you're driving away from people and they recede on the plain till you see their specks dispersing? - it's the too-huge world vaulting us, and it's good-by. But we lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies.

He seems to me to be headed for his ideal fate, which is compulsive psychosis dashed with a jigger of psychopathic irresponsibility and violence.

There’s so much power in this thought. 

'Why do you have that ugly thing hanging there?' and Bull said, 'I like it because it's ugly'

Lucille would never understand me because I like too many things and get all confused and hung-up running from one falling star to another till I drop. This is the night, what it does to you. I had nothing to offer anybody except my own confusion. 

Isn't it true that you start your life a sweet child believing in everything under your father's roof? Then comes the day of the Laodiceans, when you know you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, and with the visage of a gruesome grieving ghost you go shuddering through nightmare life. 

I love how Kerouac is able to describe situations in a way that you are able to feel them deep down in your body.  

Ah, it was a fine night, a warm night, a wine-drinking night, a moony night, and a night to hug your girl and talk and spit and be heavengoing. This we did. 

We lay on our backs, looking at the ceiling and wondering what God had wrought when He made life so sad. 

Oh god. Can we please make this a socially acceptable standard for ending conversations?

'Now, when I raise my hand,' said Dean, 'we'll stop talking, we'll both understand purely and without any hassle that we are simply stopping talking, and we'll just sleep.'

YES. Meeting people with whom you can break off polite, meaningless small talk but burn with them is magical. Conversations that don't drain you, but fuel you. 🖤

Because the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn. 

Aske Dørge

Vojtech

Michael Springer

Before reading this book I was totally buying the romance of Jack Kerouac. Hopping trains and bumming around and being an artist all sounded like the cat's pajamas. Who needs to revise? Just spiritually connect with living in the moment and write down your constant brilliant epiphanies.

This book sorta disenchanted me. You see, even as a high school senior I recognized that this book was pretty mediocre, and wasn't super-deep, and was like an older and shittier version of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. If Dean Moriarty weren't always travelling, he'd be impossible to deify. He'd be just another frat boy. Kerouac himself wasn't a troubadour. He had natural talent, but never honed his skill, and in my opinion he now pales in comparison to Ginsberg and Ferlinghetti. That was his choice, and I'm sure some people will strongly disagree, but it only took this one book for me to decide I was done with Kerouac.

But, I can't give it less than three stars because he had one moment of amazing inspiration in here and gave me one of my favorite quotes ever:

“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes "Awww!”

Katherine Yang

Perhaps this requires background reading on the history of this movement and this author, but I was surprised and underwhelmed by a book that has supposedly inspired a generation of people to up and leave for 'the road'. Some lovely turns of phrases, but mostly I was just, like, "debauchery," and "ugh", and "what's your point, though?"

Easy to read, simple concepts with notes of nostalgy. A good introduction to Jack Kerouac's writing. 

Nina Alexandra Bacrau

Follows the counterculture escapades of members of the Beat generation as they seek pleasure and meaning while traveling coast to coast.

On the Road

Overall I liked it, but reading it is a new king a torture, everything goes haywire and everything is almost blurry like a picture that has troubles staying put 

Héloïse Marconnet

Overall I liked it, but reading it is a new king a torture, everything goes haywire and everything is almost blurry like a picture that has troubles staying put 



Follows the counterculture escapades of members of the Beat generation as they seek pleasure and meaning while traveling coast to coast. Reissue.

Todd Luallen

A book describing the travels of a rudderless ship that has the most powerful engine in the world, and the narrator that follows him. I wanted to read this book because it comes up frequently in lists of books that inspired others, and because it is somewhat credited with starting the beatnik movement. I did not enjoy the book, but I did appreciate the glimpse into American history that it detailed. And I also somewhat appreciated the poetic writing style of Kerouac, but it wasn't enough to make it enjoyable. The main characters come across like modern day frat boys that are starved for sex and adventure as they travel back and forth across America in the 1950's. If you must read this book, I highly recommend the Audible version, as Will Patton did an exceptional job of narrating.

Alfredo santos

fast, frivolous, honest, down to earth, sense of freedom

„Bitterness, recriminations, advice, morality, sadness - everything was behind him, and ahead of him was the ragged and ecstatic joy of pure being.“ - the vibe of the book summed up in one sentence.

Kerouacs style of writing might not be everyone’s tea; I adored it. He filled my head with visions of wild open American plains,  roadside diners, mountains, and extraordinary sunsets. He made me feel the wind in my hair, smell the road, getting chills while watching stars on a clear night in the middle of nowhere. Just imagine what it must have been like, traveling without cell phones, weeks of planning. Only you, your company, the road and endless possibilities. These are the joyous and exciting parts. Then there’s the opposite. Kerouac has a talent to put so much power in really short sentences expressing desperation, hurt and disappointment questioning life, love and friendship. I loved how subtle he did it. It didn’t feel like obviously quotable quotes but something he simply needed to get off his chest.

What partly annoyed me was the plot itself. This is not a book you read for the plot and I‘m totally fine with that. I can sit there, indulge in a uncomplicated plot and enjoy the vibe. That didn’t always work in this case because I ended up being confused and lost in the story too many times. There is an extraordinary bunch of (side) characters, places, backstories, acquiantances and random plotlines which are only relevant for like .. 5 pages? My brain wasn’t able to follow that.

I started this book knowing people have very controversial opinions about it. And I see where the critics come from. I perceive the misogyny, racism, homophobia and the stereotyping of the superior white american man who can do whatever he wants as very problematic as well. I just wish people would also consider the time and the context the book was written. This book isn’t meant to accommodate our current values. But it provides much possibility to reflect where some stereotypes come from and why they are dangerous.

„Bitterness, recriminations, advice, morality, sadness - everything was behind him, and ahead of him was the ragged and ecstatic joy of pure being.“ - the vibe of the book summed up in one sentence.

Kerouacs style of writing might not be everyone’s tea; I adored it. He filled my head with visions of wild open American plains,  roadside diners, mountains, and extraordinary sunsets. He made me feel the wind in my hair, smell the road, getting chills while watching stars on a clear night in the middle of nowhere. Just imagine what it must have been like, traveling without cell phones, weeks of planning. Only you, your company, the road and endless possibilities. These are the joyous and exciting parts. Then there’s the opposite. Kerouac has a talent to put so much power in really short sentences expressing desperation, hurt and disappointment questioning life, love and friendship. I loved how subtle he did it. It didn’t feel like obviously quotable quotes but something he simply needed to get off his chest.

What partly annoyed me was the plot itself. This is not a book you read for the plot and I‘m totally fine with that. I can sit there, indulge in a uncomplicated plot and enjoy the vibe. That didn’t always work in this case because I ended up being confused and lost in the story too many times. There is an extraordinary bunch of (side) characters, places, backstories, acquiantances and random plotlines which are only relevant for like .. 5 pages? My brain wasn’t able to follow that.

I started this book knowing people have very controversial opinions about it. And I see where the critics come from. I perceive the misogyny, racism, homophobia and the stereotyping of the superior white american man who can do whatever he wants as very problematic as well. I just wish people would also consider the time and the context the book was written. This book isn’t meant to accommodate our current values. But it provides much possibility to reflect where some stereotypes come from and why they are dangerous.

Cams Campbell

Is it just typing? I don't think so. It's strange, because I found some of it deadly dull at the time of reading, but then found that it stayed in my mind while I was going about my daily chores. 

I wish that I'd read this as a younger man, when travelling was on my roadmap more than it is now. I think it's that that has made it stay in my mind - it has me thinking back on my travelling days and looking at my kids as they grow into travelling ages and hoping that they get to do that. 

It also has me thinking about my life now, as I approach 50 and go nowhere, but even if I did go somewhere, it would be to visit, not to live, and with family and not friends. Not that that would necessarily be a bad thing, just a different thing. 

So the book has got me thinking, which is why I've given it four stars. The writing style suits the content perfectly. I think this is a book I'll read again in 10 years or so. 

Such a serendipitous find too - I went to the post office which just happens to sell books too, and they had this on the counter as an impulse buy, so I impulsively bought it.

Scribbler Johnny

It's well-written, but I don't get the hype.

There's a reason this novel defined a generation. The narrative is so fluid and poetic and rhythmic that it functions just as much as music as literature. Beautiful.

Fellowes Cynthia

It was so very long ago. I was probably 13 years old! I vaguely remember reading it while on a road trip with my family.

The legendary 1951 scroll draft of On the Road, published word for word as Kerouac originally composed it. On the Road chronicles Jack Kerouac's years traveling the North American continent with his friend Neal Cassady, "a sideburned hero of the snowy West." As "Sal Paradise" and "Dean Moriarty," the two roam the country in a quest for self-knowledge and experience. Kerouac's love of America, his compassion for humanity, and his sense of language as jazz combine to make On the Road an inspirational work of lasting importance.

The Original Scroll

jiaqi kang

HOLY SHIT!!!! who wants go on a big cacophony of an american road trip with me right now at this very moment

B.H. Pitt

Took me a while to actually get through it--maybe because I found Sal Paradise's manic need to be always moving a little exhausting. But I also think it's supposed to be exhausting. I don't know if the version of America seen in this book exists anymore, but I admire seeing how Kerouac brings it to life through Sal's eyes.

Ella Zegarra

También en: El Extraño Gato del Cuento

Todas mis lecturas en el reto Los Libros de Charlie han sido bastante variado, me han gustado, los he amado completamente, se me hicieron indiferentes o ni siquiera pude pasar de la primera página. En este caso con On the Road me fue conflictivo, hubo partes donde mi interés estuvo completamente despierto mientras que otros me fue difícil incluso hasta pasar página; de todos los libros en la lista de lectura es uno de los que más información tuve gracias a una película que se hizo hace algunos años, entonces… Entonces sacarme de la cabeza la cara de ciertos actores que no me gustan malogró también mi experiencia con el libro, así como me pasó con El Gran Gatsby.

Dean Moriarty

Se supone que lo que da vida a la historia es la relación casi dependiente entre el narrador del libro (del cuál no enteramos de su nombre hasta la mitad) y Dean, sólo que para mí fue lo menos interesante y lo más desesperante de la lectura. Leer sobre Sal viajando, conociendo gente casi enamorarse en cada pueblo que conocía, fue lo que más me gustó. Mientras que con Dean, cada vez que aparecía quise golpearlo y abandonar el libro, quizá es porque he tenido el placer de conocer uno que otro prospecto de Dean, el personaje se me hizo insoportable.

Adaptación Mata Libro

Aquí en Perú hay una especie de dicho “Billetera mata galán”, quiere decir que no importa lo guapo que seas o que tan buena persona eres, si no tienes plata… HABLA’OS (esas interesadas…). No sé si mi versión del dicho este muy bien. La cosa es esta: en el libro la belleza y exuberancia de Marylou es mencionado cada dos párrafos creo, Sal está muy obsesionado con ella, mientras lees te imaginas una Scarlett Johansson, con un físico espectacular, extremadamente sensual pero sin ser vulgar, muy típico de esa época cuándo no había esta cultura a los huesos que hay ahora pero…. Pero… No podía sacarme de la cabeza la actriz que escogieron para la película y me arruinó todo (quién se ve nada sensual pero sí muy vulgar)

¿Qué más puedo decir del libro? Una vez que lo terminé no he vuelto a pensar en él, incluso se me hizo difícil escribir esta reseña de lo indiferente que quedé, los libros On-Road tienden a ser mis favoritos, estoy casi predispuesta a que me gusten y quizá solo por eso le puse 2 de 5 estrellas y no 0.

Twitter || Blog || Pinterest || Tumblr || Instagram

Alexandria Wilkie

I absolutely loathed this book with its characters who basically wander around ruining peoples' lives, largely because they seem to avoid seeing other people as actual humans worthy of respect, and then never reaping any of the consequences of their callous, immoral actions. The whole thing was a perpetual cringe-fest, and its only merit is that at least it's a comparatively short one. Yikes.

Summer Stanley

Definitely interesting and engaging at parts. It went on too long, and I completely lost interest in the character's stories. It didn't help that they were extremely irresponsible and, therefore, a bit annoying.

Simon Elliott Stegall

Brilliant, beautiful, decrepit and obscene yarn about the joy and exuberance of youth, and how it inevitably wastes itself and everyone it loves. Sad, sick, and undeniably great.

Christine Joelle Valisno Manaloto

Alesha ponomarenko

Some books just aren’t for everyone; this is that kind of book:

Jade Flynn

"The days of wrath are yet to come. The balloon won’t sustain you much longer. and not only that, but it's an abstract balloon. You’ll all go flying to the west coast and come staggering back in search of your stone".

Jeremy Anderberg

“The road is life.”

On the Road is the classic, frenetic novel of the Beat Generation. If you’re asking “Who and what was the Beat Generation?” don’t worry, I asked that as well before I started reading Kerouac. In short, they were a group of young writers and artists in the 1950s who were rebelling against the stiff-lipped society that emerged after World War II. (To be fair, the veterans that came back from WWII were perhaps stiff-lipped for a reason; they had seen greater atrocities than any young artist could fathom. I digress . . . ) 

This Beat Generation produced cultural works that pushed back against standard norms and carry a frenzied energy that, in book form, can be exhausting to even read — at least as a thirty-something. 

On the Road follows a large cast of characters, but it’s mostly about Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty’s numerous cross-country roadtrips, year after year just continually taking to the blacktop and barreling from New York to San Francisco and back again, finding Des Moines and Denver (two places that I’ve lived) and various other locales in between. 

Understandably, it’s a work that’s associated with youthful energy — the freedom, adventure, and limitless feeling of one’s twenties. 

So when I picked it up for the first time here at age 31, I was fully expecting to not be able to relate to it. And indeed that was the case. The story went . . . nowhere. And perhaps that’s at least one of the points that Kerouac is making: a life spent in literal constant motion ends up with no plot at all. 

While I didn’t much care for the story itself, I did find the writing to be brilliant at times. His descriptions of the various cities and landscapes were sometimes breathtaking and always spot-on.

Анастасия Розова

*Read for class.

I didn't hate it, but I just didn't enjoy it and, unfortunately, thought it was a waste of time... I know it's classic now and probably important in literary process, but meh. It might be a good reflection of that time, idk, but for me it was far from enjoyable.

The classic novel that epitomizes the "Beat Generation." Portrays a spontaneous and wandering way of life founded on jazz and drugs.

Matthew Chasco

I enjoyed the writing style. I haven't read the minimally edited scroll version yet.
I think dwelling on negative impressions to obvious transgressions in this book is gonna make it a long read. If you look deeper and approach this book with inquiry it delivers. 

John Balek

After getting into Burrough's bibliography last year I decided to branch out in the beats to Kerouac. While they are contemporaries and collaborators they are completely different writers. 

On The Road has a lot of great things going for it, and a lot of negatives. Kerouac does a great job encapsulating the energy of the "Born to Run" mindset. This is an enthralling read at times. From the jazz passages to seeing how far a dollar can take you in the late 1940's, this novel has a lot worth reading. I thoroughly enjoyed the descriptions of everyday life during this time period; meeting someone who would wax nostalgic about their childhood in the 1880's or the youthful nature of GI's. Obviously this is a romanticism of the time and of youth in general, which is why so many people obsessed with it when it came out. 

My main issue is that the flow of the novel begins to drop in the halfway point. Things feel stagnant and repetitive. Sal and Dean's personas and attitudes really start to drag at this point too, where I really don't have much sympathy left for their decisions. 

Kerouac's writing can also be lacking and lazy at times. It's a weird juxtaposition considering he's so good at capturing the energy of events going on. There were only so many times where I could hear him compare someone to Groucho Marx (as if there were no other comparisons to make). There's a point when they get to Mexico and all Kerouac has to say is "Just across the street Mexico began. We looked with wonder. To our amazement, it looked exactly like Mexico." There's no background to this so how are we supposed to know what they think of Mexico. I'd imagine it's meant to fit the readers perception of Mexico but its such a lazy take and not consistent. This is definitely Kerouac's style but its just not my personal preference. 

I've got a few other Kerouac books to move onto next so I'm interested in seeing how my opinion of him will progress

Vojtech &
On The Road by Jack Kerouac

Reviews

Highlights

Join the club

Vojtech &On The Road by Jack Kerouac

Reviews

Highlights

Join the club

Vojtech &
On The Road by Jack Kerouac