The writing is mostly a drug and alcohol-addled muddle of “we did this” and “then we did this” but occasionally Kerouac would describe something in such a brilliant, poetic way I had to flag it. He has ideals but he doesn’t stick to anything. I kept wanting Sal to do something real for someone, but he disappointed me over and over again, just as his friends do to him.
Unfortunately, that kind of life also seems to mean treating your friends horribly, lying to women so you can get them in bed, and mooching money from your family. You can see how those events would give these young men a sense that they have to live life as fully as they can, regardless of the consequences. The book is interesting from a historical perspective, occurring several years after World War II. It’s really the story of Kerouac’s experiences with Neal Cassady, Allen Ginsberg, and William S. Its protagonist is Sal Paradise, who is torn between his desire to have a relationship and get a degree, and his admiration for his crazier friend Dean Moriarty (who is described again and again as having something really wrong with him, yet Sal does whatever he says). On the Road is a novel but it’s closer to a memoir. Kerouac’s message seems to be that rules and responsibilities get in the way of really living – freedom is having no responsibility at all and just doing everything by impulse. Kerouac’s telling of a life of aimless travel, drug use and casual sex may be historically or culturally important, but it’s got no plot direction and few likeable characters. I heard from a number of bloggers that this was a disappointing and difficult read, and it was.
Which is good, because I had to force myself to read this book. This book came up as my Classic Spin book for March-April, which means it was picked randomly from my list as the next book I read. Still, Kerouac is one of those literary icons I don’t feel complete without reading. When I put On the Road on my Classics Club list, I knew little or nothing about the Beat Generation, except what I picked up living in San Francisco for a few years.
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