On the Road

By Jack Kerouac

I can’t really pinpoint what possessed me to read this book, other than knowing the title from an Our Lady Peace song and having a vague understanding that it is a (classic?) book which exemplifies the “beat” culture.  Regardless, I happened to have an electronic copy and I set out to read it on my Kindle.

The main character is Sal Paradise, and the time period is the late 40’s to early 50’s.  I think the best way to summarize this book is not to divulge the major plot points and discuss what happened first and second and so on.  Rather, this book is written in such a way as you might hear a friend tell you a story of their travels.  Its merit is in the free flowing dialogue extracting a multitude of detail from every scene, and giving you a lens to observe the culture and habits of an adolescent “beat” in the late 40’s.  Sal describes hitchhiking back and forth across the country to spend time with his friends.  At first glance it is easy to say that this is a simpler time, but the story notes many of the same things we struggle with today.  Some of these key ideas include race, sexuality, drugs/alcohol, money, and responsibility.  Race is addressed frequently, and despite being before the civil rights movement I would gather that many “beats” got along with African Americans.  (This is exemplified in the Jazz bars and various interactions with black characters in the book).  Homosexuality is mentioned in the book, identifying characters as “fags.”  Out of context, this might seem overly cruel, but further dissection shows that the characters had little malice towards sexual orientation.  The label intended as much hatred as the designation “colored” did in the 60’s and 70’s.  Sal and his friends spend much of the novel getting drunk or trying to acquire “tea.”  I must admit I didn’t get the tea-marijuana connection until late in the book.  We often think of the late 60’s as the drug explosion, and typically view the 40’s and 50’s as a very innocent time.  I think this is typical that every generation thinks that they are so much worse than the previous, but many times the same activities are taking place and just not mentioned for fear of judgment.  It was somewhat eye opening to think of a group of 20 year olds getting high and drunk frequently in the 40’s.  One of Sal’s good friends, Dean Moriarty, is also quite a lecherous individual.  The boys are frequently trying to “make” girls, but Dean takes it a step further when he ultimately ends up married three times and divorced twice, a deed which had to be done in Mexico.

This book was quite different from what I usually read, and I am definitely glad that I made the effort to finish it.  I say “made the effort to finish it” because it didn’t grab me enough to make me long for extensive reading sessions.  I was able to appreciate this book for what it is, but overall I felt it was a somewhat directionless rambling of a story.  I think this was kind of the point of the story, but I found it hard to really devote myself to the non-cohesive narrative.  I’m torn on whether to recommend reading this book or not.  I’d never tell anyone that they absolutely must read it and would never over-state its entertainment value.  But taking it at face value, it was worth the read for the insight it provided.  Check out Wikipedia, or maybe a review better than mine and make your own decision.  It really is all about what you are looking for.

Rating: Undecided

Up Next:  Damned or Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk, Dr. Sleep by Stephen King, or Xenocide by Orson Scott Card