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On the Road (Penguin Modern Classics)
 
 

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On the Road (Penguin Modern Classics) (Paperback)

by Jack Kerouac (Author), Ann Charters (Introduction) "I first met Dean not long after my wife and I split up ..." (more)
4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
RRP: £8.99
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Product details

  • Paperback: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin Classics; New Ed edition (13 Aug 2007)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0141182679
  • ISBN-13: 978-0141182674
  • Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 12.9 x 2.5 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 1,673 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #1 in  Books > Fiction > 20th Century Classics > Kerouac, Jack
    #6 in  Books > Fiction > Cult Authors
    #30 in  Books > Fiction > By Period > 20th Century

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

On The Road, the most famous of Jack Kerouac's works, is not only the soul of the Beat movement and literature, but one of the most important novels of the century. Like nearly all of Kerouac's writing, On The Road is thinly fictionalised autobiography, filled with a cast made of Kerouac's real life friends, lovers and fellow travellers. Narrated by Sal Paradise, one of Kerouac's alter-egos, this cross-country bohemian odyssey not only influenced writing in the years since its 1957 publication but penetrated into the deepest levels of American thought and culture. --Acton Lane


Product Description

On the Road swings to the rhythms of 1950s underground America, jazz, sex, generosity, chill dawns and drugs, with Sal Paradise and his hero Dean Moriarty, traveller and mystic, the living epitome of Beat. Now recognized as a modern classic, its American Dream is nearer that of Walt Whitman than Scott Fitzgerald, and it goes racing towards the sunset with unforgettable exuberance, poignancy and autobiographical passion.
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I first met Dean not long after my wife and I split up. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews

36 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.2 out of 5 stars (36 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars My first taste of Kerouac.....certainly not the last, 28 Dec 2001
I picked this up a few years ago and literally read it in a day. Kerouac writes with such intense emotion, you really feel the highs and definitly the lows. Friendship, love, drugs and family are all covered in this book, but nothing is sensationalised. The feelings are raw and intense yet matter-of-fact at the same time. The text flows through your mind like all of Kerouacs stuff, it is simply written but you can feel what he means, and you do feel. Please buy this book
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Believe the Hype?, 9 Jun 2009
By RubyPort (South Central, LA) - See all my reviews
On The Road has become something of a legend over the last 50 years or so, moving up the list of books many people claim to have read but never really do. It was in, a way, the birth of the Beatniks and the Hippies who have since forced their way into the public consiousness in last half century and is therefore a rather large deal.

It takes just one look at the Amazon description of the book to see how cliched people's views of this novel have become, but although the slang has become cringeworthy over time, the purity of the message Kerouac was trying to convey throughout has not diminished. Highly autobiographical, On The Road records the journeys undertaken by Jack and other prominent Beat figures such as Ginsberg, Burroughs and the charismatic Neal Cassady. But this book is about so much more than the jazz, the sex, the cars and the booze (although they are pretty awesome, it is more a field report from Jack about the state of America, the world and most importantly, his soul.

His spontaneous prose method often leaves us with writing that is considered by some to be sub-par, but the speed and ferosity of his style really brings home the moments when Jack breathes in and exhurts some of the most beautiful poetic observations of the most mundane and absurd aspects of modern life. My favourite example comes after a 4-5 page description of a 'wild' party in the Rockies when Jack is stumbling through narrow bar alleys and through his writing you can suddenly feel him look up at the stars above and utter a profound observation of the seperation of the land and its inhabitants.

Doesn't sound like much, but if you're open minded and can handle the corny slang this is a book you must read.


Dharma Bums is pretty amazing too x
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9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars lost the plot, 8 Sep 2006
To those "who don't get it" it may seem in today's ultra-cynical world, a hap-hazard collection of autobiographical travelogues from a bunch of drugged-up joyriders, interspersed with American myth and cliche. It's important to appreciate and understand "why" OTR has become "a famous book". This was written several years before Marlon Brando slipped on his leathers to become "The Wild One", before James Dean rebelled without any apparent cause and before, "The King" rotated his pelvis and shocked the world! Kerouac's image as a symbol of 1950's youth culture rebellion (he was fast becoming a reactionary by then)has somewhat clouded the issue of his talent as a writer. "Spontaneous prose" may imply that it was written "on the hip" and therefore less worthy of appreciation than more "heavy-weight" 20th century writers. NOT TRUE.In fact he follows in the same traditions of Hemingway and F Scott Fitgerald in exploring the contradictions of the American psyche and adds a fast-moving poetic style that reflects the romantic dreams and wander-lust of an individual who ultimately, was set for self-destruction. Don't read this as he supposedly wrote it.. take your time, start in the middle if you want. It's true there is no real plot -just some fantastic writing where feelings/moods are conveyed in much the same way as a favourite song does (i.e. Sal's Greyhound bus journey from Denver to San Francicsco)- it's no coincidence he inspired such noteworthy lyricists as Bob Dylan and Lennon and McCartney among others. Enjoy it for what it is...it's his finest work and a catalyst for the "Counter-Culture".
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars It made me want to get up and just go, and go, and keep going forever.
I've read this book three times now, and I'm currently reading it again. The main thing about it that I enjoyed was the way Kerouac captures the frantic and hectic nature of Sal's... Read more
Published 18 days ago by K Jerouac

4.0 out of 5 stars On the Road
Excellant read. Written in a colloquial style, one man's account of his travels across America. One of those really engaging books you'll find difficult to put down.
Published 1 month ago by Matthew Atherton

5.0 out of 5 stars Dean's got the bug...
"It changed my life like it
changed everyone else's."
- Bob Dylan

This quote by Bob Dylan, obviously referring to Jack Kerouac's most prominent novel, 'On... Read more
Published 1 month ago by D. R. West

3.0 out of 5 stars JUST TYPING
The title of this review is taken from a quote Truman Capote made when discussing Kerouac's writing and, I have to say, having read this supposedly life-changing work, I have to... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Easily Me

5.0 out of 5 stars A headlong read
First published in 1955, this book is a riotous description of life in the "Beat Generation". Jack Kerouack describes his several car journeys back and forth across the USA in the... Read more
Published 5 months ago by D. A. Cunliffe

5.0 out of 5 stars Takes you On The Road

I purchased On The Road after watching Russell Brand's documentary on the BBC. His life was influenced by the book and after reading it I can see why. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Mr. Liam Edward Sharratt

5.0 out of 5 stars An absolute classic what else can I say?
Got this book for Christmas. Have been after it for ages, and this is a great price.
A true classic, one for the cool kids....
Published 11 months ago by L Barnes

5.0 out of 5 stars Simply Beautiful
I first read this book when I was 18 years old and as cliched as it may sound it changed my entire outlook on life. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Thomas J. Curtis

1.0 out of 5 stars On the Road-an alternative review
I started reading this book after hearing for so many years what a great classic it was!
I got to page 60, mostly by determination rather than interest. Read more
Published 17 months ago by D. White

1.0 out of 5 stars Overrated
I fail to understand why this book has got such wonderful reviews and why people rave about it- it is completly tedious to read- Keroac wrote it in 4 weeks and it shows!
Published on 11 Oct 2007 by Victoria H. Gillespie

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