On the Road by Jack KerouacMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
I struggled with reading this, but I had to finish. I was complelled to finish and not give up. I had to know if Sal finally came to his senses about Dean.
*Spoiler Alert*
He doesn't.
So much of this book was just long rambling passages that just didn't work for me. I couldn't stay foucused and would put the book down and have to fight to pick it back up again. Like Howl, I get the appeal of the book and of Kerouac as an author, I just don't get the book.
As the novel progresses you see as everyone else becomes disillusioned with Dean but Sal still gives him the benefit of the doubt. At numerous points you think Sal will finally see Dean for what he is and walk away from him, but he see's Dean and still stays loyal.
When I finished the novel I wondered to myself, "Why doesn't Sal get it? Why doesn't he understand that staying connected with Dean will ruin his life?" But then I thought, "Is it that Sal doesn't get Dean they way we do, or is it that we're missing something about Dean that Sal sees?"
That was the deepest thought I had about this novel and I don't think it makes any sense, but I think I lost some sense when I finished this book.
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HAHA. Wow, that's a bummer. I hate finishing a book because you're waiting to see if characters "come around" and make a great, satisfying ending. Too bad it didn't work out!! Who are Sal and Dean anyway? What's this book about?
ReplyDeleteSal is based on Jack Kerouac and Dean is based on his friend and fellow Beat author Neil Cassady. It's about Sal and Dean and their lives and traveling from coast to coast for a period of about 3 years in the 1950s
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