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Mar 06, 2021Shuken_1989 rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
"On the Road" is part travel journal and spiritual treatise capturing the listless and curious spirit of America's Beat Generation. Jack Kerouac (referred to as Sal Paradise in the book) is on of the patron saints of the Beat Movement, alongside Allen Ginsburg (referred to as Carlo Marx) and William S. Boroughs (refereed to as Old Bull Lee), characterized by it's rejection of the post World War II values of capitalism, rapid economic expansion, and social conservatism. "On the Road" sees Kerouac roving the United States between the years of 1947-1950, often working odd jobs and hanging out with other Beats. To me the book did not live up to the hype, I found Kerouac's alter ego Sal to be a bit of a "bastard." Part of this I found was Sal's dangerous fascination with Neal Cassady (referred to as Dean Moriarty) a carefree, manipulative, and listless ex-convict who is hinted as struggling with his suppressed homosexuality and untreated mental illness which sublimates itself in Dean's erratic behavior and bigamous/polyamorous relationships. It's not until Sal's third trip to San Francisco that he begins to see how awful of a person Dean really is. There are also nods to Sal's (Jack) extreme alcoholism and untreated mental illness. I found the book to messy rather than spiritual, I found the behavior of the characters to be ludicrous. Ultimately, this book is considered part of the life and spiritual development of Jack Kerouac as he transfers from his Beat lifestyle to one informed by Buddhist teachings and ideas, mostly brought on Ginsberg. I would recommend reading this book simply because of where it sits in the canon of both American Buddhism and classic American literature.