Finalmente anch’io ho letto il libro iconico della beat generation: ci è voluta la quarantena per convincermi a dargli una possibilità perché in tutta onestà non mi sembrava un libro che facesse per me. In effetti, in parte è stato così, ma sono abbastanza sicura che avrei apprezzato di più Sulla strada se Kerouac avesse usato meglio il suo talento.

La mia impressione alla fine della lettura è stata quella di un romanzo squilibrato: ci sono un sacco di pagine su posti visti, gente conosciuta e azioni svolte che magari nelle intenzioni di Kerouac volevano rompere le logiche borghesi, ma che a me sono sembrate solo un elenco fine a se stesso di posti, gente e azioni. Immagino che nel 1957 quelle pagine restituissero un significato dissacrante semplicemente esistendo, ma oggi mi è sembrato molto meno incisivo.

Tuttavia, ci sono delle scintille di critica alla società ancora perfettamente valide e puntuali nella loro denuncia. Ci è voluta un po’ di tenacia per vederle in mezzo ai posti, alla gente e alle azioni buttate lì, ma hanno reso la mia esperienza di lettura tutto sommato positiva e mi hanno messo voglia di leggere altro di Kerouac (consigli?). ( )

A really good look at a specific period in US history. Nothing really transformative or redeeming about it - just a powerful taste of that time in our culture. ( )

Reads as the self-important ramblings of a solipsistic alcoholic gallivanting through America with no clear goal at all. His journey has not been ordered into anything readable at all: it sits there as a collection of disjointed episodes of youthful confidence, being about and leading to nothing. There is no reflection.
The only thing keeping this at two stars is the sheer enthusiasm of the writing. ( )

Classic novel published in 1957, a fictionalized account of the author's travels back and forth across the continent in the late 1940s. Written in the first person, it tells of Sal Paradise (the narrator) and Dean Moriarty as they hitchhike, drive, and take buses all over the country, meeting various other characters.

In some ways, the novel is a love paean to Dean (Neal Cassady in real life), who seems to be bipolar in manic mode for most of these trips. They do a lot of drinking and smoking marijuana, go out to jazz and other music clubs, and Kerouac spends lots of energy describing the wondrousness of the music he hears. I think the book's depiction of sex was a bit scandalous at the time too- he doesn't describe the sex in any detail, but tells about the chase at length.

This book became one of the key touchstones of the "Beat Generation", and it did help me understand what "Beat" is- young people without a care, searching for new experiences, living on minimal money in post WWII America.

I don't think the book ages that well. Probably I don't get it. The writing isn't anything amazing- I don't think Kerouac was particularly insightful about the inner life, and descriptions of the music and the people are not particularly beautiful or poetic. But I guess the vibe is the point, and he certainly gives us that. ( )

A bunch of messed up dudes traveling around, drinking too much, carrying on foolishness, while the rest of America went to work, and tried to be decent human beings. Kerouac has a unique style of writing that carried me through the book, but all I felt when it was finished was despair for the future of the human race.

"Isn't it true that you start your life a sweet child believing in everything under your father's roof? Then comes the day of the Laodiceans, when you know you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, and with the visage of a gruesome grieving ghost you go shuddering through nightmare life."

( )