On The Road tells the story of Jack Kerouac's adventures on the road, often with Neal Cassady. Meant to be one of the best examples of the 'beat' generation, On The Road focuses on the open road, detail, jazz and the quest for meaning and experience.

Personally, I found the book quite interesting although there were times when I found the excessive detail a bit boring (e.g. the descriptions of jazz). However, the journeys and even the life in the different towns and cities was interesting. There is a range of characters in the book, which can at times be difficult to keep track of especially as they are mentioned in one chapter then completely forgotten about and then mentioned again.

An interesting read... ( )

I can't deny it: 'On the Road' shows its age, and as I grow older, I find more flaws. It's famously uneven, and while it soars in sections, it plods along in others. Its world-view is often naive and obsolete, and yet, it's an enthusiastic celebration of life and a book that will always have a special place in my heart. ( )

I didn't read this until I was fifty and it was the noughties. I should have read it when I was twenty and it was the seventies because now it's a bit of a snooze. Druggy road trips - shrug. It's cool to chill out but no great science or art has been truly inspired by marijuana or stronger. So, is this a good book? Not really, but it is probably a reasonably significant one. It stands as the representative of an era and a generation but it's not particularly insightful. That Kerouac managed to write anything coherent at all is the main achievement. Occasionally good on jazz. ( )

a necessary read. ( )

I returned to this with no small amount of trepidation. What would this book of my youth read like from my present vantage point? I was able to appreciate it (the actual writing) even more, as I could set aside my youthful fascination with who each of the characters was in "real life." Is it sort of a sloppy book? Well, yeah, there's lots of "wows" and "wonderful's", but in the midst of that you run across something like this, describing Laredo, TX: "It was the bottom and dregs of America where all the heavy villains sink, where disoriented people have to go to be near a specific elsewhere they can slip into unnoticed." Gems are sprinkled throughout the book. I was also struck by the sadness, melancholy, Buddha-wisdom that permeates this early work, which I thought all turned up later in his life...it was all here. Thanks for reminding me, Jack, that we are all, always, one way or another, "[b:on the road|6288|The Road|Cormac McCarthy|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/21E8H3D1JSL._SL75_.jpg|3355573]." ( )