The Town and the City

“In the strong autumnal winds he rushed along ignoring the new dark knowledge he now half-understood - that to triumph was also to wreak havoc.”

Big Kerouac fan here! And I've finally read his first! I enjoyed it and felt like it was a big epic, one that took me a while to consume. It's all about the Martin family, pre and post WWII, and seemingly all over the world.

The football scenes with Peter are wonderfully described! As are the real feelings of people regarding WWII. I also enjoyed the fishing scene with the three brothers near the end. I didn't enjoy much of the discussions and arguments. They were so abstract and random feeling. And the same goes for some of the characters' feelings. They often felt whinny and disconnected show more to actual, real problems. I know things were really changing then, especially with the war, but so much of the issues seemed self-absorbed and trivial.

Still, I really enjoyed this book. It felt like a very real taste of America at that time. And it seemed to me that Kerouac, even though most say he is the Peter character, is actually three of the brothers - Peter, Joe, and Francis. Just my opinion, but I saw a lot of him in all of them. And I feel like it ends with a nice dovetail into "On the Road", though the books themselves are so different.
Good last line:
"He put up the collar of his jacket, and bowed his head, and hurried along." show less

Despite reading this many years ago, this novel has stood out in my mind as one of Kerouac's best. It's almost certainly his most underated as the author himself later disowned the lyrical Wolfean narrative style in which it was written. In many ways it is a far more pleasing read than his better known 'spontaneous prose' style of On The Road and his other later works. This story has a real charm and beauty of its own, and brings to life the 1930s of Kerouac's childhood in New England.

Full of colour and sounds, rivers, woods, abandoned lots, mysterious back-alleys, steamy lunch counters, brooding brick factories, and the ever-present looming churches and cemeteries... This novel has a real feeling of depth of place and a true sense of show more the working class characters of depression era America which fill it. As a debut novel I think it clearly shows the literary class which Kerouac undoubtedly had, though possibly failed to broaden with some of his more disjointed later work. A rewarding read. show less

This was an amazing first book on Kerouac that delves into his life and, ultimately, begins his entry into the literary world (and his own world) as the foundation of being a writer. I was amazed by his use of language and the way that he seamlessly blended fiction into non-fiction and then back again. Kerouac's style, here, is fleeting and poetic, lucid and far-reaching. I've read On the Road, but I never thought this one would be so impressive as well.

4 stars- rightfully earned.

The Town and the City: A Novel by Jack Kerouac is Kerouac's first novel and writing in a semi-autobiographical form. Kerouac needs no introduction to most readers. Everyone has read On the Road or at least, said they have read it. I found Kerouac difficult at first and the writing did not seem to flow right. A friend suggested I read it like the beat performers spoke and suddenly On the Road was very readable. The Town and the City: A Novel needs no special reading and is an excellent place to start for a reader wanting to pick up Kerouac. It flows well and tells the story Peter Martin a local boy who was unsure of himself until a day at football practice changes him. Peter (Jack Kerouac) is compared and contrasted with his brothers. show more Joe is the easy going trucking driving, beer drinking older brother who makes no more of his life than what it is and is content with it. Francis the wine drinking intellectual who longs for bigger and better things who finds himself in "his own cocoon of tormented adolescence." He does, however, have one of the most emotional encounters in the book.

Kerouac in his earlier days loved to compare and contrast. In The Town and the City it is not only the brothers that are examined but the town of Galloway, Massachusetts and New York City. Also compared are the character in both Galloway and New York. In New York Kerouac, as always, remembers his friends. Allen Ginsberg and William Burroughs are present with a host of renamed beat friends. War and bankruptcy help drive the story.

Kerouac's earlier work is much different from his more well-known later works. The writing is much more standard in format and the storytelling is more traditional than his later works. In a previously unreleased book, The Sea is my Brother (1940) many of the same writing mannerisms can be found. In The Sea is my Brother two brothers are compared and outgoing one and a safe one. They make a composite of Kerouac. In The Town and the City we can also see this in Peter who like Kerouac was a football play and merchant marine. In Joe, we see a bit of the Dharma Bum and traveler. In Francis, we see the wine drinking cynic. There may even be a bit of Ginsberg in Francis who voluntarily commits himself to avoid an unpleasant alternative. Kerouac, even in his early fiction, writes about what he knows and lives. He lived an interesting life with interesting friends and what was not interesting could be changed by writing. The Town and the City provides not only a great story but insight into the so to be famous writer and Beat generation icon. show less

I thoroughly enjoyed this epic story of the Martin's lives over the decades. I don't think I've ever read a book that has so inspired in me the will to jump on the next plane to America so I can have these experiences myself. It truly is the Great American Novel. The descriptions of characters and places are vividly portrayed and the story has all you could hope for in a great novel: it's moving, irritating, amusing, heart-breaking.

I had a little trouble identifying with any of the characters. Kerouac spends a large part of the beginning of the novel describing all of the characters in detail - so much detail that the personality traits he describes in his characters start becoming contradictory. And despite there being three daughters show more and a mother in the story, comparatively little time was spent discussing them and their lives compared to the father and sons. This irked me a little ('typical 1950s sexism', I thought), until I realised that this is largely an autobiographical account of Kerouac's early life. Kerouac has, in effect, split his own self into three of the sons: Peter, Jim and Francis. Maybe this is why I had trouble identifying with them.

This was Kerouac's first novel, and as such is written in a much more conventional manner than his later works. However, you can start to see his own unique style coming out in this book. It's very interesting to see. Very highly recommended. show less

While not Kerouac's strongest novel it is certainly important and a compelling story. I am glad I read it and I think it is worth a detour. Obviously it pales next to his ON THE ROAD.

Kerouac's first novel is a very conventional all-american story that seems very biographical. The story is very linear and epic, spanning a good portion of the Martin's lives. The story like life is funny,endearing, tragic and honest. The pace is undeniably slow, yet every word counts. Towards the end of the novel you hear glimpses of Kerouac's future writing style which is the biggest payoff of the novel, because where "The Town and the City" ends "On the Road" picks up seamlessly, together they form one amazing story that is truly unforgettable.