On the Road

ByJack Kerouac

Release Date: 1976-12-28
Genre: Literary Fiction

Score: 4

From 618 Ratings

Description

Jack Kerouac’s classic American novel of freedom and the search for originality that defined a generation

“An authentic work of art.”—The New York Times

Inspired by Jack Kerouac’s adventures with Neal Cassady, On the Road tells the story of two friends whose cross-country road trips are a quest for meaning and true experience. Written with a mixture of sad-eyed naïveté and wild abandon and imbued with Kerouac’s love of America, his compassion for humanity, and his sense of language as jazz, On the Road is the quintessential American vision of freedom and hope—a book that changed American literature and changed anyone who has ever picked it up.

Reviews

Should have left the book at Uni
2
By ...books...
I picked this up as a fun idea to reread 30 years after my first college required read of this beat poet. So looking back as an adult now, My biggest takeaway was Jk’s stream of consciousness prose was so ground breaking for the story’s period. His 20 something antics are sweet for the first few chapters, but there is no growth in any of the characters -the women are faceless, witless lays and the boys just stumble through a never ending drunken stupor to nowhere. Yes it was an important work for its time, but it sure is simple minded when compared to today’s Gen Z population. I had to put it down halfway through out of sheer boredom. Also, not a fan of the antisemitism in the story.
Energetic and Enthralling
5
By THEminotuar
It’s a roller coaster all the way through and I didn’t stop thinking about this book even when I wasn’t reading it.
Pure nostalgia of the Western dream
5
By Mariormz
I can see how Jim Morrison was inspired by Jack Kourac, he describes the in the beat culture with characters like Dean Moriarty you can put a clear glance of what the prime intellectuals of the beat movement where all about.
Great
5
By Laurenelizabethhh
Book. Kerouac is a brilliant story teller if you can get past grammar & mechanics.
Great book, bad editing
3
By Dilldeboer
The actual book itself was really not too bad. A semi-repetitive book exploring the beat generation and the explorations of life and death (per the last names of the main characters).

The editing of this book however brings my rating down a star. Horrible editing making the book, at times, impossible to read.
On the Road
5
By WalkingonSand
An inspirational and fun read. Perfect for those searching for an adventure.
Great book, lousy editing
4
By Starkos8
The story, as ever, is great. But the editing in this version is just lousy. Misspellings, missing letters and punctuation, phrases only half italicized. No good excuse when this book has been around so long and gone through so many editions.
Why?
3
By dylan_hurricane
Great novel. How can this electronic version cost more than the real book?
One of the greatest books ever
5
By Msbttrswrth
Kerouac's mastery of the written language is unbeatable. Reading this book, I felt as though I was actually traveling along with Jack on his travels through the country not just reading about them after the fact. On the Road taught me a lot; about myself, about the world, about humanity. After you read this version be sure to check out the original scroll version, it's much better in my opinion as it was unedited and as Kerouac meant it to be.