Madeline
On The Road by Jack Kerouac is one of the most iconic book from the 1950s; however, as a millennial, the story just seemed odd to me. Who gets in a car and just drives? And when the road ends, turn around and drive back? To me, driving is a means to getting somewhere, not an activity let alone an activity that deserves a book to be written about it.
Premise of On The Road
A guy named Sal drives back and fourth in the United States and Mexico with this friends. And that is the entire premise of On The Road. There is also a lot of drugs and sex that occurs, which is why it was probably such a popular book during its time, but a majority of the book is just driving. It is just an unusual driving story. At one point they drive to Mexico because it is easier to get a divorce there. That was maybe the most interesting part of the book. But it was the same as the rest of the book, just with a language barrier.
The whole story is written so quickly that there is little details, just descriptions of what happened. “And then we did this. And then we did that.” The writing of On The Road, was not even as beautiful as it could have been. There was a lot of opportunity for descriptions of the landscapes and the characters that revolve in and out. But there is not even any of that.
Final Thoughts
I moved on to another book before finishing On The Road. I just could not follow nor was I interested in following Sal’s adventures of driving back and forth through the continent. Some of the drug and sex parts were a bit amusing but in this day and age, this is not a novel concept. At least not novel enough for it to excite me. I understand why this was such an important book for it’s time, but that time has passed. Move on to a better written and more exciting classic book. I have a list of them!
