Incoherent rambling Loved Dharma Bums, can't forget On the Road, enraptured with Desolation Angels, and bored to death with the Subterraneans. Only read the first 20 pages, though. Couldn't get farther then that, so maybe it really picks up. Love the first page however. It's really Kerouac at his nonsensical worst.
Arrogant and overrated. I wouldn't say that the book is wholly without merit, but it left me with an eerie feeling, and a suspicion that it was an advertisement for a certain lifestyle, a cocktail, or god forbid khakis. It's a shameless embrace of impulsive living, embodied in the stylized way this book is written, and which was eventually Kerouac's undoing.
Is he fleecing the lowlifes he socializes with by writing down their stories? Is he glorifying, and capitalizing on, disfunction? It's difficult to answer those questions, but a more meaningful or entertaining book would preclude their asking.
Capote said of Jack Kerouac that he was "typing, not writing." That may have been unfair, but reading the Subterraneans, I felt I knew where he was coming from. That said, I kinda liked the ending. Gosh, I'm a sucker.
Kerouac I liked "The Subterraneans" enough, even though it's not nearly on my list of best works by the author. But I'm hot penning these few sentances for peeps who have read this book. This is for the one's who are interested. If you haven't read anything by Jack Kerouac before this is NOT the place to start. Though a good book with a good story, "The Subterraneans" is a hard read and not a great introduction to the author. Note I said hard in the previous sentance because this novel was written over three days and three nights and reads that way. Kerouac's prose is right on, as it usually is, but more dense this time, probably because the man was on speed when he penned it. If you are new to this world of Kerouac then may I recomend to you the always popular "On the Road" or "The Dharma Bums" before this. They both show what Kerouac does best and are two of the best books he ever wrote. Poetry in the form of story. "Subterraneans" is a good Kerouac book, not the best, not the worst, pretty much residing in the middle of his catalog, hence the three star rating(three to me means good, but there are better books out). So there you go. You should read "Subterraneans" because again it is a good book. But I think it could, and probably would, turn off newbies to the Kerouac legend(there are always exceptions mind you), and it would be better to start off with one of the aforementioned titles first. Thanks.
