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On the Road

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( 441,637 ratings, 22,499 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
On the Road by Jack Kerouac is a quintessential novel of the Beat Generation, capturing the spirit of freedom and exploration. It chronicles the journey of Sal Paradise and his friend Dean Moriarty as they crisscross America. Their adventures embody youthful restlessness, a quest for meaning, and the pursuit of authentic experiences.
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this book if you are drawn to stories of adventure, self-discovery, and the restless pursuit of freedom. Filled with spontaneous road trips across America, it captures the vibrant, unpredictable beat of post-war culture and the quest for meaning. Perfect for those who appreciate lively prose and a sense of nostalgia.

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Sal Paradise, a young innocent, joins his hero Dean Moriarty, a traveller and mystic, the living epitome of Beat, on a breathless, exuberant ride back and forth across the United States. Their search for release or fulfilment through drink, sex, drugs and jazz becomes an exploration of personal freedom, a test of the limits of the American dream.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

"The most beautifully executed, the clearest and the most important utterance yet made by the generation Kerouac himself named years ago as 'beat.'" - The New York Times

On the Road swings to the rhythms of 1950s underground America, jazz, sex, generosity, chill dawns, and drugs, with Sal Paradise and his hero Dean Moriarty, traveller and mystic, the living epitome of Beat. Now recognised as a modern classic, its American Dream is nearer that of Walt Whitman than Scott Fitzgerald, and it goes racing towards the sunset with unforgettable exuberance, poignancy, and autobiographical passion.

Series: Penguin Modern Classics

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Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

The writing is celebrated for its vividness and raw edges, offering a sense of immediacy and modernity. Critics appreciate the novel's stripped-down style, though some mention moments where the narrative's emotive quality risks becoming overly sentimental.

Book Hero reading reviews

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780141182674

Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 24 February 2000

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Penguin Classics

Contributors:

  • Introduction by Ann Charters

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 19.0mm

Width: 130.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 238g

Pages: 320

About the Author

Jack Kerouac (1922 - 1969) was an American novelist, poet, artist and part of the Beat Generation. Most of his life was spent in the vast landscapes of America or living with his mother, with whom he spent most of his life. Kerouac's best known works are On the Road and The Dharma Bums. Ann Charters, professor of English at the University of Connecticut, has been interested in Beat writers since 1956, when as an undergraduate English major she attended the repeat performance of the Six Gallery poetry reading in Berkeley where Allen Ginsberg gave his sencond public reading of Howl. After his death she wrote the first Kerouac biography and edited his posthumous collection, Scattered Poems. She was the general editor of the two-volume encyclopaedia The Beats- Literary Bohemians In Postwar America and has published a collection of her photographic portraits of well-known writers in the book Beats & Company.

Also by Jack Kerouac

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