Wow, what a banger of a roadtrip. And another one. And Another one. ( )

Painful. Very painful. Especially his attitude toward women. There's non-stop drugs and alcohol, and generally abusive behavior. But I forged on since, after all, it's a classic. Right? But a classic what? Not saying.

The only redeeming part of the book was when they went to Mexico. That bordered on interesting, and was one reason I pushed on to the end and didn't dump the book half-way through. Still, what a waste of time. Except that I now know the story and can gladly cross it off my "to read" list. ( )

Someone I trust, I can't remember who, recommended I read On the Road by Jack Kerouac, so I bought a copy. I placed it in my to-be-read stack of books and went on my way. Eventually, I came to the book as I worked my way through the stack. To be honest, I moved it down in the pile a couple of times as other books appealed more to me in a given moment. Even after I started reading On the Road, I wasn't sure about it. Something didn't quite work for me at first. For pages and then chapters, I felt like I was missing some crucial element to the story, but I kept reading because it intrigued me and the writing style was interesting. That said, I never could figure out why any of the characters were so fascinated by Dean Moriarty. He came across as just another con man and I don't find con men the least bit charming, so I spent most of the book wishing the narrator, Sal, would wise up and get away from him and stay away from him. I came away from On the Road with one overwhelming impression - Just how much abuse should anyone take in a friendship or any other relationship? On the Road, while traversing the United States and Mexico in the process of searching for meaning in life, is at its core a story about friendship and what constitutes friendship mostly by demonstrating what doesn't. ( )

A whole lot of words for a whole lot of nothing.

I truly believed I would love this. It felt destined to be a favorite just due to my fascination with the Beat generation since I was in college.

Turns out the only good thing to come out of this novel was the influence it had on the much more talented and engaging Hunter S. Thompson. ( )

While the lifestyle of the characters portrayed in this classic of the late 1950's is foreign to me I appreciate the lyrical nature of Kerouac's novel.
Another one to cross off my "to read" list, and I'm taking my copy to an event this coming autumn where I'll just carry it around during Saturday evening's "50's party"... the crowd at the event I'm sure will understand. ( )