Reviews with content warning for Alcoholism - On the Road

Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

On the Road by Jack Kerouac

17 reviews

madzzzzzx's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

i picked this up as it’s renowned as a text that inspired american media which i can understand. this book romanticises lifestyle on the road but has these awful characters to intentionally create irony in the romanticising these bad habits. i also enjoyed the homoerotic nature and friendship between sal and dean.
this book does not age well.

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bonesfor5dollars's review against another edition

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adventurous reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.25

I went into this book with the curiosity of the 'Beat Generation.' Counterculture movements have been a fascinating topic to me and so to read a book that 'captures the beat generation,' I was quite eager to dig into this book. However, what I got out of this was pure disappointment and just a poorly-aged book that contains questionable characters and ideas. While the writing style of Kerouac can be interesting at some points, I feel the book is entirely bogged down by the characters who are probably the most unlikable characters that I've seen in a book. How they describe people of color is just baffling especially from Sal, who has some of the most baffling descriptions and observations of African Americans, and Mexican Americans. The main characters also sexualize underage women a lot and get extremely bad by the end of the book, when they are in Mexico. Also, the manner in which women are presented in this book is just terrible as well, as the main characters often exploit women either for sex or for money and make comments on how women are objects.

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cyb's review against another edition

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1.5

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hypocrisis's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No

couldn't get past the racism, pedophilia and misogyny (unfortunately?).
Selfish and self-destructive characters like Dean Moriarty can only be romanticised as 'angel(s) of terror' and prophets from the safe distance of a reader ...or a protagonist who's in a permanent state of intoxication.
I'm sure it was groundbreaking at the time, but the lifestyle described doesn't appeal to me, even though i do give into 'madness' at times and love 'kicks'. Maybe I'd get it if i had a real connection to american culture and jazz, or if i had a driver's license lol. Maybe I'm too stuck in my middle-class ways to see it, but i didn't get the point of all these roadtrips just to do the same thing with the same people all over again.

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antares's review against another edition

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adventurous slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

90% of this book is Dean having a manic episode and dragging Sal along with him

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sophiajkessler's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The main takeaway for this book for me was something I already knew: straight men are more in love with each other than they could ever love any woman. It was quite obvious to me that Sal and Dean love one another and this is to an extent a love story. Hence why Sal overlooks how bloody annoying Dean is which we as the readers have to suffer through, whilst Sal gushes about how great he is. Cognitive dissonance much? Other readers have commented ( and I agree) that although this book has beautiful prose it is plot deficient and there are precious few actually likeable characters. To me this didn't detract from the book though as it helped develop the sense of loneliness and isolation that an itinerant lifestyle engenders no matter how freeing it might be. People who aspire to this kind of lifestyle should look at the endings of the protagonist and deuteragonist to find the moral of the story:

Sal makes his way off the road and finds his happiness. Dean never does and seems unable to do either. We leave him to an uncertain fate, having lost all the friends and lovers of his journey and also Sal, his probable soulmate.

A cautionary tale about the dangers of a lifestyle many idealise even if its simultaneously a love story, both to the road itself and between its main characters. Best enjoyed if you yourself are actually on a roadtrip! At times I could practically see and feel the emotioms and scenery described. Beware of the content warnings though.

Content Warnings

frankiejblue's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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amelody's review against another edition

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adventurous slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Sal Paradise is a colossal ass. Hated these characters. William Burroughs ("Bull Lee") was the only one worth knowing. And he was a self proclaimed junkie--and certainly no hero. Kerouac seems to have been an irresponsible, privileged, little snot whose rambling search for himself or for adventure led him to use everyone he came into contact with to the best of his abilities. The only saving grace of this book (beyond Bull Lee's practical interludes) is the fact that Kerouac/Paradise at least described the settings well.

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touchingartt's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

As much as this is a classic, it was actually really hard to read it and there are a few reasons for that:
1) All characters, especially Dean, do not seem like genuinely good people. (cheating, racism, r*pe, and at some point even pe*ophi*ia)
2) Plot is basically non-existent
3) You need to have extremely good knowledge about America in the 1940s and 1950s to understand how some things might have worked or are possible; the same goes for knowledge on certain American cities where they travel a few times (i.e. Denver, San Francisco, New York...), so you can understand which parts of those cities were poor, industrial, fancy, etc.
4) Writing was lazy at some point, so it seems like you can never finish reading one page even tho it says basically nothing

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animar1a's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging inspiring lighthearted reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I picked up this book because I knew Kerouac was one of Bob Dylan’s influences, and beat writers and poets have been catching my attention recently. I wouldn’t say On the Road was a disappointment, but it also didn’t live up to my expectations. I didn’t enjoy the ‘stream of consciousness’ writing style or the abhorrent racism, misogyny and pedophelia; but the plot (or lack thereof) was actually really compelling. I don’t think the passage of time was coherent whatsoever, with some parts of the book being drawn out and pointless to the character arc, and others being beautifully written but much too short, (specifically their time spent in Mexico and the ending of the novel). On the Road is definitely inspiring but deeply flawed. anyways I’m not feeling desperate to read any more of Kerouac’s novels, but I probably will in the future.

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