Reviews with content warning for Alcohol - On the Road

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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nomatophobia's review against another edition

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adventurous inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

This book might have changed my life whether or not it's deserving. In the time that I was reading this, I took a few fun spontaneous adventures of my own and I'd like to believe it was a little bit inspired by the chaos of these pages. That being said, this is the definition of "does not hold up." I'm not sure how much of this was intentionally offensive because it seems for the most part it just wanted to show how the characters got along with so many different kinds of people, but if you tried to count the amount of slurs in here you'd go crazy. The lack of plot didn't bother me as much as bearing my 21st century eyes to this much bigoted language.

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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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jessieherdman's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

1.25

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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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nessafurtado'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

Para um livro escrito em três semanas tem seus pontos fortes; as paisagens descritas, o pós guerra, o nascimento da geração beat, algumas boas frases sobre amor e a vida. Eu consigo entender o porquê tanta gente romantiza esse livro.
Agora, os personagens são, na grande maioria, detestáveis. Demandou muito esforço mental tentar compreender o que Sal via em Dean, uma fé e dedicação totalmente cegas e unilaterais. Os comentários de Dean sobre mulheres, e uma criança eram deploráveis; os comentários relacionados a pessoas pretas ou gays não eram melhores. Não importa o tempo em que isso aconteceu - 1950, 1960 - isso NÃO é desculpa para ser uma pessoa ruim/babaca.

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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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