rwarner's review against another edition
3.0
Entertaining for awhile, though I found myself, about halfway through, hoping it would end soon. London describes scenery and events much better than he develops a plot, and this book is an example of that. Good for learning more about life as a hobo.
gilluminate's review against another edition
3.0
If you read this book as though it were a diary or journal, it's a great read. If you read it looking for a beginning, climax, and ending you will be sorely disappointed. It's basically a bunch of experiences that Jack London had while he was being a hobo. I personally found them to be a lot of fun. Although, by the end of the book I was starting to get bored.
forkdogforkfruit's review against another edition
5.0
This Jack London memoir of sorts is so much fun. Documenting his time traveling around the US as a hobo in his unique writing style is simply refreshing despite being written well over a hundred years ago. There is a humbleness alongside an innocent comedy that seeps through page after page. Where many others may have seen despair London found acceptance, where others saw difficulty London saw a challenge and where others gave up London seemed to think that was where the measuring yourself started.
Another book that is covering a similar theme (memoir about crossing the US back and forth) is Kerouac's On The Road. Personally I never enjoyed On The Road because I thought it was too flamboyant and not enough substance. London's The Road is significantly better in my view and has made me consider rereading On The Road.
Another book that is covering a similar theme (memoir about crossing the US back and forth) is Kerouac's On The Road. Personally I never enjoyed On The Road because I thought it was too flamboyant and not enough substance. London's The Road is significantly better in my view and has made me consider rereading On The Road.
davidwright's review against another edition
4.0
I’ve enjoyed several other hobo accounts (such as Jim Tully's great Beggars of Life), and don’t know how this had escaped my notice for so long, but I enjoyed it so much I think it may kick off a Jack London binge for me. In these real-life adventures drawn from his tramping days during the depression years of the 1890s, London shares with the reader the fine art of lying and begging for food, the vicious skill of holding one’s own amidst the rough handling of wolfish road kids and predatory professional hobos, and the colorful language and customs of life [b:on the road|6288|The Road|Cormac McCarthy|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/21E8H3D1JSL._SL75_.jpg|3355573]. Throughout, London depicts himself as a romantic adventurer and protean trickster, but there is another journey underway here as well. He records a lesser-known historical chapter in which he joined an army of jobless tramps in a march on Washington D.C. to demand of a sort of proto-Public Works Administration – an experience that clearly had a big influence on London’s own Socialist views. London comes of age, maturing from a wayward adventure-seeker continually on-the-make and looking out only for his own interests to someone with a wider view of the world’s unfortunates and a social conscience. These views are reinforced by London’s experiences behind bars in a powerful passage that pre-figures Alexander Berkman’s great Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist. I hugely enjoyed this account, as I suspected I would when I chose this title to be the first full-length work to read on my Sony Reader. Not bad, and now I have several other London works in the public domain downloaded, including The Star Rover, which a number of ex-cons have recommended to me over the years.
abarone121's review against another edition
3.0
I had to read this one for my Road Trips class. Although I definitely loved London's distinct voice and thought it was a great read over all, it just wasn't my kind of book.
aseleener's review against another edition
3.0
I read this on Serial Reader, 18 issues. It was interesting. It's a memoir by author Jack London telling about his life as a hobo. I can't imagine anybody wanting to live like that! He stows away on trains, begs for food, runs from police, all just for the fun of it. The jargon got to be a bit much after a while. But it was an interesting nonfiction read.