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A review by marlo42
Big Sur by Jack Kerouac
1.0
Maybe I set myself up for this by not doing my research on Kerouac before reading-I was unaware he intended all his books as part of one whole, and maybe I’d have gotten more out of this if I didn’t read the end of the journey first.
That being said, by the end of this I hated it. Hated it. He’s aping Joyce with none of the lightness, wit, heart or control-just ugly excessive prose for the sake of prose. Additionally, I have no problem with protagonists who are terrible people but I need a reason to care or keep reading and nowhere in Big Sur will you find that; just a sad sack of a man bemoaning the mess he's made of his life. It’s a shame too, as the area this takes place in is stunning and could, I imagine, inspire great art. Sadly, this is not anywhere close to great art, and it’s especially not worth your time.
That being said, by the end of this I hated it. Hated it. He’s aping Joyce with none of the lightness, wit, heart or control-just ugly excessive prose for the sake of prose. Additionally, I have no problem with protagonists who are terrible people but I need a reason to care or keep reading and nowhere in Big Sur will you find that; just a sad sack of a man bemoaning the mess he's made of his life. It’s a shame too, as the area this takes place in is stunning and could, I imagine, inspire great art. Sadly, this is not anywhere close to great art, and it’s especially not worth your time.