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inulro46. On the Road by Jack Kerouac
This month's book club selection.
I first read it shortly after Grad School Part I and came to it with zero expectations. What I came away with at the time was a sense of how much freedom we've lost. (And that was in 1993!) And that's all I could remember (I can't remember what I read last week, much less last year).
Anyhoo, to paraphrase Blackadder, there's nothing intellectual about driving around America in a pair of Levis trying to get laid.
Actually, there *could* be, but this isn't it.
Although I didn't like it now that I'm older, I don't think it's for the reasons you're supposed to not like books when you're older. I still fully endorse the idea of chucking everything in and going travelling (in fact can't wait till I'm in a position to do so again), but you don't have to be a dick while you're at it.
I have no idea how I got past the petty crime, child abuse, dangerous driving and the mistreatment of women the first time round, because I had even less sense of humour about most thing then than I do now.
The parts about Okies and agricultural labourers has made me want to re-read The Grapes of Wrath, though.
Is there a Great American Road Trip Novel where the protagonists aren't dicks? Cos I'd be all over that!
47. October Skies by Alex Scarrow
Random thriller I picked up at the library while I was getting On the Road. The premise is a couple of British TV researchers stumble upon the remains of a lost wagon train in the Sierra Nevada, complete with intact diary detailing the demise of the party. There's two stories - the present, and the story of the "emigrants".
The first 2/3rds are really good, but it gets somewhat silly, and has an unsatisfying ending.
This month's book club selection.
I first read it shortly after Grad School Part I and came to it with zero expectations. What I came away with at the time was a sense of how much freedom we've lost. (And that was in 1993!) And that's all I could remember (I can't remember what I read last week, much less last year).
Anyhoo, to paraphrase Blackadder, there's nothing intellectual about driving around America in a pair of Levis trying to get laid.
Actually, there *could* be, but this isn't it.
Although I didn't like it now that I'm older, I don't think it's for the reasons you're supposed to not like books when you're older. I still fully endorse the idea of chucking everything in and going travelling (in fact can't wait till I'm in a position to do so again), but you don't have to be a dick while you're at it.
I have no idea how I got past the petty crime, child abuse, dangerous driving and the mistreatment of women the first time round, because I had even less sense of humour about most thing then than I do now.
The parts about Okies and agricultural labourers has made me want to re-read The Grapes of Wrath, though.
Is there a Great American Road Trip Novel where the protagonists aren't dicks? Cos I'd be all over that!
47. October Skies by Alex Scarrow
Random thriller I picked up at the library while I was getting On the Road. The premise is a couple of British TV researchers stumble upon the remains of a lost wagon train in the Sierra Nevada, complete with intact diary detailing the demise of the party. There's two stories - the present, and the story of the "emigrants".
The first 2/3rds are really good, but it gets somewhat silly, and has an unsatisfying ending.
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Date: 2009-08-31 10:10 pm (UTC)