The Sayer and the Namer

I just finished reading On the Road by Jack Kerouac. I know that Kerouac is one of the founding writers of an American artistic movement (the Beat Movement), and that his writing was prolific for its time, but this book was not one of my favorites. It embodied a free spiritedness that was endearing, but I just didn't like (or relate to) any of the characters. It's hard to really enjoy a book when you don't like any of the characters. I'm sure that one of the reasons I didn't love it is the content - it chronicles a road trip for a disenchanted young man searching for meaning and understanding while hitchhiking across the country. It was a major throwback to a time period that simply doesn't exist anymore, and therefore probably led to my lack of attachment to the characters and their adventure.

One thing I loved about Kerouac's writing was his choice of words. He wrote with a great combination of beautiful, traditional language with 1940's slang, and the result was a unique style. I loved the way he chose to describe certain things. For instance, he used the word lugubrious several times in this story. What a great word! He also had a childlike, innocent way of descibing Sal's relationships with women, which is very uncharacteristic of the character of Sal Paradise. The notion of a "girlsoul" was an entirely unique perspective, and I really enjoyed the way Kerouac wrote about the few female relationships Sal had. I also liked the stark contrast between Sal's relationships with females and his relationships with males, especially Dean.

Overall, not my cup of tea, but I can't say that Kerouac didn't write a good novel.