On the Road

Jack Kerouac, 1955

Date read: 9/28/25

According to this novel, Beat (as in Beat Generation) was short for Beatific, as in saintly. I dont know if that is true, but youd think Kerouac would have known.

This is one that shouldn't really have been on list, because it isn't a novel so much as an account of Kerouac's life with the names changed.

When we are told about the 1950s, we are told there was much stricter morality than today. Everybody lived like the Beaver's family or something. I never believed this because people are people no matter where and when they live, and this book proves it. There is sex, drugs, and rock n' roll enough for anybody from the 60s or 70s or 2000s. Sal spends the entire novel both drunk and high.

And there is a huge amount of random sex, divorce, and casual misogyny. The men have sex with underage prostitutes. Sal and his friends are not personally racist, but it is mentioned that it is illegal to visit "negro" bars in some places. Also Dean and Sal very much believe in the myth of the noble savage, which they spout all over Mexico, and it was stupid.

There was no character arc or growth or anything like in a proper novel, and whatever mental illness Dean has is never explained. At the end, Sal says he's seen Dean for the last time but does not explain why that is...did Dean die? Who knows.

The author died at my age (47) from cirrhosis of the liver due to acute alcoholism. That's incredibly sad. Maybe that's why he never saw his friend again.