On The Road, by Jack Kerouac

We all have a list of books that we have meant to read but have never quite gotten around to. Some of them finally make their way into our hands and we start reading. Most of us will think What's the big deal about this book? It's garbage! about some of the classics, while others fall into the I can't believe I waited this long to read it! category.

Then there are others that leave us feeling so ambivalent throughout the reading that we end up wanting to give it a second reading just so we can decide. That is how I felt when starting On The Road, by Jack Kerouac. It was one of those classics that many people talk about ("Have you read...? No? Really, you should...") while not having actually read. I'd picked up a copy of it from a now-closed bookstore near the University of South Florida St. Petersburg when they were promoting books by many of the Beat writers, especially Kerouac.

Note: Jack Kerouac died in St. Petersburg's St. Anthony's Hospital in 1969. His name, address and phone number remained in the St. Petersburg phone book for quite a few years afterwards. He is said to have frequented several bars while in St. Pete.

The first few paragraphs very nearly turned me off. I had tried reading it when I first bought the book, but those first couple of paragraphs were what caused me to put it down. They were wordy, bordering on almost flowery. If Ernest Hemingway was known for short, concise sentences, much of Kerouac's On The Road seemed the opposite in its wordiness. While Kerouac did rein this in a bit after the first few paragraphs/pages, he never quite moves completely away from it.

The further I got in the book, the more engaging it became. It is easy to imagine being carefree and on the road, going from place to place. Sal Paradise (based on Kerouac) meets Dean Moriarty (based on Neal Cassady), someone he has heard about, at the beginning of the book. They are soon criss-crossing the country separately, meeting up in different parts of the country, just missing each other in other parts. The one thing Sal hears numerous times is that others are not as fond of Dean as Sal is. While Sal finally sees that others might be right about Dean, he still defends him. By the end of the book, we find Sal wandering off after sending Dean on his way. But he mentions occasionally thinking about Dean Moriarty.

By the end of the book, I had to admit: This book deserves to be considered a classic, and deserves to be read. If you haven't read it, what are you waiting for?