On the Road Paperback – November 20, 2012

Note about the kindle version - it crashes Paperwhites, but is great on a Fire tablet: --------------The kindle version of this book (On the Road: The Original Scroll) crashes and freezes when I read it on a Paperwhite. I tried it on two different Paperwhites (one is being returned for screen issues, the other is its replacement) and it did the same thing on both.Towards the end of the book, after reading 10 pages or so, the screen turns white and sometimes launches a restart and other times just freezes for a long time. Customer service had me "permanently delete" the book as a way of solving the issue, but after they restored the purchase, the problem persists.Fortunately, I was reading it on a fire tablet as well which, as I explain below, is almost the only way in which the book should be read. -----------------------------------------------I first read this book (as originally published, not the scroll) as required reading in an English class. Unfortunately, I remember pretty much zero about it, so my guess is that I either skimmed it or read the SparkNotes version. If that sounds familiar, then I urge you to revisit this book and really, honestly, actually read it.The older version of the book I "read" used pseudonyms for the Beat writer characters who appeared in it. Even if I had had any idea who William Burroughs, Neal Cassady, and other Beat writers were at the time, I likely wouldn't have been able to figure out which character was which. In this version, the pseudonyms are gone, the characters are who they are, often described in brutal and uncompromising terms, which frankly makes for a far more interesting read.[A word of caution, however, is in order - maybe several - owing to the casual use of disparaging language, as well as to the inclusion of material that was cut from the originally published version because it was deemed to be too pornographic.]I highly recommend reading it on a device that allows page scrolling. The reason for this is that Kerouac wrote the manuscript for this book on a single piece of paper, which in this case was a 120-foot-long scroll that he fashioned by taping pieces of paper together. It was typed single-spaced, without margins or paragraph breaks, so it's a rather remarkable thing to be able to read it just as he wrote it.(Just as an FYI, my kindle paperwhite does not have page-scrolling capability nor do most other kindle readers as I have been told, neither does the kindle app on my laptop, but the kindle fire accommodates page scrolling, as does the kindle app on my phone.)Whichever way you choose to read the book will be worth it. It's an insider's view into the world of the ' highest echelons of the Beat writers - their young lives and how they became who they eventually became in spite of their numerous personal flaws. It's also incredible look at America in the late 1940s from Kerouac's point of view as a hitchhiker who goes cross-country with barely two nickels to rub together and never knowing what the new day or next mile will hold. It was somewhat amazing to realize that people could hook up with their friends in completely strange cities, and even out in the wilds of Texas, without having cell phones!This book is shot through with incredibly beautiful passages. Of traveling through California's central valley, he writes:"Soon it got dusk, a grape dusk, a purple dusk over tangerine groves and long melon fields; the sun the color of pressed grapes, slashed with burgundy red, the fields the color of love and Spanish mysteries. I stuck my head out the window and took deep breaths of the fragrant air. It was the most beautiful of all moments."The book is also very funny which stems, I think, from Kerouac's self-deprecating honesty about the often crazy and improbable situations in which he finds himself over and over again, as well as from his descriptions of people and places that he lays out as just he sees them. But no matter what was happening, I found myself completely wrapped up in the narrative of Kerouac's travels and his travails, and by the weird charm of Kerouac himself.This is a book well worth reading, or re-reading, especially if "the original scroll" was not the version that was read before. It has a permanent place on my shelf of personal classics.I do not recommend reading it on kindle readers because of my very frustrating experience with that.

Commonly known as the "Beatnik handbook," On the Road became the literary guide to a generation of restless, disenchanted youths. Its author, Jack Kerouac, became a co-creator of the "beat Generation," along with other American writers including William Burroughs, and Allen Ginsberg. The beats were focused on the highs and passions of life during an era of conformity and straight-laced philosophy.Written in just three weeks, One the Road was typed on eight long sheets of tracing paper in 1951. The author taped the sheets together and rolled them up into a continuous 120 foot scroll. The roll was typed single-spaced, without margins or paragraph breaks. When the book was finally published in 1957, editors reformatted the book into standard form, and some of the more colorful elements of the story were removed. Viking Press released this special edition of the book in its original typed form and content. Despite the lack of chapters or paragraph breaks, I found the formatting helped me read at the rushed pace of Kerouac's story. While it may be intriguing to myself, and other die-hard fans, it might not appeal to the traditional reader. Kerouac also had a habit of writing two "wordsas" one occasionally, but don't let that bother you. This first draft is dripping with creative energy and originality.On the Road is a memoir of the author's trips to meet up with his friends across the continental United States. When the final book was published, the names of all those involved were changed for various reasons, including legality. Now in its original form, the book has become more personalized for those of us familiar with the people he was writing about (all soon-to-be famous 60's icons). Throughout the story, Kerouac describes his desire and need for a new generation to break free from the confinement of fall-in-line life. As you read through the various events, the tone of rebellious freedom of expression is easily felt. Jack represented a generation that thought "the only thing to do was go," searching for personal freedom and living life to the fullest.Kerouac is truly an amazing story-teller. His writing style is extremely vivid. It almost makes you feel like you are sitting next to him on the back of a flat-bed truck, flying down the highway at 90 miles an hour. You can smell the clean night air and imagine the wind blowing through your hair as you travel onward, searching for a state of higher being. Allen Ginsberg and Neil Cassidy receive the majority of Kerouac's attention throughout the story. He was fascinated by their counter-culture lifestyles (Ginsberg was openly homosexual), and saw profound importance in their lives. In some ways, On the Road is an observational book. A book that looks at the lives of people who stand out against the norm. Kerouac puts it best when he writes, "the only people that interest me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones that never yawn or say a commonplace thing ... but burn, burn, burn like roman candles across the night." The highlights of the book are Kerouac's deeply emotional observations, and reports of his comrades antics across a nation ripe for change.I found One the Road to be extremely profound. It is a book that will pull you into the story, and make your imagination run at the wild pace of the author's writing. Kerouac's stream of consciousness writing form is exciting and provocative. This book will challenge the way you look at life, and remind you that some of the most important things that will ever happen to you, could be happening right now. Reading this work in its originally intended form added to the artistic nature of the overall experience. I highly recommend this version to anyone who enjoys reading about how others perceive life.