Desolation Angels
by Jack Kerouac
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Book Reviews of Desolation Angels
Book Review: My dear friend who knoweth my name not
Summary: 5 Stars
Jack Kerouac. The very mention of his great cool name that just rolls off the tongue will, at a mere mention generate the most passionate explanation from any book lover, historian, critic, or a "lost," unenlightened victim of an educational system plagued by the three letters which spell Satan; GOP.
This book was written in 1965 while the Beat Generation was minglling with the hippies and Kerouac had distanced himself from his friends Allen Ginsberg and Neal Cassady, sadly.
It's more like a diary of Kerouac's most deep thoughts while he lives by Desolation peak and in that case, it's like the Walden of the twentieth century. It has very beautiful and expertise descriptions which will bore some readers but it is an all around great book that any beat lover will like.
Book Review: Jack Kerouac delivers one of the finest novels of the Beat
Summary: 5 Stars
generation in Desolation Angels. Kerouacs frank accounts and
vivid style draw you into the heart of a man both idealistic
and cinical, naive and experienced, proud and downtrodden,
as well as buddist and Catholic, living the life of a
"Dharma Bum" as he travels to Mexico. From the fire lookout
high on Desolaion Peak, to the junk steets of Mexico, Kerouac
shares with his readers every experience and emotion, carring
the reader deep into the lifestyle of the Beats as few authors
ever accomplished. Its no wonder Kerouac became the
symbol of the Beat generation for millions of kats in the 50's,
for even today his writing is hep, and inciteful. He could
very easily be an icon for generations to come.Book Review: The Beauty Within the Tragedy
Summary: 5 Stars
Like all the Kerouac novels, the overriding point of this book is to show the beauty that lies within the tragedy of human life. Though Kerouac is "depressed" through most of the book, sickened by the people and places and travel which he once found so necessary, he finds mental respite in his mother and her unconditionally warm spirit, among other things. Another point which Kerouac strives to raise is religion. Though he and his friends more oft than not live a wild and consumptive life, Jack still remains devoted to the idea of God and the genuine goodness of people. This book, just as all Kerouac novels, describes life with a wide-eyed vivacity unlike anything I've ever read, if only in a less sunny way.Book Review: A Trifle Over-Rated
Summary: 3 Stars
For some readers who found this book after reading some of Kerouac's more conventional literary works, this novel may come off as a bit tedious. Kerouac wasn't that great an experimental novelist, or at least not as graceful with spontaneous prose and extra-sensory perceptive description as his pier William S. Burroughs, as exemplified by the book's more incoherent and often undermanaged meanderings. As a piece of creative autobiography, however, the novel is a symbolic giant of originality, fearlessly defying traditional literary convention and organization. For those seeking out Kerouac for more traditional entertainment, however, the novel proves far more complex than a single reading may warrant.Book Review: Now don't you appreciate mom just a little bit more?
Summary: 5 Stars
Always searching, always moving towards, always observing. I really like the way his writing brings to life the world that he walks in and gives moments poignancy without melodrama. In a way, I think he was a latter-day Thoreau, both structurally (we did this and then we did that)and philosophically (y'all be cool, now) all bracketed by minute observations. I think this novel brings him full circle in a quest for spirituality (or confrontation with it). All his novels I have read (count 'em on one hand) and his poetry are excellent. I excerpted from 'Mexico City Blues' for a government agency newsletter type book review many moons ago. Oops.