Story of two restless young men in the late 1940s who cross and recross America, encountering parties, girls, drugs, loneliness and their own dreams along the way.
That was it. I closed the book, talked to a friend about it, threw a few things into a backpack, and we bought a ticket for the first train leaving the station. It was around ’91 or ’92, and it’s an experience I’ll never forget.
It was a book that marked entire generations, but nowadays, when everything is so certain and just a click away, that spirit seems to be gone.
Until one day.
Freedom and Fado.
I promise myself that I'll give at least 100 pages on any book I've read. And because I've heard so much about this one, I went a bit farther. But yikes, I had to quit--just couldn't get into it anymore.
There are some things I can appreciate with this book, and others I just can't grasp. I can appreciate the unique writing style, in the pacing of the story. There's something happening--or even very much NOT happening--on each page. What I can't grasp is the inconsistencies between thoughts and dialogue, how Sal, the narrator will be giving Dean's (or anyone's perspective) and it abruptly goes into the character talking. I can't word it better, and I barely got the gist of the dialogue.
All in all, I guess I tried to understand the characters, but they were just too much and not enough at the same time, as if they're …
I promise myself that I'll give at least 100 pages on any book I've read. And because I've heard so much about this one, I went a bit farther. But yikes, I had to quit--just couldn't get into it anymore.
There are some things I can appreciate with this book, and others I just can't grasp. I can appreciate the unique writing style, in the pacing of the story. There's something happening--or even very much NOT happening--on each page. What I can't grasp is the inconsistencies between thoughts and dialogue, how Sal, the narrator will be giving Dean's (or anyone's perspective) and it abruptly goes into the character talking. I can't word it better, and I barely got the gist of the dialogue.
All in all, I guess I tried to understand the characters, but they were just too much and not enough at the same time, as if they're confusing the hell out of themselves just by breathing, and we're experiencing that, too. If that was the goal, I guess the mission's accomplished. But I couldn't stick with it because it felt like "go on a trip on a whim, have crap happen, get in the dumps, go home, wash-rinse-repeat." I'd always read that this book was so iconic, but I guess I can't see it.
Who knows? Might be your cup of tea, too confusing to be mine (and I don't like feeling like I need drugs to understand what's going on, as some have suggested).
