The classic and fascinating story of Jack Kerouac, "King of the Beats" and American literary legend, recorded through the voices of his friends and lovers. Authors Barry Gifford and Lawrence Lee retraced Kerouac's life at home and on the road and talked with the prophets, musicians, poets, socialites, and working people who knew him. Some are famous (Allen Ginsberg, Gore Vidal, William Burroughs); some are not (Jack's boyhood buddies, his lovers, his barroom companions). All have contributed to a remarkably vibrant, riveting portrait of a life. We see Jack at Columbia University and on the scene of Greenwich Village; speeding across the tarmac of America with Neal Cassidy ('Dan Moriarty' in Kerouac's classic novel, On the Road); at home with his possessive mother; in California, drinking wine and talking Buddhism; and finally, in Florida, where his life ends tragically at forty-seven years old. Jack's Book, like Kerouac's novels, makes a unique contribution to our understanding of a man and a generation that shaped the dreams and visions of those who followed.
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"beautiful book about a great poet (the term writer is not fitting) told in the words of people who not just knew him but loved him and hated him, lived and died with him. must read if you're a true fan of kerouac, like i am." — Rebecca (4 out of 5 stars)
"beautiful book about a great poet (the term writer is not fitting) told in the words of people who not just knew him but loved him and hated him, lived and died with him. must read if you're a true fan of kerouac, like i am."
“Jack’s Book is first-rate…if offers the flavor and depth of good fiction while keeping well within the realms of literal truth.”
“Lively…and often compelling.”
“If you’re interested in what the talk of the Fifties sounded like, and if you believe that literature may just have something to do with life, then read this book.”
“A fascinating literary and historical document, the most insightful look at the beat generation.”
" I hate what the world did to Kerouac. But after reading this book, at least I understand it better. "
" A most excellent book with tons of interviews with people who knew Kerouac intimately. I highly recommend this book if you enjoy Kerouac's work and other "beat" writers. "
" Great oral biography of a great writer (& tragic figure in literature). Helps if you already have a background in Kerouac and have read most of his books. Might not make a lot of sense otherwise. "
" Keroac's friends, lovers and acquaintances wax eloquently at times not very coherently about the man they thought they knew. Hopefully from the mass of testimony some sort of truth emerges. "
" This was my bible when I was 16-17yrs old. How I dreamed of being a beat, and how I copied such style in my diary entries of the time. I give it high marks purely for nostalgia. "
Barry Gifford is a celebrated writer whose novels have been translated into twenty-five languages. He has received awards from PEN, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Writers Guild of America, and his novel Wild at Heart was turned into a film by David Lynch.
Lawrence Lee, a Peabody Award–winning journalist, worked for UPI, AP, and a number of television stations in San Francisco. He coauthored, with Barry Gifford, Saroyan: A Biography. Mr. Lee died in 1990.
Mauro Hantman has been a resident actor at Trinity Repertory Company in Providence, Rhode Island, where he has appeared in over fifty productions since 1999. He's the artistic director of the Providence Improv Fest and a founding member of Improv Jones, an improv troupe formed in 1992.
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