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On the Road: 50th Anniversary Edition Audiobook
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(3.00) - 138,968 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
A 50th anniversary hardcover edition of Kerouac’s classic novel that defined a generation Few novels have had as profound an impact on American culture as On the Road. Pulsating with the rhythms of 1950s underground America, jazz, sex, illicit drugs, and the mystery and promise of the open road, Kerouac’s classic novel of freedom and longing defined what it meant to be “beat” and has inspired generations of writers, musicians, artists, poets, and seekers who cite their discovery of the book as the event that “set them free.” Based on Kerouac’s adventures with Neal Cassady, On the Road tells the story of two friends whose four cross-country road trips are a quest for meaning and true experience. Written with a mixture of sad-eyed naïveté and wild abandon, and imbued with Kerouac’s love of America, his compassion for humanity, and his sense of language as jazz, On the Road is the quintessential American vision of freedom and hope, a book that changed American literature and changed anyone who has ever picked it up. This hardcover edition commemorates the fiftieth anniversary of the first publication of the novel in 1957 and will be a must-have for any literature lover.
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"Been there, done that. What else would I have travelled with this past year, though I think I'd of left Dean behind in Nebraska. There are limits, but that's what's great about Kerouac's seminal work - no limits."
— Hughes (4 out of 5 stars)
Quotes
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“Jack Kerouac’s On the Road was the Huckleberry Finn of the mid-twentieth century. Kerouac substituted the road for the river, the fast car for the slow raft, the hipster in search of freedom for the black slave in search of freedom…While Huck and Jim were floating down America’s mile-wide aorta, while Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty were roaring across America’s heart, they were helping to change the course of American prose.”
— New York Times Book Review -
“Mr. Kerouac has a distinctive style, part severe simplicity, part hep-cat jargon, part baroque fireworks. He uses each of these elements with a sure touch, works innumerable combinations and contrasts with them, and never slackens the speed of his narrative, which proceeds, like Dean at the wheel, at a steady hundred and ten miles an hour.”
— The Atlantic -
“Undoubtedly one of the most influential and important novels of the twentieth century…A pillar of American literature.”
— Library Journal -
“Poetic, open and raw…Kerouac’s perennially hot story continues to express the restless energy and desire for freedom that makes people rush out to see the world.”
— Publishers Weekly -
“The year 2007 marked the fiftieth anniversary of this modern classic, and an audio interpretation is a marvelous way to experience Kerouac’s free-flowing prose. Will Patton, noted for his performance of books by James Lee Burke, is a fine match for this text. On the Road is a winding, meandering journey, and Patton’s performance as narrator provides the map. His voice brings the vitality of Kerouac’s sense of spontaneity into being...Patton is appropriately quiet or exuberant, optimistic or cautious, and an ideal guide into the experience that is On the Road.”
— AudioFile
Awards
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One of the Modern Library's 100 Best English-Language Novels of the Twentieth Century
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Winner of an AudioFile Earphones Award
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One of Time Magazine's Best 100 English-Language Novels from 1923–2005
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A New York Public Library Staff Pick of Favorite Books of the Last 125 Years
On the Road: 50th Anniversary Edition Listener Reviews
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Park Wyatt, 4/20/2016
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" Experimental for its time, and I appreciate the vivid verbs and language. But it grated on me after a while. Could be blamed on the audiobook version I was listening to. "
— Hillary, 2/9/2014 -
" Inspiring. A shift in perspective and literary style. Always makes me want to hop in a car and DRIVE. For the wanderluster. "
— Andrea, 2/8/2014 -
" Classic road trip, quite enjoyed this some 30 years ago;-) "
— Stig, 2/6/2014 -
" As far as classic American books go, "On the Road" tops the charts. Hop on a Mexican-bound train with Kerouac and never look back! "
— Kris, 1/25/2014 -
" Although I think I somewhat understand how this novel gained Kerouac the fame he received, I found it to be rather weak. The book generally lacks plot. This may be by design, but, be that as it may, it is not the kind of book I tend to enjoy. I expect that the primary reason why this book has been praised is because of how well it illustrates the internal strife and conflict veterans of WWII experienced in the 40s and 50s and the development of the beat movement. While that is a touching topic to address and perhaps needs to be expressed in some way, I think Hemingway does a better job of showing how war can leave young men uprooted and impotent in The Sun Also Rises. In both books, the protagonist is thrust into a world of cheap thrills, lawlessness, and nomadic attempts to find a purpose or a home after war. They each end with a reference to how their journeys have been futile--they are about to restart the cycle of what occurred in the novel. I simply think that Hemingway put the message out there more eloquently and with a better plot, so I question why we should read the later, inferior iteration of the time-tested formula. "
— Ethan, 1/16/2014 -
" This book proved to be one of the most painful reads ever. I kept reading other books which slowed the process even further. But i definitely feel proud that i have finished it. Apart from this, the characters are not likeable at all. They are silly and egoistical. The book also happens to be quite sexist and racist, then again it was the 50s but it proved to be another major turn off for me,nevertheless. I don't recommend it to anyone, a seriously overrated 'classic'. "
— Ayesha, 1/14/2014 -
" Of all the beatniks, always liked this gentleman, another French Canadian. Anybody that's ever driven over the road in a tractor trailer can relate to this. "
— Hzar, 1/9/2014 -
" While I can appreciate Kerouac's ideas and style, I feel it's difficult to make any meaningful connections to the book. "
— Andy, 1/6/2014 -
" Bought it at Imperial Books NYC. One of my personal favorites. The Mad Ones. "
— Alfonso, 12/15/2013 -
" This is a dangerous book. Now I want to hitchhike across the country. "
— Mike, 12/6/2013 -
" although i am not a rambler at heart like Kerouac, i enjoyed living vicariously through him in this book. "
— Laura, 11/26/2013 -
" Great story in the spirit of adventure & freedom. "
— Khaled, 10/25/2013 -
" My favorite book. It has no peers. "
— Robb, 7/31/2013 -
" It's probably a very good book, too bad that I can't relate to it very well. "
— Kit, 6/7/2013 -
" great energy throughout the whole book. really enjoyed. "
— Oleg, 5/18/2013 -
" I have moved on... "
— Elaine, 2/23/2013 -
" On the Road. It was great. It was terrible. It was worth reading. Thank god it's over. 3.5 stars. "
— April, 11/1/2012 -
" Unabashed, raw, time capsule. "
— Lulu, 6/29/2012 -
" I really, really tried to finish this book. But I found I disliked the main character and the author's writing style. Life is just too short to read books you don't like. "
— Justine, 2/13/2012 -
" Every poet needs to read this. The voice of a generation. "
— Sophie, 10/2/2011 -
" I didn't finish this book twice. Three times the charm. I still know what I didn't like about it before, but that doesn't stop me from loving it now... "
— Ronni, 5/23/2011 -
" My favorite book of all time "
— Chris, 5/23/2011 -
" a life changing book if you read it when you're young.I read it when I was 17 but when I tried to reread it in my forties it was hugely disappointing "
— Simon, 5/23/2011 -
" i could not get into this book. i tried, but i ended up putting it down half way through. "
— Anna, 5/22/2011 -
" A sympathetic look at members of the beat generation. "
— Thadd, 5/17/2011
About Jack Kerouac
Jack Kerouac (1922–1969) was an American novelist and poet who influenced generations of writers. He is recognized for his style of spontaneous prose and for being a pioneer of the Beat Generation. His first novel appeared in 1950, but it was On the Road, published in 1957, that epitomized to the world what became known as the “Beat generation” and made Kerouac one of the best-known writers of his time. Born in Lowell, Massachusetts, he attended local Catholic schools and then won a scholarship to Columbia University, where he first met Neal Cassady, Allen Ginsberg, and William S. Burroughs, other originators of the Beat movement.
About Will Patton
Will Patton is an award-winning actor and narrator. HIs narrations have earned the prestigious Audie Award for Best Fiction Narration and also won dozens of AudioFile Earphones Awards. His numerous film credits include Remember the Titans, The Punisher, The Mothman Prophesies, Armageddon, and The Spitfire Grill. He starred in the TNT miniseries Into the West and on the CBS series The Agency and won Obie Awards in the theater for his performances in Fool for Love and What Did He See.