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The Voice Is All: The Lonely Victory of Jack Kerouac Audiobook
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(3.82) - 22 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
In The Voice Is All, Joyce Johnson—coauthor of the classic memoir Door Wide Open, about her relationship with Jack Kerouac—brilliantly peels away layers of the Kerouac legend to show how, caught between two cultures and two languages, he forged a voice to contain his dualities. Looking more deeply than previous biographers into how Kerouac's French Canadian background enriched his prose and gave him a unique outsider's vision of America, she tracks his development from boyhood through the phenomenal breakthroughs of 1951 that resulted in the composition of On the Road, followed by Visions of Cody. By illuminating Kerouac's early choice to sacrifice everything for his work, The Voice Is All deals with him on his own terms and puts the tragic contradictions of his nature and his complex relationships into perspective.
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"Excellent insight from Johnson's perspective. It seemed unnecessary, though, to point out where she felt other Kerouac biographers' (Nicosia, Carolyn Cassady, etc.) misinterpreted various events in his life or how they reported them."
— Teresa (5 out of 5 stars)
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“Johnson knows how to create suspense and weave the complex lives of her characters into a narrative that rumbles along…Her own voice is eloquent, her prose clear and crisp.”
— San Francisco Chronice -
This is quite simply the best book about Kerouac and one of the best accounts of any writer's apprenticeship that I have read.
— Russell Banks -
“An intimate of Kerouac who has chronicled his life and the beat culture, Johnson brings an insider’s perspective to this insightful study of how Kerouac found his literary voice…Johnson excels in her colorful, candid assessment of this evolution of this voice.”
— Publishers Weekly -
“An exemplary biography of the Beat icon and his development as a writer…There’s plenty of life in these pages to fascinate casual readers, and Johnson is a sensitive but admirably objective biographer. A triumph of scholarship.”
— Kirkus Reviews
The Voice Is All Listener Reviews
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" I know the broad story of Kerouac's life, but I couldn't put this book down; it's been a while since I stayed up so late reading. "
— Tim, 1/19/2014 -
" Not that well written. Jack is my MAN and this book could have done him better justice. Also as a side note, the women were treated terribly! All of the wives, girlfriends, etc...none were treated well at all...hard to read... "
— Laura, 1/14/2014 -
" I'm in love with a dead man. "
— Hariklia, 1/6/2014 -
" Johnson gave me a human Kerouac, far more dedicated and committed to being a novelist than I thought.he really wasn't having a good time. "
— Kathleen, 12/8/2013 -
" In clear, highly readable prose, Joyce Johnson gives us a deep and detailed look at what drove Jack Kerouac. "
— Dono, 12/5/2013 -
" A must miss. This is a drawn out, inflated, maudlin treatise of what should have been a footnote in a real JK biography. Instead, pick up your old copy of JK's poetry, settle in your favorite chair, savor each hard earned word and look into the man. "
— John, 12/4/2013 -
" This is a biography of Jack Kerouac that focuses more on his writing than on the chaotic parts of his life. This book walks through Jack's evolution as writer, chronicling his life events but not getting lost in them. The focus of this book is his writing. "
— Les, 10/1/2013 -
" Wonderfully well-written look at Kerouac prior to the publication of "One the Road" "
— Misty, 4/27/2013 -
" Very intimate and thorough history of Kerouac. He was a compelling man, and he was driven by so many personal experiences and the conclusions he drew from them. "
— Molly, 3/19/2013 -
" This book was a great window into Kerouac's sense of dualism, his search for the self and his place on art and society. It talks about the biographical aspects of his work, and how he found his voice. "
— Sara, 11/17/2012
About Joyce Johnson
Joyce Johnson is the author of several books, including the National Book Critics Circle Award–winner Minor Characters. She has written for Vanity Fair and the New Yorker and lives in New York City.
About Carrington MacDuffie
Carrington MacDuffie is a voice actor and recording artist who has narrated over two hundred audiobooks, received numerous AudioFile Earphones Awards, and has been a frequent finalist for the Audie Award, including for her original audiobook, Many Things Invisible. Alongside her narration work, she has released a new album of original songs, Only an Angel.