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Visions of Cody (Abridged): Selections from the Novel Audiobook
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(3.00) - 2,465 listener ratings
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"What I'm beginning to discover now is something beyond the novel and beyond the arbitrary confines of the story. . . . I'm making myself seek to find the wild form, that can grow with my wild heart . . . because now I know MY HEART DOES GROW." —Jack Kerouac, in a letter to John Clellon Holmes
Written in 1951-52, Visions of Cody was an underground legend by the time it was finally published in 1972. Writing in a radical, experimental form ("the New Journalism fifteen years early," as Dennis McNally noted in Desolate Angel), Kerouac created the ultimate account of his voyages with Neal Cassady during the late forties, which he captured in different form in On the Road. Here are the members of the Beat Generatoin as they were in the years before any label had been affixed to them. Here is the postwar America that Kerouac knew so well and celebrated so magnificently. His ecstatic sense of superabundant reality is informed by the knowledge of mortality: "I'm writing this book because we're all going to die. . . . My heart broke in the general despair and opened up inward to the Lord, I made a supplication in this dream."
"The most sincere and holy writing I know of our age." —Allen Ginsberg
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"the transcribed section is fantastic and the prior sections are good for background/lead up, afterwards is tedious and unrewarding. "
— Andrew (4 out of 5 stars)
Visions of Cody Listener Reviews
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" Oh god, this book almost finished me. "
— Will, 2/9/2014 -
" OMG. Kerouac has a bizarre writing style ignoring punctuations, paragraphs, etc. Great story if you can get past the opiate fueled writing style. "
— Jeff, 2/9/2014 -
" My most favourite book by Jack Kerouac so far. A story of friendship, long roads, empty pockets, alcohol, drugs and jazz. "
— Michal, 2/7/2014 -
" very, very dense.hard to get through. "
— Lindsey, 1/30/2014 -
" I really wanted to like this book, but the paragraphs of complete nonsense really turned me off to it. I thought the taped recordings were humorous at parts, and there are a few golden lines in the text, but for the most part, this book is incomprehensible and a mess. "
— sea, 1/19/2014 -
" Of all the non- On the Road , I think I like this one best. "
— Casey, 12/30/2013 -
" the transcribed section is fantastic and the prior sections are good for background/lead up, afterwards is tedious and unrewarding. "
— Andrew, 12/21/2013 -
" Incomprehensible! Some really cool word combinations to steal for songwriting, but overall, do drugs and write your own masterpiece. Pulled this one out recently and found a photo of my brothers girlfriend from years ago, and I hadn't put it in there! "
— Matt, 11/19/2013 -
" this one was great, not as good as on the road though "
— Rich, 11/19/2013 -
" An experimental masterpiece. Kerouac undiluted. "
— Jason, 11/16/2013 -
" Just too much, Jack. This is why we have editors. Your momentum in the first 100 was inspiring, but it became too much of the same. "
— Kimmy, 11/10/2013 -
" another fantastic kerouac. "
— Christy, 11/5/2013 -
" Got about halfway through and did not finish. It was too scattered to keep up with... "
— Mark, 9/7/2013 -
" great! Very REAL "
— Erin, 7/10/2013 -
" had its moments, but a bit hard to follow... will pry try to read again "
— Kevin, 5/20/2013 -
" Kerouac's masterwork. "
— Tim, 5/8/2013 -
" like being hit repeatedly in the face with a big fat rainbow. "
— Debbie, 4/15/2013 -
" hard to swallow but complete in the moment zen "
— Gregor, 2/26/2013 -
" The middle section is wack, but I like the first section. Still have most of the final section to go. "
— Keith, 7/12/2012 -
" Author keeps notebook, friends have it published after he dies. "
— M., 5/16/2012 -
" A hell of a read! Don't start your Kerouac here it won't make sense. "
— Nate, 12/1/2011 -
" I made it through about 200 pages and then just gave up. This should never have been published. Ugh. (And I am a Kerouac fan!) "
— Karl, 10/8/2011 -
" Part of this was a redux of On the Road. It starts out promising with its experimental narrative, but then gets derivative. "
— Kristin, 10/3/2011 -
" Hard to read; super stream of consciousness, includes tapes of conversations, the true spontaneity of Neal Cassady. Interesting but yes, confusing. "
— Cherie, 9/25/2011 -
" Probably shouldn't mark as read, but I did try, I just couldn't get away with it. Repetitive. "
— Stantontas, 6/24/2011 -
" hard to swallow but complete in the moment zen<br/> "
— Gregor, 4/8/2011 -
" As somebody said, "This is not writing, it's typing." "
— John, 2/22/2011 -
" I made it through about 200 pages and then just gave up. This should never have been published. Ugh. (And I am a Kerouac fan!) "
— Karl, 1/7/2011 -
" Got about halfway through and did not finish. It was too scattered to keep up with... "
— Mark, 12/26/2010 -
" not consistent but points of brilliance, really enjoyed the transcribed dialogue in the middle "
— Eric, 7/8/2010 -
" The middle section is wack, but I like the first section. Still have most of the final section to go. "
— Keith, 5/19/2010 -
" Hard to read; super stream of consciousness, includes tapes of conversations, the true spontaneity of Neal Cassady. Interesting but yes, confusing. "
— Cherie, 2/3/2010 -
" this one was great, not as good as on the road though "
— Rich, 9/17/2009 -
" Oh god, this book almost finished me. "
— Will, 5/28/2009 -
" I really wanted to like this book, but the paragraphs of complete nonsense really turned me off to it. I thought the taped recordings were humorous at parts, and there are a few golden lines in the text, but for the most part, this book is incomprehensible and a mess. "
— sea, 1/27/2009 -
" OMG. Kerouac has a bizarre writing style ignoring punctuations, paragraphs, etc. Great story if you can get past the opiate fueled writing style. "
— Jeff, 1/23/2009
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.