I really like Kerouac, but I think you have to really, REALLY like him to totally enjoy this collection. It has so many pieces of his writing that it is overwhelming, and not many of them are really that good. Taken from a perspective of watching a writer develop and seeing the themes that run through his work, it is an interesting read. Taken for the enjoyment of reading, not so much.

Not all of it is a snooze. I really liked Chapter One from “Football Novella”! And I totally felt him, especially his dismay, in “The Birth of a Socialist”! (“Hundreds of unquestioning fools who get up at five in the morning and rush to a huge, vibrating asylum.”) His list in "The Romanticist" really resonated with me too! I also liked the samples from "The Sea is My Brother", a book I've already read, and enjoyed, before opening this one. So it wasn't a waste of time, but I don't know that I would personally consider it the first book of the Duluoz Legend Series. It is what the book cover says that it is - "Early Stories and Other Writings". Not more, not less. ( )

i heart jack kerouac 4 life ( )