Kerouac takes you to Mexico and the US, where every road and town has an adventure and story.[break]
Traveling has never had more significance than in this novel. Hitchhiking, walking and realizing you’re in the middle of nowhere, alone, with stoned friends and without money, loving someone to the extreme, Sal leads an adventurous life filled with drugs, sex and jazz.
His love of music is often pointed out. Kerouac lets his pen do the talking while he writes about the crazy nights in New York jazz bars that go on until the sun comes up. Beautiful descriptions of musicians blaring out of their instruments and the hip-shaking young girls follow up the sometimes dry but never boring story of Sal’s trip.
The story is not an A to B tale.
It lacks structure, just like the lives of Sal and his best friend Dean. Although they get older in the story, they take the responsibilities of life with a pinch of salt. Dean always has his old suitcase underneath the bed - ready to leave his kin, he only has his mind set on driving.
Preferably as far as possible from all important things which make life serious. The independent lifestyle and freedom of these main characters are contagious. It makes you long for when life wasn’t so serious. Let’s not think about tomorrow, Kerouac seems to say. Just go with the flow and everything will be alright.
The best part of On the Road is the ability it has to take you away from where you are. Whether you get your hands on a copy of the bestseller in Bangkok, France, or in your own apartment, you’ll be sucked into a world of long roads next to green fields, smoky jazz bars, and dark basements. The novel reads like a train, and after turning the last page, you’ll want nothing but to take your car and go on a road trip.
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