On the Road by Jack Kerouac Book Review

Hi everyone my name is Cynthia, let’s talk books! 
Today I would like to talk about On the Road by  
Jack Kerouac. This is a book that I recently read 
because it was chosen by my book club for the  
month and I actually had part in choosing this 
book because somebody wanted to read a classic  
they suggested this book and I said yes. This 
book is on a lot of best books written. A lot  
of people will say that this is their favorite 
book. I want to know what it’s all about. I had  
really very little knowledge about this book 
other than there are a lot of people who call  
this their favorite book. It was a mistake. Nobody 
in my book club enjoyed this book and I don’t  
just like doing negative reviews. I don’t 
think like, I know some people just do negative  
reviews for the sake of like doing them to 
get attention. That’s not my goal here at all.  
But I do feel like there is a place for negative 
reviews and for critiques of books and so I don’t  
when I come into, when I create a video on a book 
and it’s a negative review, it’s not just me like
trashing a book out of nowhere. It’s I’ve read the 
book and there are things to criticize about it.  
And that’s basically what this video will be. So 
first let me talk about who this book appeals to.  
And I think

a lot of the appeal of this book is
for a white male audience, that feels disconnected
from the world. That feels lost and so the story
will appeal to them because it’s the story of
a man who is going out into the 19, late 1940s
America on the road hitchhiking, not a lot of money
and it’s just wandering. There isn’t really a plot
to the story like it’s just a lot of the character
being on the road with very little money And that
is what I found quite boring. Those long instances
of the character just being, just hitchhiking
and trying to make it from one place to another
because I felt like the author is, the character
tries to be present but it’s not, he’s just really
unhappy. I found that a lot of the characters,
a lot of the people he meets and
his friends are people who need therapy, more
than anything. And it just didn’t appeal to me.
One of the things that I have seen people
connect this book to is that it captures a
slice of Americana like the US in the late 1940s
after world war two what that was like. And okay
I can see some of that. I can see how it captures
little bits and pieces of that but I don’t think
it has anything to say about most of what it
captures about white america in the late 1940s.
It certainly doesn’t have anything
important to say about non-white people.
But especially and like about the Americana. Just
let’s just talk about like the pieces of Americana
that could be identified in this book. I just don’t
see, they just were not interesting. Like you see
Denver during this period but you see it
through the eyes of people who don’t really
care about the world or even the world around
them. They don’t even seem to care that much about
themselves or the people they love or claim to
love. So it just didn’t appeal to me. On top of it
the road trip aspect of it, while realistic was
also not interesting. I’ve been on some of the
parts of the road that the the main character
Sal travels on right. For example I’m from
Southern California. I’ve made the trip from Southern
California to Kansas where my family now lives,
through Denver in Colorado, the state of Colorado
and also via the southwest. So Arizona, New Mexico,
Texas. And I’ve also traveled from California
down to Central Mexico and from kKansas to
Central Mexico and back. So I’ve actually been
on large chunks of the road that Sal goes on and
um I did not find his road trips on those chunks
of road interesting. I don’t think he captured what
makes some of those places unique and yeah I just
I didn’t find that part good. I’m like I’ve
been on those chunks of road. Yeah large chunk of
it’s nothing or it’s just fields of agriculture
and okay yeah that’s there. What do you have to…
like so what? I just did not find that that this
book ever really told me the so what was. Or I just
could not identify with the so what here? It just
I just did not identify with it. On top of it
you can see I do have a tab. What I have tabbed is
moments that made me angry. Made me flat out angry.
And I would have had a lot more but for a chunk of
it I didn’t have my little tabs. The women are
treated as objects. They’re just purely sexual
objects or like money banks, a source of money
and entertainment. That’s all the women the role
were the role the women have in this story and okay like that could be
true to what a lot of men might see women as. But
then you’re getting a really narrow view
of this slice of America. And a view that
then if it’s just white male oriented, then it’s
not very interesting. Like this whole time I’m
thinking like the women that are written in this
story I’m like, why would this these women be with
these men? tThere’s no good reason. There’s no good
reason and in fact the author and the character
know that. They’re aware that there is no good
reason and yet there they are for sex and money.
So that was not very much appreciated by me. The
other element is the racism in here. And I can tell
the the author, Jack Kerouac thinks he is being
not racist. He thinks he’s being very open-minded
because he has his main character Sal, interact
with black people with brown people.
Part of the story does takes them into Mexico
and I was just so affected. So deeply offended
by this attempt at not being racist. It’s like
this is a white man trying to not be racist
instead of just simply not being racist. For
example, at one point Sal is wandering in a town.
Wanders into the Black neighborhood and like
sees Black people hanging out in the streets, the
children at the park having fun and he just envies
them. He envies how happy and like jolly they are
and wishes he had been born Black.
And I had just finished reading I Know Why
the Caged Bird sings by Maya Angelou which also
takes place during this time period, in which she
discusses the experience of being Black in America
and i tjust made me want to throw this book
at the wall. I just could not. And then
for part of the story the main character
is in a relationship with a Mexican woman.
All of the brown people are just Mexicans in
here. Except for one. I think there’s someone from
Venezuela or something but everyone else is
just a Mexican. Not Mexican-American, just Mexican.
So he’s in a relationship with a Mexican woman and
he is working in the grape fields with her and he…
first of all, he tries cotton-picking. He’s terrible
at it. Then he goes and works at the grapes.
Actually maybe they were working at the
cotton field. Whatever he’s working in the fields
and one of the Mexican men in this
community is attacked. He’s beaten up
and so Sal decides this is what he thinks he
thinks that he now has to carry a big stike for
protection right because quote “they thought
I was a Mexican of course and in a way I am.”
Why? Because you’re in a relationship with a
Mexican woman? Because you’re working in the fields?
And he at several points says all these
positive things about Mexicans and
it’s just stereotypes. It’s just stereotypes.
In the part where the characters go to Mexico.
They go to Mexico on a sex and drug binge.
They talk about how beautiful the women are.
The women are beautiful because they are there
as, there as sexual objects for these men.
That’s all the characters view these women as.
And because they’re happy and they don’t have
the same kind of like, they don’t always,
they’re not always working. And look at
the prostitutes. They’re having fun. Which
prostitutes should I pick? iI like that one
but this other one’s being very friendly. I
don’t know how to reject her, so I can’t go with…
I’ll be honest I don’t know why people
love this book. I mean I know but also no
no no no. Before anybody says it I’ve read the
entire book okay. I read the entire book because
I knew that it if I just talked about not like
enjoying this book that somebody would say that
I just didn’t get it. And I have to say, I got
it fine. There was even a point at within after
page 100, in which it hit me. This is just gonna
appeal to people who are really dissatisfied with
their life and crave like finding themselves. Have
this romantic vision of what being on the road is
and that’s not even what’s portrayed here.
Because it’s not a romantic vision. I’m like
this guy goes on the road and he’s hitchhiking and
he’s using his money terribly. Like at some point
he could use the money to just buy a bus ticker or pay
for gas and instead he spends it on drink and women.
I’m like if you do that you’re very
quickly gonna end up it’s not okay.
You’re very quickly gonna
realize it’s not a good idea.
I was just so frustrated and more than
frustrated actually I was bored. Large chunks of
this… I had to, like at the beginning it was just
so hard to get page 100. I almost DNFed the book
because I just, it was so boring. It was putting
me to sleep because rI usually ead at night, so
it was putting me to sleep. And I did force myself
to get to like page 150 somewhere around there.
And because it was a book club book. And so I try
as much as I can, to read book club books. And one
of my goals in 2021 is to not force myself to read
books. But I did it with this one because I wanted
to see. … I kept thinking there has to be
a point there. Just there has to be a point to this.
There is no point. So there you go, those are
my thoughts. That is my review of On the Road by
Jack Kerouac. Take it as you will. I am not here to
tell people, you know, you cannot read a book. No.
I’m just here to share my thoughts. I didn’t like
it. I do not recommend this book. I don’t know why
it is on people’s lists of best books ever
written or why it has remained you know…
I don’t know why people claim
this is their favorite book. I just
did not connect with any part of this
book. So that is it. Take that as you will.
Thank you so much for watching this
video and I’ll see you in the next one.
Bye