Desolation Angels by Jack Kerouac
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Book Reviews of Desolation Angels
Book Review: Jack Kerouac Sees The Face Of ...
Summary: 5 Stars
Some of the general points made below have been used in other reviews of books and materials by and about Jack Kerouac.
"As I have explained in another entry in this space in a DVD review of the film documentary "The Life And Times Of Allen Ginsberg", recently I have been in a "beat" generation literary frame of mind. I think it helps to set the mood for commenting on one of Jack Kerouac's major works, "Desolation Angels", essentially a series of `real world' job-related reflections on his time as a forest ranger in Washington state, and his subsequent "decompression" from that isolating job by travel abroad and in America with his mother in his well known spontaneous writing method at a time when he was trying to keep body and soul together, that it all started last summer when I happened to be in Lowell, Massachusetts on some personal business. Although I have more than a few old time connections with that now worn out mill town I had not been there for some time. While walking in the downtown area I found myself crossing a small park adjacent to the site of a well-known mill museum and restored textile factory space. Needless to say, at least for any reader with a sense of literary history, at that park I found some very interesting memorial stones inscribed with excerpts from a number of Kerouac's better known works dedicated to Lowell's `bad boy', the "king of the 1950s beat writers".
And, just as naturally, when one thinks of Kerouac then, "On The Road", his classic modern physical and literary `search' for the meaning of America for his generation which came of age in post-World War II , readily comes to mind. No so well known, however, is the fact that that famous youthful novel was merely part of a much grander project, an essentially autobiographical exposition by Kerouac in many volumes starting from his birth in 1922, to chart and vividly describe his relationship to the events, great and small, of his times. Those volumes bear the general title "The Legend Of Duluoz". That is why we today, in the year of the forty anniversary of Kerouac's death, are under the sign of his book of essays "Desolation Angels".
Sometimes one, including a frustrated writer like Kerouac who was on to something but could not get published in the early 1950s, just has to get away from it all. And what better job that a ranger in a far off mountain range where one can think, save money, and contemplate the nature of the universe. For a while at least. Then, a social being like Kerouac (at that time) needs to get back to civilization. In this case the "wilds" of San Francisco then to Europe and North Africa. And then, along the way, has to under some mysterious internal compulsion has to fulfill his self-appointed obligation to take care of `mere" (his mother) by transporting her across the country by bus to start a new life. That is the outline of the mental and physical travelogue that Kerouac, a master of this kind of descriptive writing, takes us on. In addition there are cameo appearances by many of the "regular" who we have come to know through this "Legend" saga, including the above-mentioned Allen Ginsberg and Neal Cassady. This one rates just below "On The Road".
Book Review: Timid Before God
Summary: 5 Stars
Jack Kerouac's 'Desolation Angels', written about a period of his life roughly 10 years before his death, acts as a nice bridge between 'On The Road' (which was awaiting publication during the course of events described in "Angels") and a subsequent publication, Big Sur, both of which I've read.
During his two month self-imposed exile to work as a fire ranger on Desolation Peak, Jack Kerouac was forced to confront many of his pre-existing or emerging demons. The location for this period of his life is especially apropos for the 'desolation' surrounding Kerouac, much of which was self-created, as he sank further into depression and alcoholism.
The book covers more of his life than just the two months on Desolation Peak, but as Jack re-emerges into society, you get the sense that this 'loner' was only comfortable being 'alone' amongst others...that while he could see, smell, and wander amongst others, and feel tolerably 'isolated'...he could not stand the true isolation he could achieve, to remove himself from society altogether.
Jack wanders from the American Northwest to Florida, to Mexico, to Tangiers, to California with his mother in tow, and eventually back to Florida, when his mother grows further depressed with their cross-country move after only a month.
Many players from Kerouac's former novels appear in this one as well, albeit with different names...the poet 'Gregory Corso,' to whom Kerouac lost 'Mardou Fox' in "Subterraneans" is called 'Raphael Urso' in "Angels"...'Dean Moriarty,' from "On The Road" is 'Cody' in this incarnation.
Kerouac's detachment from the Beat Generation, his status as their reigning 'king', his fame, and his Buddhist beliefs all come into focus during this novel, one of his finest, in my opinion. If you rode shotgun with Kerouac for On The Road, explore his life further, and you will uncover far more about this dark, troubled, but fascinating author.
Book Review: Jack's many lives converge in this book.
Summary: 5 Stars
There are usually two types of Kerouac readers. There are the "On the Roaders", as I call them. The ones that enjoy his style, his way of placing his friends' lives into the context of their own troubles, their loneliness their love-- all the while with a literary pace likened to a old pickup speeding across the straightaways of the vacant Montana backroads. And then there are the others, who like the former, enjoy the style-- but they also look for the sadness in Kerouac's writing. His ability to deconstruct people with one look (in Desolation Angels he watches a waitress in a bar and tells her entire life story in snapshot events that underlie the sad look in her eyes), to find the hidden sentiments in people's actions-- whether he's right or wrong we really don't care.
Desolation Angels is the book for the second group of people. It is tortuous at times-- like his solitude atop the mountain staring Hozomeen in the face every morning which reveals Kerouac's own struggle to deal with himself and his past. But I believe among all of his novels it is the most rewarding. The book takes us to all of his major haunts- London, New York, San Fran, Paris, the Mediterranean- with many of his closest friends - Neal, Allen, Williams S. Burroughs, Joyce. There's even a small part where Kerouac is face to face with Salvador Dali.
If you are looking for Kerouac-the-humanist at his best- this is the novel for you. Where the novel lacks in adventure (On the Road) and joyous affirmation (Dharma Bums) it makes up in sheer descriptive character study and sad observation, of a man trying to grapple with what he sees as the emptiness of all things, and the reality of his own personal struggles with life, love, and death.
Book Review: Desolation indeed...
Summary: 5 Stars
From the moment I opened On the Road, I knew Jack Kerouac
wasn't just any author. A new spirit and new feelings, stirred
up by mere words...It doesn't happen often enough.
In that respect, Desolation Angels is typical Kerouac. The
incredibly flowing mad descriptions and details, his friends
as real as the stars, beautifully rendered real personalities.
From his isolation as a fire lookout, long time to be sober
for Kerouac, he jumps back into his old life...Drinking
screaming talking crazy friends Ginsberg Cassady et al. A
trip to Mexico, living above an old junky, Mexican women,
writing. Friends come to Mexico...you can imagine.
Tangier and William Burroughs, another junky...Kerouac helps
him, typing the manuscript of Naked Lunch (Nude Dinner, he
calls it, just like the other pseudonyms he assigns...)...
Back to the States, more of the wonderful same, always fresh
and exciting...But in the end, I was only surprised. He left
his Desolation Angels.Book Review: The picture of unmaking
Summary: 5 Stars
This book has been described as the journal of Jack losing himself. Some critics state that when he came back down from his time of solitude on Desolation Mountain begins his spiral downward into madness, alcoholism and loss of artistic edge. I disagree - but it is most certainly a showing of a break in his persona - as he describes the beauty and horror of having nothing to do but face one's self when that's all one has. The lies you tell yourself are strong, but give way when you have no one else to reinforce them for months on end...and this may have indeed driven Jack to the edge and beyond.The pre-eminent voice of the Beat movement, who both gave it its name and disavowed his involvement, is at his most exposed and honest self in this work. This is not a book to read for a relaxing afternoon, in my opinion. This is a book that will burden you - but you'll be better for it.