Desolation Angels by Jack Kerouac
|
List Price: Our Price: $8.79 You Save: $7.21 (45%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $2.24 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Desolation Angels
Book Review: the death of sal paradise
Summary: 4 Stars
Somewhere in the 409 pages of this book you'll find buried a truly great work of American literature. It is hard to fault Kerouac for his devotion to spontaneous and unedited writing; though these methods imposed limitations on what he could accomplish as a writer, they also contributed to what makes his books so fascinating. If Jack had lived in Hemingway's time, he would have submitted Desolation Angels to the publisher and would have been handed back a 300 page masterpiece.
The most problematic section is the first one, "Desolation in Solitude." I understand that Kerouac wanted to convey the sheer insanity of his isolation as a lookout, but considering that he already devoted about 30 pages to this in Dharma Bums, he essentially retreads the same mystic nonsense for another 70 pages without giving much new insight into his experience. The one interesting bit that comes out of the whole ordeal is the gradual dissatisfaction that Kerouac feels for Buddhism (which, through his interpretation, seems to fall a bit close to nihilism) and his reacceptance of Christianity.
But after this first section, things pick up and Kerouac delivers one painfully sad and and transcendentally beautiful insight after another (one of my favorites: his frustration at receiving a $3 jaywalking ticket on the way to a job, costing him half his day's pay-- but you have to read the way he puts it to understand, of couse). It is worth noting that Desolation Angels really is two different books written almost 5 years apart. The first half he wrote while in Mexico City (during events he describes in the second half, Passing Through), while the second half was written in Florida (I think) while he lived with his mother. Thus, Kerouac's interpretation of life radically shifts when you begin the 2nd half. He also suddenly becomes a lot more candid, talking about his life as a writer, his use of drugs, and the homosexuality of his peers in a lot more detail and honesty than he could manage before. It is also important to understand that "Desolation Angels" (part 1) was written BEFORE On the Road was published, while "Passing Through" (part 2) was written AFTER. His sudden brush with fame can probably account for this shift in perspective.
I don't want to go into too much detail about the multitude of spiritual revelations within the book, as its better to hear it out of the mouth of the mystic. Reading the book, one can't help but notice that Kerouac, even when past his literary and spiritual peak, was not the embittered and impotent wreck that he's usually considered-- not based on his touching insights in "Passing Through." He clearly has a lot of faith in humanity, and of the necessity that people act out of love and respect rather than hate and fear. Many critics quickly dismiss Desolation Angels as a "lesser work," but I think that if you're willing the persist through the dense opening section, the rewards are nearly as profound as those of his more famous novels.
Book Review: Further reflections of a lonesome traveler
Summary: 4 Stars
I disagree with the 5-star consensus of the previous reviewers - Kerouac's writing is not 'faultless prose', as he characterizes it himself in this novel. But 'Desolation Angels' is another fascinating glimpse into the heart of this daring and nomadic - literally and spiritually - author. One star gets shaved from my review for the unfocused, enigmatic opening section of the book, 'Desolation in Solitude'. A rethinking of 'Alone on a Mountaintop' from 'Lonesome Traveler', this section only thickens the fog in both the reader and in the author, it seems. It's not that it rambles - all Kerouac's writing does, and to point it out as a flaw is like insisting that Bob Dylan's voice sucks. Of course it does, that's the point. But Kerouac characterized the Desolation Peak experience before and did it better in 'Lonesome Traveler'.However, once Kerouac makes his descent and rejoins the world in the second half of Book One and through all of Book Two, the way that his mountaintop experience informs his perspective in places like New York, Mexico, and Europe is engrossing and surpisingly intelligent. Drawing from a wide variety of influences from St. Paul to Buddha to Hemingway, Kerouac revisits familiar places and people with a broadened and more cynical point of view. Desolation Angels is more candid, forthright, even explicit, than its predecessors about drug use and sex. But it also reveals a more exhaustive spiritual hunger in Kerouac, and leads the reader to conclude that the author, in his quest to meet God, realized he had indeed found Him.
By turns a thoughtful, pensive, funny and risk-taking novel, Desolation Angels is canonical Kerouac.
Book Review: literary molasses
Summary: 4 Stars
it oozes oh so slow and when it is on it is on. sometimes i have trouble with kerouac as he makes references to things that leave me scratching my head. every so often in this book i would turn back a few pages to see if i remembered what i read. i think 60% of the time i didn't. like the slow reading however, i know these pages have oozed into my subconscious. these concepts may take a few years to be fully realized.
welcome to the wonderfull world of jack kerouac outside of "on the road". do i love it? i'm not sure, that's why i didn't give "desolation angels" five stars. is he passionate? no doubt. is this book well-written? not even a question.
but this is kerouac to me. it's about patience and reward. this is not a fast read. in fact at times, i'll read four pages and feel exhausted. did i expect a quick read when i bought it? hell no.
bottom line: was it an enjoyable read? some parts yes, some parts no. but this begs the question, is it supposed to be enjoyable? i'd say same answer. definitely thick on the emotion so in that sense, I hold it in high regard. one part of the book i was singing the prose aloud. strange, isn't it?
:o)
Book Review: didn't order this online but i do own it...
Summary: 4 Stars
i really liked this book after the second reading. for some reason i read this before "on the road". once i came back to it after reading nearly every other kerouac book i liked it much more, and thought that it was really more of a realization to "on the road" and filled in a bunch of the gaps.Book Review: Brilliant Jack, but not his best
Summary: 4 Stars
This is Jack doing what Jack does well. I did not get the same amount of excitement from it as I did from On The Road. It was a satisfying read, but he did better.