On the Road — Thomas Meis

On the Road is the beat novel. It defines the generation and the genre. Jack Kerouac inspired generations of people. And I don’t know how I feel about it at all.

On the Road is a 1957 novel about Sal Paradise (amazing name, though a bit on the nose for the book), and his travels across the continent, mostly America and Mexico. Really the book details what he does on those trips. And I can understand why it was popular: it gave people a new view of how life could be lived. It’s the same reason travel vloggers are so popular. A new perspective that the average person wouldn’t normally see. And it’s also culturally important because of how it’s basically the founding text on the Beats.

And that’s all well and good, but that doesn’t make the book enjoyable to read in a modern setting. It comes across as naive, pseudo-intellectual, not to mention racist, homophobic, and misogynistic. The main characters are unlikable white guys who take almost no responsibility for their actions. Just one example, one of the characters, Dean, leaves his pregnant wife with their young daughter to go with Sal on a road trip, almost on a whim, and they don’t see it as a big deal. It is one of many times that pair do something awful. It makes reading the book a slog. Sure, there’s an argument about the text being about something deeper, like trying to find enlightenment, going about it the wrong way, and ultimately failing, but before that, you have to write an entertaining book. And in the 1950s this was entertaining. People didn’t have the access to different parts of the world like they do now. Taking a trip to San Francisco might’ve only been possible by reading On the Road. Reading it today, though, is different. It is not a book that holds up well. It’s not even entertaining. Why would I get my view of the world through this book, when I could search something on youtube, like Mt. Everest Summit, and get multiple great videos.

Sure, those might not be as challenging intellectually, but my point is times have changed. This book belongs in the past. And that’s ok. It did it’s job then, and can stay there. As a novel, you should stay away. We can break it out every once in a while as a historical document when we need to.