This year I wanted to read lesser known books by authors who seem to be famous for mainly one book. For example, Jack Kerouac is known primarily for On The Road. The decision to read Desolations Angels, came to me when I was riding my bike in a desolate industrial zone in New Jersey, (maybe all of New Jersey is a desolate industrial zone . . . . ) and the I kept thinking, “Man, this is desolate.” And then the title, Desolation Angels, popped into my head.
Desolation Angels has a different feel than on the road. It covers the the time around the publication of On The Road, but it was written later in Kerouac’s life and close to the time of his death. It is a book by an older Keroak, looking back on his life with some regret and a lot of melancholy.
The first “Desolation” chapters about Kerouac’s stay on Desolation Peak were impressionistic and maybe difficult to follow. How do you write about being by yourself for weeks on end? The book takes on a more standard narrative as it progresses through America and beyond. There are a lot of locations and many of the usual characters. If you can get through the first chapters, it gets easier.
I read On The Road in my late teens. While I didn’t hop in a car and go for a cross country drive, I did think it was cool. Now having read Desolation Angels, I am middle aged, older than Kerouac was when he died, and find myself also looking back, wondering what the hell it all means.
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