Big Sur (Jack Kerouac)

I agree with SFSlug that this is Kerouac's best work. It's much more self-aware than On the Road and definitely less rambling. The story about a writer with a high reputation who feels like a phony among his fans feels like Kerouac's own sad self-examination. Also the saddest portrait of alcoholism I know.

"On the Road" gets all the attention. I stumbled through that novel, thought it was interesting. Then I saw this book, "Big Sur", in a bookstore and felt that because I was familiar with the area that this would be a nice read. When I finished this book I was sad with the fact that I would never come across a tale like it again. Ever. Consider the fact that I was only 17 at the time. This is that brilliant. It truly is a staggering tale of the way Kerouac's life changed after the fame of "On the Road". The Beat-down generation of youngsters he helped create become another obligation/weight for him, his drug-use and alcohol abuse wash over him. The Beat way of life becomes something else to escape from. This was his last novel, and it fits. It's not peaceful, instead it explodes across the pages and dissipates before you can come to a reconciliation with it or it's creator. This book broke my heart but truly awakened me to how powerful writing could be and what an incredibl... Read more

Big Sur is the most mournful and tragic Jack Kerouac novel that I have yet read, and surprisingly, it is also his most focused. Though it lacks the sheer exhilaration of On the Road or The Dharma Bums, it makes up for it with poignant and beautiful insight into the author's inescapable depression and rejection of everything he once praised. Big Sur is definitely not the place to start reading Kerouac, but if you are already familiar with his earlier works, it is an absolutely necessary chapter in the saga of his life. Reading Kerouac's bibliography and understanding where each novel fits into the story of his life can be a little tricky, because there are three dates that you need to keep in mind for each work. First is the period that the events in the novel actually took place, second the time that Kerouac wrote these events down, and third the date that his novel was published. Big Sur was published very shortly after it was written, mostly due to the author's recently achiev... Read more

Jack Kerouac's BIG SUR(1961) is like watching a train wreck in slow motion... horrible, but you just can't help yourself from watching... in Jack's case, he writes about the lead-up to, and actual experience of, a nervous breakdown - obviously caused by excessive booze binges. In 1960, Jack Kerouac was a man who basically had it all - his hit book ON THE ROAD(1957) inspired and defined the "Beat Generation"... but, at 40 years old, Jack has trouble keeping up the "bohemian" lifestyle. He arranges to cross the USA by train from back East, and seek refuge from his drinking bouts in a freind's cabin in Big Sur. After an initial booze binge on arrival to San Francisco, Jack actually does make it out to the cabin alone, and actually finds the peace and sober living he had initially wanted to find... but Jack begins to get bored, and finds his way back to SF, were he starts back on his old wild ways - but, it eventually catches up to him back at the Big Sur cabin, where he has brought t... Read more

This is a story of a trip to the "woods" that was taken in hopes of straightening out a hoplessly fouled up life. While it has the complete opposite feel than the optimism of the Dharma Bums, it is like a continuation of the same story, after life has had it's way with the story teller. Although some people feel that Kerouac lost his abilities toward the latter part of his career. I believe this book shows that he did not. While I preferred the Dharma Bums, This would rank as my second favorite Kerouac "novel".

Kerouac pulled no internal punches with this one. He's there, at his worst in many ways, but the sordid tale is beautifully told. How he makes something so depressing and painful into a work of pure beauty is almost magical. No one had ever done fiction quite like Jack Kerouac, and no one has since been able to duplicate that style, or even ape it effectively. BIG SUR is one of the top four of the Beat works. For me, it remains one of the most powerful--easily the saddest. And I think we need something of the expression of this kind of sadness.