On the Road

50th Anniversary Edition

By: Jack Kerouac

Narrated by: Will Patton

Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's summary

Few novels have had as profound an impact on American culture as On the Road. Pulsating with the rhythms of 1950s underground America, jazz, sex, illicit drugs, and the mystery and promise of the open road, Kerouac’s classic novel of freedom and longing defined what it meant to be “beat” and has inspired generations of writers, musicians, artists, poets, and seekers who cite their discovery of the book as the event that “set them free”. Based on Kerouac’s adventures with Neal Cassady, On the Road tells the story of two friends whose four cross-country road trips are a quest for meaning and true experience. Written with a mixture of sad-eyed naïveté and wild abandon, and imbued with Kerouac’s love of America, his compassion for humanity, and his sense of language as jazz, On the Road is the quintessential American vision of freedom and hope, a book that changed American literature and changed anyone who has ever picked it up. This edition commemorates the fiftieth anniversary of the first publication of the novel in 1957 and will be a must-have for any literature lover.

©1955, 1957 John Sampas, Literary Representative, the Estate of Stella Sampas Kerouac (P)2007 Penguin Audio, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

Fine performance

I have long enjoyed the book but Mr. Patton really brings to life the characters and the headlong pace of the narrative.

Best reading I have heard yet.

Funky book. I never did read it in college.

The rendition is AWESOME. This was the best Reading I have heard. He made the book come to life.

Feels like you’re on the road with Sal & Dean

Great audiobook to listen to if you want to feel like you’re 20 and you’re crossing the US in 1950!

Dazzling road trip breaking normalities and magnifying moment

For a second I was lying on my bed and forgot where I was, with the strange feeling that I was in a small hotel room outskirt New Mexico town. That's the magic yielded from this book. Great reads, especially part 1, 2 and 4.

On the road 50th ed

Will Patton does an excellent job narrating this book in general and specifically the voice and intensity of the character of Mr. Moriarty. I will be listening to this again sometime soon, couldn't ask for more

dig this classic

amazing story, amazing narration. finished in a week and booked travel to 6 cities I've never been to. read this book!

The definition of quixotic

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I am not typically one to complain about feminist concerns, but women are nothing but sex objects to the men in this story. The main characters are around thirty, and yet they seem to particularly enjoy sleeping with young teenage girls. These men also take a very idealistic and stereotypical view of the plight of impoverished minorities.

What could Jack Kerouac have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

I don't know that it would be possible for me to enjoy this book, as it seems that Kerouac's ideas about life were fundamentally different from mine. He and his friends were "experience junkies," drawn to anything that gave them an energy high, no matter who they hurt along the way.

Which character – as performed by Will Patton – was your favorite?

I gave this audiobook three stars overall. I would have given the book itself two stars, the fact that it is an important cultural reference point being the only thing keeping it from getting just one star. My third star is purely because the narrator's performance is wonderful. He perfectly conveys the personality of every single character, and he is especially good at portraying various regional accents.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

It is a movie, and in fact seeing the trailer for the movie is what made me decide to finally read the book. After reading it, though, I have no interest in seeing the movie.

Any additional comments?

I can see why this book appeals to the type of people who live for the moment, who seek out new experiences and refuse to accept societal norms. And I do find merit in those ideas...to a certain extent. But there comes a point where you have to realize that the "thing" you're looking for (the "it" that Dean Moriarty seeks relentlessly in this novel) will never be found in some new place or exciting experience. It can only be found in yourself, and in learning to be content and at peace with yourself regardless of your circumstances. That is something the characters in this book (and I would guess the author as well) never learned; it's something that the generation defined by this book still hasn't learned, and it's the reason I did not enjoy the book.

New Favorite

New favoritesl book. Had to read for a class and couldn't stop til it was over.

amazing!

more relevant than ever. Great reading, one of the best american writter I have ever read.

The ideal voice for a limitless character driven american novel

Will Patton has the ability to seamless transition voices, vibes, and energy like a mad chemist, with each particular brand of concoction, a new color, and a new scent in the periodic table of the nation during the late 1940s. I was enthralled by this novel for a good portion, and even though at times I longed for the story to stop swerving and twisting like a kid with a bad stomach in back of his family's wagon on a summer road trip, I had absolutely no possible lack of respect or awe for Patton's voices and emerging life-forces. The measuring stick has been set to an almost unattainable altitude in my head, but I welcome the next book, and it's newest host to try.