On the Road

By: Jack Kerouac

Narrated by: David Carradine

Length: 2 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

"The only people for me are the mad ones," wrote Jack Kerouac, "the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars."

On the Road is the classic story of two such characters: Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty, who set off on an odyssey through mid-century underground America, fueled by jazz, sex, drugs, mystical philosophy, and a limitless passion for experience.

©1955 Jack Kerouac (original material) . Copyright renewed © Stella Kerouac 1983. Copyright renewed © Stella and Jan Kerouac 1985 (P)1986 LFP Holding, Inc.

Critic reviews

"An authentic work of art...the most beautifully executed, the clearest and the most important utterance yet made by the generation Kerouac himself named years ago as 'beat,' and whose principal avatar he is." (Gilbert Millstein, The New York Times)

"On the Road has the kind of drive that blasts through to a large public.... What makes the novel really important, what gives it that drive is a genuine new, engaging and exciting prose style.... What keeps the book going is the power and beauty of the writing." (Kenneth Rexroth, San Francisco Chronicle)

My first Audio book!

Would you consider the audio edition of On the Road to be better than the print version?

Never read the print version

Who was your favorite character and why?

Teresa the "Mexican girl" All guys hope to meet a girl like this on the bus. :)

What three words best describe David Carradine’s voice?

Very, very noisy.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No, I did not have a extreme reaction.

Any additional comments?

Good book. I will be listening to it again.

Highly Recommended for anyone at a life crossroads or in a midlife crisis!!!

"Memories and dreams are intermixed in this mad universe." ---Jack Kerouac

"I have nothing to offer anyone except my own confusion." ---Jack Kerouac

Great Narration

I have read this book before and realize that it’s not the full book. But it’s still a great treat to hear David Carradine read it. He fully inhabits the narrative voice with a downhome midwestern twang that is so engaging. The downside of this book is the old time racial attitudes and jarring homophobia. But that’s the way they used to talk.

wonderful

This is a must read, classic! you will not regret listening to this book. Definitely a different perspective to life

I just don’t get it.

This is my third time reading On the Road, and my second time as an adult. I must admit that I just don’t understand this book. I know it is brilliant, and it is my failure, but I just don’t get it. I have gotten SO much more out of The Caine Mutiny and Even Cowgirls Get the Blues as an adult than I did as a twenty year old kid, but this one and Gatsby continue to elude me. I may give Gatsby one more try, but I am done with Kerouac. I feel like I need to reread some Steinbeck so that I can have the pleasure of understanding what I’m reading, after this.

Not the Full book

This is not the full book. The Audio only goes through chapter 5. otherwise what you would expect.

David Carradine's voice is Sal Paradise.

I have read this book several times. I still cried when Carradine read the last lines. Perfect.

A classic I had never read

I’ll be honest it took me some time to really get into it… But it really is a great story if you’re patient and the narrator is perfect for it.

I felt it

This performance of this book made me realize just got truly great this is book is.
i believe i have gone from having an appreciation of what this book was
to a realization of what this book is

Carradine Nails it!

Something about Carradine's crackly plain voice lends very well to the material. It reflects the rugged plain beatific Beaty beat beat of the road.