One and Only

The Untold Story of On the Road

De: Gerald Nicosia, Anne Marie Santos

Narrado por: Vanessa Hart, Stephen Bowlby

Lu Anne Henderson was a beautiful 15-year-old girl in Denver in 1945 when she met Neal Cassady, a fast-talking hurricane of male sexuality and vast promises. The two married, and soon they were hanging out with a group of young would-be writers, including Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg. But Neal and Jack initially didn’t like each other very much. Lu Anne ended up loving them both, and she taught them how to love each other - in effect, making the Beat Generation possible, as well as giving Kerouac material for one of the seminal novels of the 20th century, On the Road. One and Only traces the immense struggles of Lu Anne’s own life, which ranged from the split-up of her family during the Great Depression, to the ravages of abusive men and the grief of losing the two most important men in her life; and shows how her life intertwined with Jack’s and Neal’s to the very end.

©2011 Original material Gerald Nicosia. Published by arrangement with Viva Editions. (P)2011 HighBridge Company

Reseñas de la Crítica

“A real find for Beat aficionados, adding verve to a cherished moment in American history and the novel that came to define it.” ( Kirkus Reviews)

On the Road with LuAnn: the Girl's View

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I did not care for this story. I could not finish reading On the Road, I found it pretentious, self-obsessed and boring. Hearing it told from the female participant's point-of-view did not endear it to me more, at all.

Has One and Only turned you off from other books in this genre?

Not necessarily.

Have you listened to any of Vanessa Hart and Stephen Bowlby ’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have not heard either of these narrators before.

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

I will go to see the soon-to- be released movie based on this and On the Road because I want to see how they transfer this story to the screen. I'm also anxious to see Kristen Stewart's performance as LuAnn (MaryLu), and also Garrett Hegland and Tom Sturridge's performances as their characters. I hope the movie is better than the book.

Any additional comments?

I am disappointed. I started this book wanting to like the story, to understand the story and the characters more...it was not to be.