Big Sur

De: Jack Kerouac, Aram Saroyan - foreword

Narrado por: Ethan Hawke

A poignant masterpiece of wrenching personal expression from the author of On the Road and The Dharma Bums.

In this 1962 novel, Kerouac's alter ego, Jack Duluoz, overwhelmed by success and excess, gravitates back and forth between wild binges in San Francisco and an isolated cabin on the California coast where he attempts to renew his spirit and clear his head of madness and alcohol. Only nature seems to restore him to a sense of balance. In the words of Allen Ginsberg, Big Sur "reveals consciousness in all its syntactic elaboration, detailing the luminous emptiness of his own paranoiac confusion".

©1962 Jack Kerouac (P)2020 Penguin Audio

Kerouac forever

Ethan hawke did great in this - he sounds exactly how I would imagine the main character to sound. Very gravelly and American. The story is OK - Kerouac's prose and diction is what I stay for.

Dark

Well performed but dark story. Enough to make one consider give up drinking or at least be more careful.

Big Sur is beautiful.

Disgusting, green, madness is that. A warning to all the loafers to get out and do something useful.

It's Kerouac. 5 stars

E. Hawke was made to narrate Kerouac. What can I say, it's JK,
5 stars.

YES! PLEASE MORE

Dear Publishers: this is just amazing! Please keep producing more from Kerouac and keep up with Ethan Hawke, Hawke was born for narrating this- a match in heaven, pure inspiration transcended from Kerouac thru Hawke. I’m sad it’s over (Sur and Dharma Bums). Desolation or On The Road next pleeease.

Inside sounds of a madman

Kerouac got a lot of eye rolls out of me this time. Maybe it’s because his writing style isn’t that unique anymore. Hey it happened to the Beatles. Still amazing and entertaining.. but there will never be a better high than your first one. Furthermore, regardless of the bounty of good and bad Beatles or Van goph or Kerouac imitations, as important as the art itself was the vibe of the era of the art… fart bart simpson swampson Sampson Sampsonite.

The performance though?! Hawk slays.

A must for the sole

A little bit of the absurd is good for the sole and mind. The performance of this read lives up to the legend. Read it and take a walkthrough a short history of California lore.

Frantic yet slow motion train wreck

You will be listening to an aging beatnick's descent into alcoholism, paranoia and despair. Well worth the listen but it's a long harsh ride you are on, so don't hold any illusions otherwise. Well worth the post "on the road" listen.

I can hear Kerouac thinking

Mediocre story that reads like poetry. Narration is so good it makes the worth listening to. in Ethan Hawks narration I can hear Kerouac thinking.

One the best audiobooks

This ranks as one of the best audiobooks I’ve ever listened to. A novel that unfolds & devolves into alcohol fueled chaos, where genius tries to collect itself before the great unraveling.

Ethan Hawks did a fantastic job capturing the nuance & the inflection and meaning behind each word.