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.

The Dimond shining over the beatnik era.

The is no book like that one. Perfect guide to the road everyone takes in one form or another. sporo antidote to the manicured fake life we are living today... chance to meet our "very own" Dean M. in the depths of our reflections...

Will Patton is wonderful

He is so good that he actually even upstages Carol wack in this work. It is pretty cool. As much as you would want out of a an audio version of this famous novella.

Narrator brings story to life!

Any additional comments?

I love that this book directly defines the toxicity of overly free spirited and careless people. While the characters are eccentrically wild, most people can relate in some capacity to that moment you realize your friend or someone in your life is a terrible person. This is a book about nothing but the baseness of human selfishness shrouded in charisma and philosophy. The narration could not have represented that better.

Will Patton is simply *****. Pure genius.

Finally got around to this iconic novel.
So many books, so little time.
It was all I had dreamt of.
Oh how I long for open roads, jazz and madness now.

Amazing. Makes you want to do a road trip.

This was an amazing and immersive story. And the friendships between the characters, and the drama that came with it was entertaining and relatable. Because it was written so long ago some of the racial dialogue can be a bit jarring. But ultimately worth putting up with for the story.

Poetry; THE Great American Novel; Bad Narration

I’m sorry, but we’re the people giving the narrator 5 ⭐️s listening to the same audiobook?

Someone please tell Mr Patton that we are here to hear the prose, not his cavalcade o’ cheesy voices. The dialog, especially with Dean, was consistently cringey. His jazzy stylings broke the reverie every time.

The overall experience was still incredible…despite and not because of the narration.

The Journey, not the destination.

This is Jack Kerouac's classic semi-autobiographical journey that defined the Beat Generation. The Beat Generation were the original non-conformists, poets wandering post-WWII America searching for life's meaning (and maybe finding a bit of it.)

Stylistically, this is presented as a stream of consciousness memoir by Sal Paradise, a former soldier who forms a strong bond of friendship with the Beats on the road. Actually, this is the novelized version of On the Road; the original text is literally one extremely long paragraph. This version is far more readable than the original, while maintaining the spirit of the Beats.

Finally, Will Patton's soft, kind, and insightful voice adds a wonderful dimension to Sal/Kerouac's works. If you've ever been curious about this classic of American literature, this is a terrific way to experience it. Highly recommended!

A book that shines in audio format.

Any additional comments?

I enjoyed this book and can recommend it. However, I began to lose interest halfway through. The initial appeal began to run thin and it seemed like the second half was just more of the same. I had to see it to the end though; I wanted to see what became of Dean Moriarty. I guess that says something. Often I won’t stick with a story if I get bored. The experience of this story was insightful and enjoyable. It was an experience, much more than just a story. I did like learning about the beat generation. The slang of the time was a riot. Will Patton did a wonderful job narrating. He did Dean like no one else could. He was Dean.

I wonder if what made this story so popular at the time, is not as applicable now. We are a nation of drivers. It is nothing, now, to take a road trip. Then though, maybe the idea of seeing the country was a bit of a novelty. This story is much more than that. It is a peek into a subculture that is past, never to return.

Because of Will Patton, this is a book that is much better in audio form. If I were to read it, the experience wouldn’t have been as good. The language of the day needs to be heard out loud and Will Patton does it so well.

3 ½ stars. If you want to learn a bit about the beat generation, or want to know what all the acclaim is about, or if you like Will Patton, read this book. Most likely you will enjoy it.

Great Travelling Story!

Great book. The main character sal goes on the road to experience some life. He meets up with friends and does most parts alongside them. There is a movie version which I cannot vouch for because I fell a asleep during it. There may well be nothing wrong with the movie, I fall asleep in a lot of good movies.

I was mildly frustrated with it the whole time I was reading (listening/reading) because it was rare that it felt like it ever made sense. I realized a little of the way through that's kind of kerouac's point--life doesn't always make sense. Life "On the Road" is a magnifying glass for the rest of our lives.

In this life on the road, there are so many random experiences, some significant, some less so. I almost feel like I am sal's therapist. he tells me the stories and I am supposed to help him make sense of them.

Kerouac wrote the first draft of this novel in 3 weeks. It's based on his own actual experiences, I'm not sure why he didn't call it a memoir or something more non-fiction-esque. When he originally wrote it he didn't use paragraph breaks and wrote it semi-stream of consciousness. I think this is valuable because it lends to the understanding of the book. Which ends up a bit "ramble-y". That first draft is available as well. Though the common book did go through an editing process.

I recommend this book to those who would like to spend some time travelling, looking for some meaning. There is a lot of meaning to be found. This book shares some of that. It also very honest in sharing some of the hopelessness.

Great book and good read, but better on paper

I read on the road on paper a few years back, and I enjoyed listening to the story again. And the reading is very good. But I think the spontaneity of the writing style is experienced much more extreme when reading the paper yourself.