The Dharma Bums

By: Jack Kerouac

Narrated by: Ethan Hawke

Length: 7 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's summary

Jack Kerouac’s classic novel about friendship, the search for meaning, and the allure of nature

First published in 1958, a year after On the Road put the Beat Generation on the map, The Dharma Bums stands as one of Jack Kerouac's most powerful and influential novels. The story focuses on two ebullient young Americans - mountaineer, poet, and Zen Buddhist Japhy Ryder, and Ray Smith, a zestful, innocent writer - whose quest for Truth leads them on a heroic odyssey, from marathon parties and poetry jam sessions in San Francisco's Bohemia to solitude and mountain climbing in the High Sierras.

©1958 Jack Kerouac (P)2020 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"In [On the Road] Kerouac's heroes were sensation seekers; now they are seekers after truth...the novel often attains a beautiful dignity, and builds towards a moving climax." (The Chicago Tribune)

"In his often brilliant descriptions of nature one is aware of exhilarating power and originality...the entire cast of characters is presented with that not unrefreshing blend of naivete and sophistication that seems to be this author's forte." (The New York Times Book Review) 

"Full of sparkling descritions of landscape and weather, light falling through trees, the smell of snow, the motion of animals...Jack Kerouac is a writer who cannot be charged with dullness." (The Atlantic) 

Lyrical Rendition

I had read Dharma Bums and many other of Kerouac's books years ago and would say that they influenced me greatly. I thought it would be interesting to see how they translated to audio. I really didn't think they would because of Kerouac's rambling freestyle writing. I was wrong. The narrator had me in a joyful trance and brought back the emotions I had when I first read the novel. This is one of Kerouac's less frantic pieces and highly recommended to both fans and those who have not read or listened to him before. It was fun to listen to.

Stupendous narration!

The narrator brought so much dimension and liveliness to Kerouac's writing, making voices for the various characters (in a very non-annoying way) and giving Kerouac the same emphatic tone with which he writes. Highly recommend.

A beautiful performance of an amazing novel

It was an absolute delight to listen to this book. It’s long been a favorite of mine. Ethan Hawke truly embodies the spirit and soul that is Kerouac and brings each amazing character to life in this beautiful story of self discovery, friendship, exploitation, wilderness, and soulful
wonder.

Adventures clouded with wine & spiritual fumbling

This book - and Kerouac's work in general - deserves credit for its trend-setting and historical importance. But outside that charity, it was a hard book to finish (I had to take a break and listen to something else in the middle). There are some parts of the story that were genuinely entertaining, as the main character, Ray Smith (a stand-in for Kerouac himself), jumps trains, dodges authorities, climbs mountains, and describes nature in prose that has a nice balance of detail and brevity.

Ethan Hawke's performance as a voice actor reading the story was fine, though the dialogue was sometimes hard to follow as many of the book'a young men were voiced in very similar ways.

The part of the book I found difficult is that Smith/Kerouac breaks up his adventures with often self-centered maunderings about a strongly Catholic-scented misapprehension of "Buddhism" that most today will recognize as the seed of much of the hippy movement's countercultural elements. Only the free love, anti-establishment talk, jeering at suburbia, and heavy drug use are all presented here in an especially shallow way that lacks self-reflection outside of stoned nonsense babble.

Smith/Kerouac's adventures were also largely made possible by a privilege (and misogyny) that goes unexamined in the book, with the characters preferring to believe that it is their special grasp of individual freedom that has lifted them above the status of the anonymous bums or hobos that appear throughout the story rather than their families' support and communities that are much more willing to assist young white men.

If you can stomach the horrific off-the-cuff "poetry" and warped, imaginary version of Buddhism, then the book offers listeners a decent series of adventures and is worthwhile for the historical context it provides.

Pointless

Cannot believe that anyone takes this seriously. I’ll save everyone some time- it’s about a hitchhiker that likes to drink wine all the time. Awful.

Sublime

Hawke does Kerouac a words justice
Perfect message for all times especially the ones we are in now

Ethan Hawke is killing i!

A great rendition of a timeless classic. More Ethan Hawke reading Kerouac please! Thank you.

So good

I listened to it twice! Such a timeless book! Spontaneous prose by the best to do it... highly recommended book!

Wonderful

True medicine for the mind. Ten more words required for Audible- but adds nothing to my review

If you have an outdoorsy bone in your body..

This was sort of what I expected but exactly what I needed. Ethan Hawk’s narration make it even more worthwhile. If you have an outdoorsy bone in your body, you can relate to a lot of this. I wish it was longer. I tried to listen to it at less than 1x speed but it was still over too quickly.