On the Road
- Apr 9, 2016
- 1 min read
★★★★☆
Full of contrasts and contradictions and dichotomies, Jack Kerouac's On the Road simultaneously and at intervals filled me with exhilaration and despair. As I sit reflecting on the book I am left with an overwhelming feeling of sorrow and pity for the wanderlust-stricken protagonists (Sal and Dean) and their endless quest, as Kerouac has put it elsewhere, to find God. Do they succeed? No, though, in the end, things look more promising for one of them than the other. Does it matter? Normally, I'd say no, that it's about the journey not the destination. But here, I must emphatically answer, yes, it does matter. It mattered to me, and it certainly mattered to Sal and Dean, and the true heartbreak of On the Road lies in the gulf between what they needed and what they got.
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