Jack Kerouac was already one of my favorite authors before I started on Big Sur, but now he's even higher up my list. I'd fallen in love with his prose in The Dharma Bums and On The Road, but the writing in Big Sur is on another level. I'm aware that Kerouac is a controversial author and is often criticized for his exuberant naiveté, but I've always found something pure, beautiful, and--more importantly--useful in his ideals, no matter how romantic or ill-advised. But here, those ideals are a little more mature, and Kerouac is somehow able to make them seem reasonable (for example that, perhaps, insanity is as inevitable as death), which is a true testament to his genius. In The Dharma Bums and On The Road, we see a younger Kerouac who, in spite of his inner demons, still seems to have such hope in life. In Big Sur, however, we see a wiser, more cynical, Kerouac, who's now lived long enough to see many of those youthful dreams and ideals die. Who's already been ground through the fame machine and spit out the other end and is hesitant to do anything to bring more fame on, even if it means denying his need to write. Who's simply trying to find a place where he can get some much needed peace. At first, he seeks this peace in nature, but when the demons start closing in again, he runs back to the city hoping to find some much needed distraction from the death and insanity he's beginning to see everywhere he looks. But even in the midst of chaotic celebration, he can no longer distract himself from that dark end. He slowly starts losing his mind, and the indifference of the people surrounding him only makes it worse. Hoping to gain some control, he convinces his friends to return to Big Sur, but there, the nightmare only worsens, as he detaches from the reality he questions whether or not he was ever really a part of, in one paranoiac delusion after the other.
The writing in Big Sur is about as sublime any I've ever read. While I think there's still quite a bit of naiveté in his "wisdom," his insights about fame, alcoholism, friendships, romantic relationships, religion, man's place in nature, etc... are remarkably profound and laden with examples of brilliant and masterful figurative language. While he may be "lost," he seems to have a fairly decent idea of where he truly is, and even though he curses his foolish need to write, that need never quite escapes him. In fact, even after his grand realization at the end, he still goes on to write 188 pages of wonderful words, which I think only further proves that those blessed with creative gifts have no ability to turn them off no matter how they're tortured by them. Kerouac is an artist, and even in the darkest hour when he's denouncing this need to write, I never quite believe him and think that he'd eventually follow that need right over the edge into eternal darkness given the opportunity/necessity.
This is not an easy book to read. There are no "nice," "clean" story arcs with "likable" characters (whatever the hell that means). No, here, readers will find a raw, powerful, gritty, poetic story about a highly flawed man's inability to find solace anywhere he turns and his inevitable break from reality, which is so brilliantly written, it's hard to believe that he could ever come back from it to write such a beautiful book. Anyone who's ever suffered a nervous breakdown, panic attack, period of drug-induced psychosis, etc... will be able to relate with Kerouac's increasing detachment from reality and the horrifying isolation he feels, especially in the company of friends and the isolating power of nature.
Big Sur is easily one of the best books I've ever read and I highly recommend it to anyone seeking a profound and artistic work of literature; however, I'd recommend reading a few of Kerouac's other books before starting on this one so you have a better appreciation for the changes Kerouac has made here as a writer and a person.
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Kerouac didn't write about Social Issues... THANK GOD!!!
Someone wrote a review saying that Jack Kerouac should have written about social issues instead of what he wrote about here, which was life, death, nature, going mad, all the things he wrote of in ON THE ROAD which made him more famous and artistic and amazing than all those writers he complained went overly political ("wrote about The Bomb") and lost their artistic curve..."Who would build a cabin up there but some bored but hoary old adventurous architect maybe got sick of running for congress and one of these days a big Orson Welles tragedy with screaming ghosts a woman in a white nightgown'll go flying down that sheer cliff."This is one of his most amazing books, and is the only thing he wrote centered on right after his fame, and in these pages is a book about not being famous but being (and feeling) half alive in the most beautiful location on earth, Big Sur Ca...His writing makes you feel right there, feeling as the author does, almost like being underground... The first few chapters about wandering lost and afraid in the heavy fog and being paranoid that he could drop to the sea at any time is more intense than any suspense yarn ever written...What Big Sur is about is the author reluctantly kicking the booze habit and eventually suffering DT's and how it doesn't matter that he's in the most beautiful location on the earth because hell is a state of mind, and what he sufers here is hell for the author and heaven for the Kerouac fanatic, which this is mostly catered to, and is considered the sequel to On The Road since this is the ONLY thing he wrote about what happens after having written that book, including memories of Steve Allen and Hollywood, and other pop culture mentions like the above Orson Welles paragraph (Jack was smitten with Citizen Kane)...Kerouac's writing has never been so crazy and wonderful... Someone wrote that it feels too rambling but... to critique Jack on rambling when his style of spontaneous prose is all about rambling... well... You simply have to be a fan to enjoy the bad trip of BIG SUR...
Top reviews from other countries
Ronno
Very personal account of Jack Kerouac's life and psychiatric problems
Reviewed in Australia on September 21, 2022