Perhaps one of the most iconic travel novels of all time, On The Road will inspire those who haven’t travelled far yet to pack those bags. And for those of you on your way already, this is the ultimate literary companion on your journey.
On The Road follows Sal Paradise and his chaotic young friend Dean Moriarty on an eccentric, joyful and hedonistic ride back and forth America.
There’s heartbreak, love, self-discovery and laughter on the sun baked open road, summed up perfectly in its iconic quote: “the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars.”
On The Road was the novel that defined the Beat generation so expect little punctuation and a stream of consciousness style.
But once you immerse yourself in the distinct tone of this book you’ll never want to get out. Praise: ‘Pop writing at its best. It changed the way I saw the world, making me yearn for fresh experience’ Hanif Kureishi
About Jack Kerouac: Kerouac’s writing was openly autobiographical and he developed a style he referred to as ‘spontaneous prose’ which he used to record the experiences of the Beat Generation. He died in 1969.
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