Fear Not The Scroll

I really dropped the ball on this one. I have been having a very bad habit lately of saying I'll blog about something, but not getting to it til several months later. It was so long ago that I planned on blogging about Kerouac's "The Scroll" I had to search like crazy to find the original post. Here it goes:

I expected another Kubla Khan, a dreamy psychotic half-understandable stream of conscience fit that would make James Joyce cry. I was wrong. The book is quite readable and in its way a fascinating story. One question I usually ask when reading anything is whether I can believe it or not. So many books, even ones claiming to be about the authors life, have the tendency to not ring true. I believed every word he wrote. What also suprised me was his strong desire to find God. I didn't realize how much he wanted to love and belief in something bigger than himself. For all the crossing and recrossing the country he could have settled down anywhere. For some reason he could not bring himself to do it. Why? Was it easier for him to run from all the questions and desires he held inside? Perhaps. The trip was unromantic in spite of every persons desire to put it on a romantic pedestal. You cannot ignore the heartache, the alcohol induced numbness, and this persons inability to settle down. One problem, as one reviewer put it, is that the book can be exhausting because there are no paragraph breaks helping to tell you when to stop. If you do decide to read it here's one piece of advice how to get through it. Much like Jack's travells just keep going until something stops you. Anything at all like running out of gas or needing to pick up supplies. You can always start the journey again tomorrow. One more thing, always pick up hitchikers.

Here's a vid of Kerouac discussing "On The Road".