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  • On the Road

  • By: Jack Kerouac
  • Narrated by: Matt Dillon
  • Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins
  • 3.9 out of 5 stars (1,087 ratings)
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On the Road cover art

On the Road

By: Jack Kerouac
Narrated by: Matt Dillon
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Summary

Sal Paradise, a young innocent, joins his hero Dean Moriarty, a traveller and mystic, the living epitome of beat, on a breathless, exuberant ride back and forth across the United States. Their hedonistic search for release or fulfilment through drink, sex, drugs and jazz becomes an exploration of personal freedom, a test of the limits of the American dream.

A brilliant blend of fiction and autobiography, Jack Kerouac's exhilarating novel swings to the rhythms of 1950s underground America, racing towards the sunset with unforgettable exuberance, poignancy and autobiographical passion. One of the most influential and important novels of the 20th century, On the Road is the book that launched the beat generation and remains the bible of that literary movement.

©1957 Jack Keourac (P)2015 Audible, Inc

What listeners say about On the Road

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
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  • 3 Stars
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Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
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    364
  • 4 Stars
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  • 2 Stars
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Read this book and explode across the stars

This is one of the few books I've read more than once. I read it at 18, and I wanted to be Jack Kerouac. I read it at 25 and I wanted to pack my job in, buy an old banger and drive across Europe. I read it at 30, along with the rest of Kerouac's work, and felt sad that Kerouac had written so little and died so young. But it still made me want to hit the road in search of adventure.

I just listened to it again (I'm in my late 30s now), and the magic, turned up by Matt Dillon's pitch perfect narration, is still there. I simply cannot read or listen to this book, now or ever, and not find myself charged with a sense of adventure, of the sheer endless scope of the possible, of the tragedy of all the people and things in the world that I will never meet and see.

It also contains my single favourite passage of prose, ever: "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".

Don't yawn. Don't be commonplace. Listen to this book and burn, burn, burn!

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90 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

not the most enjoyable book on audio

i know many people who love this book and there are some lovely passages, however, if you are not into jazz or random parts of America I would save 10 hours of your life for something enjoyable.

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33 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

An American classic - I think not.

This was a book which I was keen to read after hearing so much about it and it beibng classed as an American classic. Regret its more American hype than a classic and I see from the reviews I am not the only one to think so. Now Catcher in the Rye is a classic and if that gets 5 stars this deserves 1.

I found the book hard to enjoy with the number of characters the wish washy dialogue and it seemed to be going nowhere fast even though he was going across America. Maybe when it was written to that generation it meaner more but I regret having bought it and I found it boring.

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23 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Great Peformance

A difficult book to express, perfectly rendered - well done Mr Dillon. One of the very best readings I've heard.

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16 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Blah

I like this actor a lot and while the narration is quite monotonous I feel the tone of the book is so I cannot blame Matt Dillon for that. But the book overall is not memorable at all so it was hard to follow since I felt it was talking about nothing constantly.

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13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

On a role....

In its first, and true draft, Kerouac typed directly on a single continuous roll of paper - a preternatural, crystal clear stream, tic-tac'd on a typewriter. A monotone delivery is pitch perfect and here is what we get in this performance of one of the 'landmark' skid novels of the twentieth century. For me it will always be the 'Birth of the Cool' in written form and transposes neatly in time, place and temperament with the sounds of Miles Davis. The combination of mental, physical, and emotional traits of a person, his natural predisposition, his fears, his motivations, what makes him laugh and where he chooses to dispose of the instinctual energies and desires that are derived from the id. Daddy-oh. A feeling, a place, a time, relax, forget, remember and then let it go....

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13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

What a book should be....

After reading the book four times it was time to listen, beautifully read, thank you!

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Iconic Novel

What did you like best about On the Road? What did you like least?

Loved the contemporary feel of a story set in late forties/early fifties, and the sizzlingly brilliant writing. Loathed the abusive relationships with women depicted in such a matter of fact and helpless manner.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Matt Dillon's narration was very poor except with dialogue. All other sentences were churned out too quickly, as if bored and with the same down turn in tone at the end of the sentence regardless of context.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Super Stuff

A brilliant performance by Matt Damon takes the listener right into the heart of Kerouac's cool ramble of a book. I was immersed in fifties America, on the back of pickup trucks and in the seediest hotel rooms, in love and isolated, life through the dark glass of a poetic mind. Great writing, great performance.

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Classic book -- shame about the reading

5 stars for the book but Matt Dillon's reading is done in a gruff monotone. This is a very long reading, and after a while it becomes difficult to listen to because of his delivery. Worthwhile but flawed.

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7 people found this helpful