This might be my favorite book ever. I read the original my senior year of high school, and it was huge for me. Kerouac's style is so unique and brilliant, it's hard to do it justice in a review. All the praise for this book is well earned. This unedited, uncensored version is even better. There are 4 very insightful essays for the first 100 pages that dissect the creation of the original version, and how Kerouac had to modify it many times due to publishers being stingy, or because he couldn't use a person's real name in fear they might sue. It's really interesting. Then the scroll itself begins, and it is more or less a 300 page continuous paragraph. A glorious paragraph. Unfiltered Kerouac is just really inspiring and his mastery of depicting his world is pretty amazing. The way he describes everything, and he's mostly describing people drinking and being wild and looking for kicks, is poetic. His attention to the minor characters and details is what really makes him a special writer. One such character was some bum they met on the road, who claimed he was going to "Canady." This made me laugh. You get the sense that Kerouac is just absorbing so much. I can't do this book justice in a review, it's something you have to experience. It's just amazing. A great and true story.
Of note, when I started reading this during the summer, I somehow came to the knowledge that they are making a movie, which is coming out next year. Could be interesting.....the cast looks okay...Viggo Mortensen as Old Bull Lee is going to be fantastic, though. Hopefully it's good and it brings more attention to the book.I'll be seeing it. Here's the imdb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0337692/
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