This autobiographical work by Jack Kerouac is very interesting indeed. It is basically a documentation of Jack's crazy journies throughout post WWII America. This particular product is a new publishing of the classic. It is called the Original scroll because It is based on the legendary scroll that Jack constructed from stationary and tape, which was fed through a typewriter. Also, the real names of the characters are used in this version instead of the fakes ones used in the first publishing. The style of writing is unique in that there is no real thoughtful awknowledgement of proper punctuation or grammatical devices. However it didn't matter because this was part of a development of style coming out of the beat generation counter culture.
The actual product is very nice. There is no indentation and it is single spaced, just as the original was. There are introductions and short essays by Howard Cunnel, Penny Vlagopoulos, George Mouratidis, and Joshua Kupetz. These serve as good background information for the inexperienced reader.
My personal opinion on the book is that it is completely random. All of the events happen sporradically and give the reader the impression that he or she is reading a very long diary entry. The diary of Jack kerouac's life. I think that this is also an effect of Kerouac's style. Part of his Mantra of style was that intial thoughts ought to be used and nothing should every be erased. This gives the story a feeling of more honest improvisation--the beat movement was heavily influenced by jazz and poetry.
Overall, I enjoyed the Kerouac's story. The characters are so much more interesting when you know that they are/ were real. However I remember being dissatisfied because there was no real structure to it. I wasn't happy with how it ended, which prompted me to investigate his other popular works such as Dharma Bums, and The Subterraneans.(these are also based on Jacks life and adventures).
I give it three maple leafs out of five.
