"On the Road"

August 2008

In August I started thinking about moving to Denver for number of reasons and as I was working one day I remembered that Jack Kerouac mentions Denver quite a bit in “On the Road” which I had not read in some 12 years if not longer. When I was 15/16 I had a thing for all the beatnik writers Burroughs, Kerouac, Ginsberg, Cassidy, and so forth.   I had not read any of them recently but the draw of the move propelled me to revisiting the book. 

One weekend while picking up an enormous bag of dog food I ran next door to grab “On the Road” to help rekindle my interest in reading, and to excite me about he move.  I noticed that the amount I drank was inversely proportional to the amount I read so by August I was not reading anything but instructions of how to cook French Fries in a conventional oven.  In hopes of getting out of my funk I picked up the first copy I saw which apparently is the new and improved version, the “original scroll”. When the book was originally written it was typed on a continuous piece of paper with no breaks for paragraphs so when you laid it out it looked like a road.  This version was printed as such to be the best representation of what Kerouac envisioned. 

I think we can all agree that the book is an American classic, now I have but one issue with the copy I purchased. This version of the book is a total of 299 pages in which Kerouac wrote.  I sat down and started reading the prologue and after 2 pages stared getting bored. I then start skipping forward to when it will end.  I think most will agree that forwards are a touch dry, after all they are telling you why the book you just picked up is great, it should be short and sweet.  After 2 pages of this particular forward I am bored to tears, all the interesting information was used up in 2 paragraphs the writer then continues to suck on the imaginary teat of Kerouac.

As I mentioned the book contains 299 pages written by the author, they found it necessary to include 107 pages of forwards, written by 3 different people!  Saying this infuriated me is an understatement.  I already bought the book why do I need 107 pages to tell me that a book is great?  I already spent the 17 dollars what do they care now?  They made the sale just let me enjoy the book now.  Is the publisher’s idea of service after the sale? Is the idea in padding the book with a huge forward to make it appear to be a better value?