Dharma Bums, by Jack Kerouac Readers' Reviews:
"I'll be quick and straight to the point, this book inspired me to do great things."
- Jim
"This short novel serves as one of Kerouac's many strokes of genius. Written within a two-week spurt, Kerouac's character Ray and his sidekick Japhy search for the meaning of life, death, and love through the study of Buddhism and the Dharma. Like all Kerouac ventures, Dharma Bums is only a small chapter in the Duluoz Tales. However, it serves as one of the most aspiring and most beautifully written tales to come from the mind of Jack Kerouac. As 'On the Road' defined the "beat generation," Dharma Bums continues not only to define it, but also to define the mastermind behind it. The black and white pages of this inspiring novelette, are illuminated by the sprays and splashes of vivid Technicolor that drown the pages with the joys and disappointments of not only Kerouac’s life, but of all of us who find so much beauty in all we still do not know but grasp to understand."
- Andrew
"Words cannot express the emotions I felt as a result of reading 'Dharma Bums'. I have never come across such descriptive prose before, and it touched me deeply. Everything just seems so much nicer with a bit of Kerouac in your life. There is magic and inspiration all around. Kerouac's writing is pure soul, it's the beat generation, it's beat, it's the beat to keep, it's the beat of the heart, it's being beat and down in the world and like old-time lowdown and like in ancient civilizations the slave boatmen rowing galleys to a beat and servants spinning pottery to a beat.' 'Dharma Bums' would have to be in my top ten list for sure - waste no time and read it now!"
- Trudy
"After reading this wonder of a book I question my life itself. How I long to hitch my way through, go to poetry readings, and live off the land. I have been out West and even hiked the trails of Alaska, but every year I come back to this tortured society where my words are a threat to this sheltered world. Kerouac's words are an inspiration to my curious soul."
- Jaimie
"High atop a mountain Jack Kerouac and 'Japhey Rider' find peace and love and Zen-like perfection in a rare account of a peaceful time in Kerouac's life. A gem shining forth from Kerouac's vast and flowing psychological library of literature, this book is Kerouac at his essential Zen-like serenity.
- Rudy |
