by Jack Kerouac
First published 1994
Jack Duluoz looks back on his life from high school through his involvement in launching the Beat movement. He recalls his teenage years, his experiences during wartime, and his restless travels across America. The narrative follows his transformation from a young man searching for his place in the world to someone who helped shape a countercultural revolution. Duluoz wrestles with memories that refuse to fade and questions whether anyone can truly leave their past behind. Through his characteristic flowing prose style, Kerouac presents both a personal reckoning with his younger self and a meditation on the meaning he sought through constant motion and rebellion against conventional society.
Genres: 20th-century, american, autobiography, biography-memoir
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: unreliable-narrator
Paperback · Quartet Books