More of wot I have read…

On The Road by Jack Kerouac

Occasionally I pick a book that is supposed to be a worthy and important addition to the literary world and as I had done a road journey across America I chose this one to read. Perhaps it was the 50 odd years since it was written or that it was aimed at audience with a different sensibility, but whatever it was I did not engage with the characters or narrative at all. As to be expected it was dated with anachronistic references and language, but worse for me was the jarring attitudes of the characters who did not come off well for their wilful, selfish, and hedonistic ways. It seemed a self-indulgent and quite naive story but I guess it would have been more revolutionary and revealing when shone against a background of post war America.

‘Fans of Kerouac get the whole beautiful, groovy deal with this new recording of the radically hip novel that many consider the heart of the Beat movement. Poetic, open and raw, Kerouac's prose lays out a cross-country adventure as experienced by Sal Paradise, an autobiographical character. A writer holed up in a room at his aunt's house, Paradise gets inspired by Dean Moriarty (a character based on Kerouac's friend Neal Cassady) to hit the road and see America. From the moment he gets on the seven train out of New York City, he takes the reader through the highs and lows of hitchhiking, bonding with fellow explorers and opting for beer before food. First published in 1957, Kerouac's perennially hot story continues to express the restless energy and desire for freedom that makes people rush out to see the world. The tale is only improved by Dillon's well-paced, articulate reading as he voices the flow of images and graveled reality of Paradise's search for the edge’.

Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn

I had read this short book some time ago and wanted to revisit it again. It is interestingly written as correspondence between several people forced to use an ever-shrinking alphabet. Its main themes are about freedom of speech and the dangers of political tyranny, but it is an amusing and diverting story that is both short and sweet.

‘As Ella Minnow Pea writes to her cousin with the latest news on the small, quiet island of Nollop, little does she imagine the crisis ahead. The letter z has fallen from the statue of Nevin Nollop, revered author of the sentence ‘The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog’ – and the island’s rulers interpret this as a sign of devine displeasure and ban its use in any form. In a novel composed of correspondence, the loss of z is inconvenient; but far worse is to come as more letters fall and more are banned, until only l, m, n, o, p remain…’