Jack Kerouac Visions of Cody - Penguin Modern Classics for Book Lovers

Jack Kerouac wrote five drafts of "On the Road," and what was published in 1957 was the fourth version. "Visions of Cody" was the fifth, and when reading it the similarities are sometimes apparent, sometimes less so. If you intend to read this book, I'd recommend that you also have a copy of "On the Road," so that you can engage in their comparative study while reading. You might even take it a step further and have on hand a book titled, "Kerouac's Crooked Road, the Development of a Fiction," by Tim Hunt, a Kerouac scholar. However you choose to approach this book, you will appreciate how deeply serious a writer Jack Kerouac was.Two stars is very generous for this "book," published in 1972 after Kerouac's death in 1969. I found parts of it impossible, and I love Kerouac, having read most of his other works. This work also contains taped conversations between Kerouac ("Jack") and Neal Cassady ("Cody"). Why?--the transcripts just seem to take up space. Occasionally, a coherent non-conversation passage appears, thank goodness, and mirrors what is in On the Road from a slightly different perspective. But that's only a handful of times. I give the book 2-stars, very generous, most of it is terrible, which is why he converted such episodes to On the Road instead. Read Visions of Gerard instead. I give that one four stars.Yeah, this one is for the die-hards. I love Kerouac, but there so much of Cody that is just speed-induced gibberish. First 100 pages--GOLD. Frisco: The Tape--interesting for anyone into the beats. Imitation of the Tape--gloopy gloop dooferey doo goofing if he wants to (any apparently he really wanted to). Joan Rawshanks--vintage Jack. But once Jack gets the goof out of his system, the last 100 or so pages are dynamite, like On The Road in psychotic fast forward, featuring some of the greatest lines Ti Jean ever wrote.It took me a couple reads to really get into this one, but now I can't stop. I find myself going back and re-reading memorable passages over and over, sometimes aloud to hear the rythym and beat of the words. It's not my favorite (that'd be either Tristessa or Desolation Angels), but it's definitely the most fascinating.But, yeah, it's for the die-hards.The book came very quickly and arrived how it was described. Can’t ask for more.I was really looking forward to this book. I wanted to see Kerouac's vision of his best friend. How he really felt about Neal Cassady and how their relationship was when the book focused on him. I was gravely disappointed. One section is "imitation of the tape" and that just makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Another section rattled on and on and made no connection to "visions of cody" whatsoever. I quit reading with 100 pages to go. I'll go back and finish but it's not his best work.This book is so bad it actually made me sad. I was so excited to read it, too.If this book didn't have Kerouac's name attached, it never would have been published, and the world would have been a better place.I'm almost certain this is the book he was talking about when Truman Capote said "That's not writing; that's typing"Wow. I'm tempted to just throw it in the trash.And I love Kerouac...but this...this...this is self-indulgent garbage from beginning to end.Hey, its Jack Kerouac who has an unusual style of writing for the most part. Such a unique way of expressing himself in such a personal manner.Just a fabulous piece of writing!As much as I love Kerouac, this one is just too muddled to be of much use. That reviewer who said this hooked him on Kerouac for life scares the hell out of me.There is only so much dope-addled rambling a person can take. When Jack and Cody start tossing nonsense at each other, just mumbling stuff, well, that's an interesting take on poetry for a page or two, but not for hundreds of pages.Read everything else by Kerouac. If that's not enough, then give this a shot. You probably won't finish it anyway. Sure, there's a gem here and there, but it's hardly worth the hunt when there's so much other kick-butt Kerouac out there.This book wasn't as readable as others he has written but at the same time it was innovative and exciting. I felt as if I was actually there with the guys listening in to their conversations (as in fact I was). This is history as it was being madeNice to re-read this book about Neal CassadyStarts off great but the later stuff taken from a recording of a party is tedious.perfectBook's is in worse state than actually described, is readable, but it feels a bit filthy in my hand, and there's a large fold on the front cover which I'm not happy about. I still love the cover though.