Review: The Dharma bums
Editorial Review - Kirkus ReviewsUp for air after The Subterraneans- way up (mountain climbing is the new kick) are the Dharma Bums, Ray Smith, Japhy Ryder- a high-domed hepcat, and some of their Zen Lunatic friends who have been chewing their cuds, sipping muscatel, junking, holding Zen Fun Love Orgies (no celibate Buddhists these) in the cellars of San Francisco. Under the influence of Japhy, Ray is also introduced to the simpler splendors of the great outdoors- the cook-out and the sleeping bag- as well as the happy abandon of ""leaping and yelling from crag to crag"" on a big climb. They come down and Ray travels home (the transcontinental transcendentalism of On The Road here), hoofs it back from North Carolina to go up Desolation Peak- looking for the Great Truth, after the months of ""cut-off-ness, snipped, blownoutness, putoutness, turned-off-ness, nothing-happens- ness, gone-ness, gone-out-ness"".... There, high on a hilltop, it is revealed, the search ends- and except for those dedicated, nirvana will never have seemed nearer.
Review: The Dharma Bums (Duluoz Legend)
User Review - GoodreadsThis is the first Kerouac novel that I have read in about twenty years, after having lived through the requisite young-man's Kerouac immersion period. It is very difficult to consider this novel as a ...
Review: The Dharma Bums (Duluoz Legend)
User Review - Brendan - GoodreadsI tried to read this "important" book when I was in high school and was put off by the references to Buddhism tinged with alcohol! At the time, I naively considered Kerouac to be overrated and self ... Read full review
Review: The Dharma Bums (Duluoz Legend)
User Review - Adam - Goodreads“Either side of the border, either way you slice the boloney, a homeless man was in hot water. Where would I find a quiet grove to meditate in, to live forever?” (125). I picked this up while sick ... Read full review
Review: The Dharma Bums (Duluoz Legend)
User Review - Ensiform - GoodreadsRay Smith (a stand-in for Kerouac himself), an itinerant poet, and his friend Japhy Ryder (Gary Snyder) search for an affirmative way of life in the mindless bustle of the modern era. Preferring ... Read full review
Review: The Dharma Bums (Duluoz Legend)
User Review - GoodreadsKerouac's stream of consciousness style can be off-putting at first, but it just takes getting used to. This book is really interesting because it intertwines one man's philosophy with fiction (albeit ...
Review: The Dharma Bums (Duluoz Legend)
User Review - Andrea Holck - GoodreadsRereading it...this time around I understand it a lot more...in fact the first time around I'm not sure what I understood at all...but then I get that feeling constantly, that I've only recently ... Read full review
Review: The Dharma Bums (Duluoz Legend)
User Review - Sean - GoodreadsEnjoyable. Clearly influenced Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, the two are very similar. I disagree with a lot of the philosophy involved, as the characters find happiness through a lack of ... Read full review
Review: The Dharma Bums (Duluoz Legend)
User Review - Chrishna - GoodreadsI've been a huge backpacking enthusiast almost my entire life and summer never feels complete without spending the better part of a week or more in the back country. For me this usually involves the ... Read full review
Review: The Dharma Bums (Duluoz Legend)
User Review - Tim Gause - GoodreadsIt seems to me that its become fashionable to "beat" up on the beats. I think when one considers the time in which Kerouac wrote during the fifties, he anticipated so much that came after. I also ... Read full review
