Off the Road: My Years with Cassady, Kerouac, and Ginsberg

For anyone interested in the Beats you should definitely read this book. Incredible insight and background and perspective.

Engaging from the start, Carolyn Cassady's work is a poignant account of the adventurous men she loved and the women that they left behind. Though autobiographical and somewhat biographical, it reads like fiction. The content is irresistible, prompting readers to fervently turn pages. Fans of Kerouac's On the Road will enjoy seeking similarities in the parallel plot structures, alluded to by the novels' parallel titles. Though Kerouac's account and the beginning of Cassady's work are essentially the same as far as plot is concerned, Cassady's sheds light on the previously unexplored mentalities of those who were, at times, excluded by the famous Beatniks. Hers is a new and intensely valuable perspective, which seems to complement (as well as contrast) Kerouac's own. Her novel is a celebration of the lives of these figures and dwells only fleetingly on their deaths. At the heart of their lives is an emphasis on spiritual connections and the relationships between human beings. Cassady's work is a thought-provoking specimen that's worth the reading of its relatively hefty total of 439 pages.

The author paints a perfect picture of her life among these three men. However, why in the end did she say that Jack Kerouac died on October 31? Everthing else I have read says that the correct date is October 20. Regardless, I enjoyed the book.

Carolyn Cassady's Off the Road is just as essential to understanding the beat movement as any other book. She writes in a style that is very easy to relate to, and puts events in a never before seen perspective that enlightens the reader. She is honest and heartfelt in her recollections, and you feel as though you have really learned and gotten to know each of her characters. This book is really one of my favorites and one that I am sure I will read again and again.

I thought this was a really great book. I had read part of Kerouac's On the Road a couple times but hadn't gotten all the way through it. By chance I saw this book and decided to read it. It tells the story from a different side, a more rational and real side than in On the Road. It makes you realize that these people who were Beat heros were really just sad, real people who died young. Carolyn Cassady is a great storyteller. I highly recommend this book.

A welcome slip through a portal into an age overshadowed by the sixties and into the lives of those who were unkowingly shaping an entire genre of literature. Carolyn's account reads honestly while balanced perfectly with letter excerpts to and from Neal, Jack and Allen. No other biography allows the reader into the lives of these characters so seamlessly, making for the most enjoyable peephole into the lives of the individuals' who were later to become known collectively as the Beat Generation. (If you saw the movie, fret not, the book is leaps and bounds better!)