Customer Reviews
Very Readable - By: sunsoul, 24 Dec 2006 
Beat literature seems very popular again right now, & this book is one of Kerouac's most readable. The sentences flow together, & images are easily portrayed with minimal fuss & maximum impact.
As this is one of the last books that the author wrote, there is a strong feeling of self-contemplation, with the author tuningin most immediately to his encounters with the wild beats of the ocean on the shores of Big Sur. You sense while reading this the smallness of the human soul when placed up next to the unimaginable forces of nature.
Keroauc's mind seems to wander relentlessly as you follow his thought, & he only finds respite once he has given into the wildness around & inside him, & completely surrendered to the ocean of being.
Escaping from the Beat - By: madfunky, 31 Jul 2006 
This is a book written by Kerouac several years after On the Road had made him famous. Fame did not sit easily with him & most of this book is his attempt to escape from fame & the notoriety it brings. I found this a sad book after OTR because although Kerouac exhibited a certain amount of youthfull insanityin the story of his crazy trips across America,in Big Sur the realisation has hit him that he may actually be insane. This is a very troubled book, but none the worse for that, just sad when you know that Kerouac died a few short years later,in his early forties, from the results of his drug & alcohol fuelled life.
BIG SUR - By: , 14 Mar 2004 By the time of writing "Big Sur" Keoruac had developed this style of spontaneous writing & had a certain confidencein his work that payed remarkable dividends. His discriptions of the coastal retreat "Big Sur" are lively & poetic. For example "But there's moonlight fognight, the blossoms of the fire flamesin the stove - There's giving an apple to the mule, the big lips taking hold" Many sections of this text are poetic, & indeed there is a poem entitled "Sea" at the back of this edition. Early onin the novel Kerouac understands from a letter from his mother that his beloved family cat has just passed away, he explains his griefin such a way that you actually feel pity for him & excuse him for getting nasty drunk to the cat's memory.
Big Sur is a very personal novel, a cry from a man on the edge of a alcohol induced nervous breakdown. It is somwhat sadin parts, altough there are many more jolly & even funny moments penned by Jack probablyin less sober conditions. This book is all about getting behind the myth & understanding the real Jack Kerouac. As such, this novel will give a better insight into Kerouacs life than any biography, or even perhaps any other Kerouac novel.
beautiful - By: , 21 Nov 2001 This is the first of Kerouac's books I have read. Somewhat of a strange beginning being that it was towards the end of his life.
I was truly touched by Kerouac's prose & felt both enlightened & saddened by the content.
In all honesty I loved it, completely autobiographical I really felt I knew Kerouac. I felt that I had made a friendin him.
The story of Kerouac's descent into madness and alcoholism - By: ontheroadagain19@hotmail.com, 05 Aug 2001 Like most of Kerouac's other works, this is autobiographical. Kerouac writes of his attempts to get away from the pressures of fame by hiding outin a friend's cabin, outin the wilderness of Big Sur. Unfortunately he finds himself still sinking into old habits & cracking up.
This is,in all honesty something of a difficult bookin places - Kerouac's prose is somewhat unorthodox & may require some getting used to, yet this book is so vividin some places that it is well worth the effort. It's like nothing I've ever read before. Although it's not a happy book, there are parts of it that are oddly sweet & touching.
I'd recommend reading On The Road first to put this allin some kind of context.
