"That was one distinct time in my life, the strangest moment of all, when I didn't know who I was-- I was far away from home, haunted and tired with travel, in a cheap hotel I'd never seen, hearing the hiss of steam outside, and the creak of the old wood of the hotel, and footsteps upstairs, and all the sad sounds, and I looked at the cracked high ceiling and really didn't know who I was for about fifteen strange seconds. I wasn't scared; I was just somebody else, some stranger, and my whole life was a haunted life, the life of a ghost. I was halfway across America, at the dividing line between the East of my youth and the West of my future, and maybe that's why it happened right there and then, that strange red afternoon."
--excerpt from On the Road by Jack Kerouac
--excerpt from On the Road by Jack Kerouac
That book is on my list...my never-ending list. But now I want to push it up to the top after reading this excerpt. :)
ReplyDeletei really like this excerpt, the book though didn't impress me, maybe my expectations were too high when i started reading it, after reading first what people had said about it you know? it just wasn't as good as i thought it was going to be.
ReplyDeleteThis is one of the best books by Jack Kerouac."The beat generation". Jack Kerouac was a wanderer and somewhat I really admire that kinda life,though it was against the traditions of the society.
ReplyDeleteI like this :).
ReplyDeleteI just read this for the first time over the summer. It was one of the most interesting things I've read. That excerpt is incredible.
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