 ...The classic memoir of the Beat Generation chronicles Kerouac's years traveling the country in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Hitchhiking, jumping trains, riding buses, and picking up friends along the way, the author roams from one end of the United States to the other. Matt Dillon captures the disconnectedness of Kerouac's life on the road, at times punctuating each word, at others mumbling through entire paragraphs. Dillon's portrayal of Dean Moriarty creates a living person: annoying, complex, and full of self-serving malarkey. Others moving in and out of Kerouac's life receive thoughtful attention, whether they're Latino lovers or redneck policemen. Dillon's performance brings a refreshing interpretation to a classic, all the more remarkable given his distance in years from the culture Baby Boomers remember. R.P.L. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine
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In this "Beat Generation" classic, Jack Kerouac describes his years exploring North America with Neal Cassidy ("Dean" in the book) and other friends. Kerouac saw Dean as a kind of dropout saint, and generations of young people have obviously agreed with that assessment. The ultimate meaningfulness of Dean's own life as a vagabond may be an open question, but he was certainly a poetic aficionado of life itself. Matt Dillon, a veteran film portrayer of "outsider" youth, gives an authentic texture to the narration and voices. By capturing the lyricism of Kerouac's descriptive writing and Dean's soliloquies, Dillon demonstrates that On the Road is especially well suited to the audio format. K.C. (c) AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine
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