On the Road

A memorable and influential rather than a great book. But teenagers love this novel of long roads, big cars, free jazz and loose women without reservation. Kerouac wrote the book in 12 days of 'continuous bop prosody' on an unbroken roll of wrapping paper - for writers, fame might be just a fortnight away. Sadly much of Kerouac's other work seems dated and simple-minded but On the Road is still of tremendous human and historical interest. (Kirkus UK)