Written in 1953, published in 1959 (after the 1957 publication of Kerouac's On the Road made him famous overnight) and long out of print, this touching novel of adolescent love in a New England mill town is one of Kerouac's most accessible works.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Worth reading if you like Kerouac...
Comment: Ah, poor Jack. It seems he never got over his sentimental dread of the fleeting nature of life. Being touched by tragedy at such an early age when his beloved brother died must have damaged him greatly. This one was written before the booze had completely eaten him alive, but the melancholy (sometimes bordering on self-indulgence) that permeates his work and presumably his life is still there. I don't think this book would have ever made a ripple if his better crafted tales hadn't made him visible, but it's still a worthwhile read for anyone who appreciates him.

As for Maggie, I don't know if Jack ever had a truly mature relationship with a woman (he seems to have been too trapped in his own troubled head for this); maybe his restless soul was such that he just wasn't cut out for that sort of thing. I generally find the star-crossed romances chronicled in his books to be their weakest links; they usually just seem half-baked and adolescent. His mother seems to have been the only woman with any lasting claim on his heart and he dragged her around with him in between extended benders with his fellow gypsies (or half gypsy in his case) while he drank himself to death in NY, CA and Florida. Ah, the Catholic (s)mother/guilt thing (no offense to anyone intended)...

As someone who has read a lot of Jack's work, I found this book to be interesting in that he recalls a lot about his past as an acclaimed athlete; strange that such an abstract head-tripper would be a star athlete to the point of receiving scholarships to ritzy prep schools and Ivy League universities to be a "ringer" for their respective football teams. I certainly don't picture this sort of thing when I read his books.

As for that more famous gift, his best writing is truly a great resource for late adolescents who dream of broadening their horizons. Sadly though, he never really made it to the promised land of which he caught glorious glimpses and is therefore probably not much of a role model upon which to pattern one's life. Still, he and his "beat" brethren were essential blazers of the trails that the counterculture movements of the 60s traveled and their contributions are therefore sacred. Ultimately, Jack's damage seemed to fatally stunt his evolution and he foundered on the rocks within sight of the shore.

As for Maggie Cassidy, give it a try if you like Kerouac's work as it does have flashes of the magical poignancy you'll find in greater supply in his better books, just don't start off with it. All cliches and revolving trends aside, On the Road and Dharma Bums are still the ones to tackle if you're uninitiated and curious about his work. Jack's was not a very happy life though, so manic depressives beware...

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Customer Rating:
Summary: un-Kerouac
Comment: Not one of Kerouac's best. In fact, it has a strange, not quite Kerouac feel to it. Not that it is bad, by any means. I just suspect that if it had been written by anyone other than the auteur of On The Road, it would be Out Of Print.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Jack Pre-Booze-ouac
Comment: A must-read for Kerouac afficionados. The depiction of his teenage years in Lowell, though sentimental at times, are some of his most beautiful prose; full of sunsets, football and first kisses.
Kerouac-Virgins should check out his 'On the Road' or 'The Subterraneans' first.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: An Over Looked Jem
Comment: When thinking of Jack Kerouac the first think you think about is On The Road, or the Dharma Bums. Yet this is a story that has a very personal feel to it. In some ways more so than his other stories. The basic story line is love, love lost and love that got away, yet never forgotten. I'm over simplifying, but that is what it comes down to. Clocking in at just fewer than 200 pages. Kerouac fits a lot into a short novel. On almost every page you can get a feel of Kerouac have regret for losing Maggie Cassidy. The true beauty comes from the language that Kerouac uses to describe things and people. It is really something to read the final time Kerouac and Cassidy meet. It is sad and powerful in the descriptions and the visual images that he gives that give insight to Kerouac more as a person rather than a writer. This story can best be understood from someone who is "older" in years. I say that in terms of thinking rather than actual age. Because although I am 25, at the time of this review, I can relate to the story, yet I am sure that I will relate to the story more as I get older.

This is a wonderful story that we can all relate to in some way or fashion. It is wonderful piece lit that is better than some of the garbage I reading my junior year English class, when I was in high school.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Jack's Best Kept Secret
Comment: When Kerouac was good he was superb. This is young love in a glorious, mind-bending nutshell. Beautifully written and deeply felt.

When I was much younger and had experienced my first brutal betrayal in life, this novel was my greatest comfort. Kerouac had uncanny vision into the human heart, and was capable of expressing the awful paradox of young love, the joy and pain of it, it terms that were never sentimental, and often quietly heroic.

A poetic, lovely book.

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